World Poker Tour Party
Texas Hold’em, the new black and the perfect theme idea for your next get together; this is how you can create an informal – or formal, night of fun with your friends and family. This guide will take you through planning the complete poker tournament themed party. The casino party is an ever growing popular plan, one of the top theme parties, and most requested from party planners everywhere.
Your guests will be appeased with the atmosphere of the party if you incorporate these guidelines, as well as your own touch to the casino glam party! Be sure to have an assortment of beverages available, non alcoholic for the designated drivers, and for those who feel that they would like to be at the top of their game.
Guest List and Invitations
Your invitations give your party guest the first glimpse into the party that they are to attend! There are such a wide variety of invitations that you could choose to send to your guests that you will not have a problem finding the perfect invitation to suit the theme of your poker soiree. You will find some great poker themed invitations at www.invitationbox.com for as little as $1.20 per invitation. A great party starts with a great invitation. Be sure to include the tournament, and game information on the invitation, as well as the amount of money that they are able to “buy-in” to each of the games with.
Your guest list will determine the amount and the magnitude of the games that you are going to offer at your party. If you are going to play poker in true Texas Holdem style than you will have to determine the amount of people that are going to invite to the party. Each table may have between 6-10 people, who are playing the game. If you opt to have a poker dealer for each of these tables than you should be able to find a local dealer in the yellow pages, or with a quick search on the internet. If you phone your local casino, they may be able to point you in the right direction to find someone who can be of service to you.
As well as the dealer, you could use a bartender, or any other entertainment that may occupy the guests who choose not to play poker. Nothing will give it more of an authentic feel than if you have some legitimate casino dealers at your party, but, if you are unable to find authentic casino dealers than you may consider hiring students, or acquaintances and have them dress in simple uniform with a white shirt, and a black tie. It would be more cost efficient to find workers for the evening, who are students or amateurs. You might want to consider bringing in a couple of people for the evening to fetch snacks for the poker players who are unable to leave their table. Ensuring that you have the staff in tow, you could make this event a night to remember, and a party that your guests will look forward to attending in the future.
Games
Ideally, the guests that you are inviting to the party will be aware of the rules of Texas Holdem – If they are not than it might be a good idea to send out an informational publication about the rules of the game with the invitation. This will ensure that all of the guests arrive at the party with a clear understanding of the concept, and will save time when creating the first tables and explaining the rules.
To create the first tables, you could draw the names, or let the guests sit where they would prefer, but it would create more conversation to design placards possibly on cards themselves to stay within the theme.
You are going to have to make the decision to play in the style of a tournament, or if the players are able to buy out of the game, when they feel that they are finished playing.
Food and Drink
Create a stir with your drinks and make it a night to remember with a signature drink created for your special event. You may choose to name it for the guest of honor, or you may choose to adhere with your color and design scheme. You could see a mixologist to custom create this drink, or you could attempt to create this cocktail on your own and make it a unique and special commemoration of the event.
You may choose to have food and drinks served at your party that will be easy to eat while your guests are playing poker. Some ideas for these are canapés, Boneless Seasoned chicken, veggie trays, mini portions of salad, fruit trays, crackers and cheese. The issue that we run into is that we want simple finger foods but we are going to try and avoid eating with our hands. To avoid the problem of the chips, and the cards becoming sticky – you could use mini forks, and sticks to make the food card player friendly.
Favors
There are some very great favor ideas that I have found on the popular auction site, www.ebay.com – There are poker chips that you can customize with the event information that come in standard casino weights an assortment of different colors like the standard blue, black and red ranging from orange to pink and purple. You may consider mingling these with the casino chips that you intend to use for the games at your party, as well as scatter them around the area you choose to place the appetizers and beverages.
The casino chips could be given out as favors or could also be designated to be used within the games, for a Hollywood flair have the guest or guests of honor autograph the chips to be given to the guests at the end of the night.
You may also choose to have one ounce shot glasses engraved with the date, the event and the guest, or guests of honor. If it seems that you are catering to a younger crowd than this might be more of a popular memento.
You may consider matchbooks, they are inexpensive, and can be used as small favors to be placed on the tables in the colors of your theme. You could choose a color to compliment the décor of your party, so the guests will have something to remember the event with – besides the great memories that the event will create!
Décor and Theme
Your décor is going to be very important in the theme that you wish to convey with your party. There comes a time within your planning that you must decide whether to make it a formal, casino affair, or a more informal poker tournament. Regardless of your choice, you will want to make a note on the invitation regarding the formality of the event, as well; this will be conveyed in the formality of the invitation.
You may choose the following elements to be cohesive with your theme: napkins, favors, linens, invitations, banners or signs, as well as tableware and glassware used.
Venue
You may want to take into consideration the size of the guest list when taking into consideration the venue for your event. You could choose to keep it intimate with a medium size guest list of about 12-25 and have it within your home. You may want to check with your local event rentals company to learn about table rentals, as well as equipment that you may require.
Well, you have the information to create a great gambling Granada! If you incorporate all of these elements, with the guests and the venue than you should be able to create the perfect poker party, one that your guests will be speaking of for months to come!
