Food For Poker Night Party
This Poker Party was styled by Gitty of Cakes by Gitty in London for her client’s 35th birthday. Her client wanted to do a casino theme party. Sweet treats on the dessert table included chocolate mousse, jelly cups, poker chip sugar cookies, vanilla cupcakes, macarons, and a large roulette cake. Make a poker night out of it! Casino Night Poker Game Party Supplies Tableware Set 24 9' Dinner Plates 24 7' Plate 24 9 Oz. Cups 50 Lunch Napkins for Card Playing Club Heart Spade Black & Red Theme Disposable Birthday Paper Goods. POKER NIGHT FOOD: Like any party, a poker party means that the host will have to ensure that there are munchies and beverages for everyone. Its important to have some good poker party food ideas so that your shin dig is successful. Food is important at a poker event, as the games can take a very long time and you’ll need to keep everyone fed. A poker party or casino night is a fun theme party idea. Need some Poker Party Ideas? With a little creativity, decorating for a party like this does not have to be expensive. One of my best friends hosted a poker tournament party for her husband’s 30 th birthday and I helped her out with a few simple and inexpensive do it yourself party.
All bets are in, the action’s high, and you’re hosting a poker night. Need some party ideas? I’ve got you covered. Below is a round-up of ideas, decorations, food, invitations, and more! So don’t fold just yet, throw those chips all in, and let’s go!
Throw The Best Poker Night Party!
Poker Night Idea 01: Decorations
If you haven’t ever checked out Big Dot of Happiness, you’re missing out! They have everything you need to throw a party, all in one spot. If you’re not up to creating your own decorations, then you really should check out what they have to offer your Poker Party here.
Poker Party Food Ideas
If you’re up to making your own decorations, try taking the suit symbols and stringing them up on clear fishing line or string. You can cut them out yourself or grab a set of glittery ones here. You can hang the bunting from your mantle, over doorways, or even from the ceiling!
When it comes to colors, the answer is easy! Play up the red, white, and black for a formal affair and a sure-fire tie-in with playing cards.
While you’re at it, why not create a cute table setting using a pack of playing cards? Adding them as place cards, or even tying them onto a clear glass vase is an effective way to tie in your theme.
Poker Night Idea 02: Invitations
When it comes to inviting your guests, it’s best to make sure they know what they’re in for. You can purchase some beautiful ones from Big Dot of Happiness here. If you’ve got some skills with Photoshop, then make your own! You can create something uniquely your own and have it printed through Minted. By adding in elements like poker chips or card suits, you’re sure to create something on theme with minimal creative effort.
Poker Night Idea 03: Food
When it comes to food, it’s pretty easy to carry the theme. Whether you opt for a fondant covered cake with cards and a lucky clover, or simply try focusing on colors, you can’t go wrong with some of these ideas!
Who wouldn’t gamble on a fruit kebab, especially when aces are wild? Try alternating black grapes with strawberries cut in half and placing a hole-punched card at the bottom.
You can also buy or make a cheese ball, re-form it into a square and place halved olives in each side for the pips. Then ta-da! You’re done. You can also serve tiny sliders and keep them together using these card suit toothpicks. Grab them here in black as well.
For serving the drinks thathave that little something extra, try freezing dice and placing them in cups in place of ice cubes. I know, dice aren’t part of poker but they make for a fun addition! If you’re not up for frozen dice, then you can give that pack of cards you’ve already taken apart for the kebabs and use them on the stems of your glasses! They can act as name tags as well as adding to your theme.
Poker Idea 04: Keeping it Classy
Okay, so you want to throw a poker party, but you don’t want the night to crumble into madness. This is where keeping it classy comes into play. If you want to throw a legit Poker Party, here are some suggestions for keeping things classy:
- Prep the Peeps: This is where the invites come into play. If you want people to actually play poker, they might need time to learn or get up to speed. Don’t be afraid to communicate with your guests what the expectations are for playing. I’d also suggest being intentional in your invitations. If you have a friend with a gambling issue or one who can’t hold their liquor, skip the invite this time and do something different with them on an alternative evening.
- Real Deal: If you really want to keep your evening above board, then you need to find a professional dealer or at least someone who’s skilled at the art of dealing cards. This will make the evening run much smoother because you’ll have someone dedicated to keeping the games going.
- Table Top Matters: Having an actual felt table makes a difference! It’s easier to pick up cards and keeps things rolling. If you don’t have a place you can put a permanent card table, try this folding one!
- Cards and Chips: There are plenty of places to cut corners for this party, but this isn’t one. If you’re serious about throwing a classy poker night, then don’t skimp on the cards and chips. This set has chips and cards of good quality.
Poker Idea 05: Outfits
Another way to make your evening a night to remember is to dress up! Whether you opt for a full 20s party (because it is the Roaring ’20s, take two!) or just a formal event, you can’t go wrong with dressing up. You can get a gorgeous beaded dress here complete with gloves, feathers, and more! You can also hit up your local thrift store and go hunting through old formal dresses. One thing’s for sure, dressing up is definitely an ace in the hole.
What would your Poker Party staples be? Let me know in the comments below, and happy party planning! Now go get your poker faces on and have some fun!
For a fun summer party try this post.
Food For Poker Night Party Games
Is there a better way to lose money than sitting around drinking beers and playing poker with your boys on a Saturday night?
Of course, we’d all like to take home the pot at the end of the night – who doesn’t want an extra $200-$300 padding the wallet, but the concept of having a poker night itself is enough of a distraction from the monotonous day-to-day life that it makes any financial loss seem worthwhile.
In other words, poker can be one of a few motivating factors that get you up in the morning and get you to sludge through that mind-numbing routine people call a work week – and that’s when you lose.
But if you’re fortunate enough to win, poker night becomes better than New Year’s Eve or whatever “fun” holiday you can think of. (Seriously, who needs to be squished in a compact room with a bunch of drunkards you don’t know counting down from 10 to 1? Excuse my bluntness, but I’ll take the money and run every damn time.)
Aside from winning or losing, guys like poker nights because they are calm. There’s no obscene behavior from random people you don’t know; there’s no wild and uncontrolled screaming; there’s nobody ordering you to do something you don’t want to do; and there’s certainly no bad music being played in the background.
That’s what happens when 5-6 guys – or more depending if you’re doing multiple tables – who share similar interests and respect one another gather around a table to play poker.
It’s the bro version of a Thanksgiving dinner – everyone is cooperative and polite as long as everyone gets a plate and a place at the table.
Well, cooperative until there’s a dispute about the rules of the game – a staple of any poker night. That’s why it’s important that who’s ever hosting to create a set of house rules and print out whatever stuff can be found online that is valuable information. This hopefully will negate most arguments and conflicts – although as the night moves on and alcohol continues to be consumed, you can never truly predict how guys will behave.
With all that said, here are some of the essentials for having a poker night with your boys:
Alcohol (preferably top shelf liquor)
Going off that earlier point that poker night can serve as a quasi climax, or high point, of the week: there needs to be some respectable liquor brought and served. I’m talking Red Label or Jameson, at the very least. I didn’t work my ass off all week long to spend my three hours of complete freedom sipping on $10 vodka or gin – or worse, Busch Light.
If you’re going to do beer, I feel like cans are unacceptable. This isn’t a frat party – there’s no pong table being wheeled out once you’re eliminated. That means you need to have something that’s strong and tastes good to numb your sorrows.
Chewing Tobacco
I’m a big time believer that once you sit down, you shouldn’t get up (unless you have to piss). That means no group cigarette breaks – they ruin the pacing of the game and isolate non smokers. The happy medium is an endless supply of chewing tobacco. That way everyone who wants to get their fix can whenever they want without having to pause the game.
Plus, doesn’t it just feel like a badass move to say “I’ll re-raise ya” and then spit into a can. I feel like that’s always one of the best moments of any poker night.
Cigars
I swear we’ll get to some actual poker essentials soon enough – like the materials you need to play the game, but for now we’re trying to set the perfect mood.
Cigars go a long way in a poker night because they burn forever and they can be a topic of conversation within themselves in case the well of discussion runs dry.
Furthermore, they’re another good thing to have to keep players asses in their seats and not itching to go smoke a cigarette. Seriously, I hate when a game breaks for 15-20 minutes or when an individual player takes to automatically folding 3-4 hands.
True, this isn’t the World Series of Poker, but come on. Let’s have some discipline here boys.
Poker Case
This needs to have at least four different colored chips, a dealer chip and two fresh decks of cards. If any of these items are missing, so is the integrity of your poker night.
Seriously, if you’re so cheap that you can’t fork out $40-50 to buy one of these cases, then I question your manhood.
It’s a solid investment no matter how you look at it. It’s reusable, it makes others happy and it’s an essential part of playing a game that makes you relax and feel good.
Literally a win-win-win type of situation. You can’t go wrong.
Note: having a second case if you have multiple tables is a good idea. Inspecting the decks doesn’t hurt too. It sounds snobby but you are playing for cash here.
Boxed or Bagged Food
Some guys might here poker night and say fire up the grill. Wrong. You don’t cook meat for the dudes when they come over for poker, that’s what football Sunday’s are for.
For poker, you should order in a few pizzas or go shopping and get a bunch of chips and salsa. Anything more and you’re grossly overthinking it.
Like anything else, adding food can be a distraction to the night – don’t let it be.
Background Movie
I know I mentioned music somewhere up above in the introduction, but it has no place at a poker game. First, it’s distracting. Second, it’s loud regardless of where the speakers are in the room. And third, it creates more unnecessary arguments amongst players.
How can you avoid all of this you might wonder? DON’T PLAY MUSIC AT YOUR POKER NIGHT. It’s really that simple.
If one of your players wants it, tell him to go to the club.
Put on a sporting event and let that be your background noise if you deem having background noise a necessity (I don’t). If sports isn’t an option, throw on a background movie.
Any Martin Scorcese film should do just fine – Goodfellas, Casino, The Departed and, most recently added, The Wolf Of Wall Street. All of these movies are about greed in some form or another and they teeter on being three hours long. In other words, they are meant to be played during a poker game at a low volume.
I don’t know about you but after I lose, there’s nothing more consoling than seeing DeNiro and Pesci go at it or Leo, Damon, Jack and Wahlberg. I love that shit.
Money
Well, that’s why everyone comes to play in the first place, right? You can’t have a legit poker game with IOUs and crap like that. Everyone needs to bring cash and put it on the table before the cards are dealt. Otherwise you’d be better off playing Monopoly.
An empty house (or apartment)
More essential than money; the poker chips, the decks of cards and Martin Scorcese is the serenity of an open house or apartment.
If your spouse or roommate is going to be there the whole time, you mine as well cancel for another weekend. There’s no reason to have the guys over for poker if you’re not going to have absolute freedom from everyday life.
Food For Poker Night Party Supplies
Remember, poker night is like a vacation where you don’t have to go anywhere. Anything less and you’re not doing it right.