Kentucky Derby Party Ideas

From the web...
“You should use your finest silver, crystal, linens and china. Decorate with large bouquets of red roses. Ask your florist to design a horseshoe-shaped wreath of red roses as a centerpiece for your table. Serve a beautiful luncheon buffet with tea sandwiches, dips—including the regional specialty Benedictine, cold seafood and assorted teas.”

The BYOB (Be Your Own Bookie) PARTY
Print up tickets with each horse running in the Derby (or numbers from 1-20). Fold them, place them into a bowl and invite each guest to select their horse. It is substantially more fun to cheer for a horse that you never heard of, than jumping on the bandwagon and cheering for the favorite. AND this will keep everyone watching the race.

If you are expecting more people than horses, print up duplicates as needed (adding a group of 20 at a time into the pot). If you are pooling money, say $1/$5 per ticket, split the winnings among the winners.

OR, if some of your guests will be placing actual bets, they can pay for their ticket with an actual $2 bet stub. This could make the pot very interesting!

Fantasy Derby
Along the lines of fantasy football, you can join or start your own Fantasy Kentucky Derby Game:  www.last2left.com/whatsinplay/kentucky-derby-2010
or on FACEBOOK:  apps.facebook.com/horse-racing-game

For LITTLE KIDS
Host a tea party and have a Derby Hat Decorating Contest. Get crafty with a wild assortment of ribbons, artificial flowers and anything else that comes to mind. Hats may be a challenge to come by, but you could take it down a notch and provide silhouette cut-outs from colored construction paper.

Or pick up a piñata and other horse-themed items from a store like www.orientaltrading.com

More ideas/e-vite service:  http://kentuckyderbyparty.com