The Kentucky Derby is an annual horse race held in Louisville, Kentucky on the first Saturday of May. It heralds the end of the Kentucky Derby Festival. It’s also a Grade I stakes race for young thoroughbred horses, and is known to bring out the wealthiest and most glamorous of the south together. The race itself is just a reason to party, wherever and whoever you are. Here are the things you can do to throw an authentic, good old Kentucky Derby party.

Off to the Races: Kentucky Derby Invitations

Not everyone may be familiar with the Kentucky Derby, so make sure your invitations all point to this exciting event! You can have different ideas and styles to decorate your invitations with horses or horseshoes. You can even make your invitation look like a betting ticket, only all the information will be replaced with the details of the party.

The Kentucky Derby is also known for some of the most outrageous fashion—particularly the women’s hats. Throw in a little tribute to this fact by designing your invitation with hats or like a hat. You can also ask your friends to wear their gaudiest hats to the party.

It would also be a thoughtful gesture to tell your guests that for the party, you will be studying horses, betting and watching the race. You don’t want them to turn up at your party totally unprepared for betting!

Exciting Decorations

Your Kentucky Derby party can go two ways: Utterly glamorous like the old rich down in the South, or relaxed and laid-back like everyone else. Either way, the important thing is to bring that good old feeling of quintessential Kentucky in your party. Here are some ways to achieve this:

Be high-society by decorating your house with red roses (the official flower for the Kentucky Derby). Polish all your fine silver (Tips on how to get rid of tarnish on silver) and china, and cover your tables with the linen tablecloths. Your centerpiece could be red roses arranged in a U-shape. Candles, chandeliers and more elegant flowers can help you achieve a really beautiful, classy look to your party space.

If you’re going for a more relaxed atmosphere, bring the party outdoors for a good old-fashioned Southern barbecue. Grills, red-and-white checkered tablecloths, picnic tables and lounge chairs are all that you need. Of course, having streamers, banners, balloons and lanterns doesn’t hurt, either.

Lovely red roses

Checkered tablecloth

Colorful balloons

In both parties, don’t forget to set up your television in a prominent place where everyone can see the race as it happens. You should also provide plenty of comfortable seats for your guests.

If you’re going to have betting and gambling in your party, make sure that you have the necessary items for your betting activities. Large blank pieces of paper, a computer to run betting software, and a hat for a Kentucky Derby lotto are some things you may need, depending on the activities you have planned.

Getting Lucky in Kentucky: Activities

A Kentucky Derby party focuses on the race, which is an activity by itself. You can plan other games and activities leading up to the big race, mainly betting and gambling. Before the betting starts, you can also research the horses that will be racing and print out quick fact sheets so that your guests will be informed. Here are other suggestions:

• A Name in the Hat. On slips of paper, write down the name of the horses running in the Kentucky Derby. People who want to participate in this game of luck must pay a small amount such as $1 to pull a name out of the hat. After the race, the one who has drawn the name of the winning horse will collect the pot money. An alternative is to reward the winner the biggest percentage of the money, the second place a smaller percentage and third place the smallest.
• Horse Betting, List the name of the horses in separate boxes on a big sheet of paper. Post this paper on a prominent spot on the wall. Guests may put their names on horses they would like to bet on, but every bet also costs a fixed amount. Once the winning horse is announced, the pot prize money will be divided equally among those who bet on the winning horse.
• Computerized Betting. You can run your own betting window with a pari-mutuel betting software program. This software can calculate what the odds are based on the bets placed.

Beautiful hats

Horse Betting

A guest blinfolded

• Best Hat. It’s traditional for the ladies who attend the Kentucky Derby to show up with ostentatious hats. Yours can be the same too—ask your women friends (and even men!) to show up with their gaudiest, zaniest and weirdest hats. Vote for the best hat of the evening and give the winner a well-deserved prize.
• Play the Kentucky Derby Game. Go electronic for the party by playing the Kentucky Derby Game. Put the names of your guests on slips of paper and draw them out of a hat by twos. The two who get called out will play against each other on the Wii or Playstation. The winner will then battle against another guest until only one is left standing.
• Kentucky Derby Mural. Bring out your guests’ artistic talents while they’re blindfolded. Put up a big blank piece of manila paper or butcher paper on your wall. Each guest will have to come forward blindfolded and draw one item on the Kentucky Derby mural—it can be a horse, a jockey, the race track—within a minute. Guests are not allowed to draw small items. The person who completes his or her respective item wins a prize. (Learn how to paint a mural)

Kentucky Derby Treats

Kentucky Derby is a tradition that’s been around for a while, and it’s also a great way to highlight the best of Southern food. Here are some ways to make your Kentucky Derby party genuinely Southern.

• Kentucky Hot Brown. Each hot brown is actually a turkey breast roasted and sliced, then cooked in cream and milk. It’s then cooked again in tomatoes, bacon and cheese.
• Benedictine. A refreshing sandwich with a filling made from cucumber, onion and cream cheese. You can also add bacon, lettuce and tomato to the mix for a really tasty treat.




KentuckyHot Brown

Kentucky Derby Pie.

• Burgoo. A hearty stew with different variations and recipes, burgoo was traditionally cooked by neighbors bringing together different ingredients and cooking them all together in a giant pot. Meat, vegetables, cornmeal, ground beans, whole wheat and potato starch are the standard ingredients, and some varieties include using cider vinegar, worcestershire, hot sauce or chili powder.
• Kentucky Derby Pie. Like burgoo, Kentucky Derby pie is a favorite, and there are many variations on this old favorite. Traditionally made with eggs, brown sugar, pecans, vanilla and chocolate, all of the ingredients are melted together and put in a pie shell and served with whipped cream.
• Mint Julep. A Kentucky Derby party is not complete without a mint julep drink, commonly made with bourbon, mint leaves and sugar. Put four to six sorugs of mint leaves, sugar and crushed ice at the bottom of a glass. Add three fluid ounces of bourbon whiskey and top it off with more crushed ice. Stir to mix and serve chilled. It’s a very refreshing drink.

Watch this kentucky derby party

Live on the fast track with a Kentucky Derby party and have some good Southern fun along with it. Your friends, Yankee or not, will surely love it. Have a rollicking good time!