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Host your own Kentucky Derby Party

Why have a Kentucky Derby party?
They call it the most exciting two minutes in sports. But the Kentucky Derby is about far more than just a two-minute horse race. The first Derby was run in 1875, and the race, held every year on the first Saturday in May, endures as America's longest running continually held sporting event. Kentuckians agree that the Derby is one of the year's best reasons to throw a party (second only to New Year's Eve!). You don't need to be at Churchill Downs for the big event in order to have a rip-roaring Kentucky Derby party.

The partying in Louisville during the two weeks leading up to the Derby is similar to Mardi Gras in New Orleans. It's a community-wide celebration with steamboat races, fireworks, a hot-air balloon race, and many private parties. Derby parties come in all shapes and sizes. From the high society set, with their black tie soirees, designer chapeaux and engraved silver goblets, to all the regular folks with their backyard barbeques, self-styled Derby hats and plastic cups, everyone gets worked into a jubilant frenzy in the days leading up to the race. Both elegant affairs and rowdy bashes abound on Derby day. All you have to do is choose your mood and then choose your guest list, food, drink and decor to go with it.

One of the most important things for your Derby party is a large screen TV so that everyone will be able to watch and enjoy the excitement of the races. There is always national TV coverage of the race on Derby day and you should have this on to set the atmosphere and tone of your party.

Don't Forget your Derby Hat
Just as longstanding and important a tradition as the Kentucky Derby itself is that of the Derby hat. Almost everyone in attendance at the race, or at any Derby party, will be wearing a spectacular hat, whether that hat was custom-designed by a milliner and cost hundreds of dollars, or whether it was decorated at home with a glue gun and some imagination. Ask all your guests to come wearing Derby hats, and inform them there will be prizes for the most ornate, the most stylish, the most creative and the most bizarre. Alternatively, you could turn hat decorating into a party activity! Ask everyone to bring plain hats and a selection of ribbons, real or artificial flowers, lace, tulle, feathers, plastic horse figurines, and any other hat decorations they can possibly dream up. Provide glue guns, wire, staplers and scissors, and let the fun begin! Remember, here is no such thing as too big, too bold, too elaborate or too outlandish. For a truly unique hat, decorate any old hat with an assortment of MR Jewelry's great horse brooch pins.

Food
There are lots of regional recipes that would give your Derby party a true Kentucky feel, like chocolate bourbon balls, burgoo, grits, hot browns, chocolate-pecan pies and much, much more. If you want to go this route, great! You can find many of these recipes scattered about on the Internet. But here's a reminder of something you already know. It's your kitchen, it's your house, and it's your friends and family coming over. If they or you like pizza, or bagels, or cold cuts or what have you, go with what is easiest and most accessible. Over time you may want to extend yourself, but never to the point of distraction. The Derby is about fun people getting together during a special time.

Mint Juleps
For nearly a century, the mint julep has been the traditional beverage of Churchill Downs and the Kentucky Derby and your Derby party would not be complete without them. The most important thing to remember is to use good Kentucky bourbon such as Maker’s Mark.

2 cups sugar
2 cups water
Sprigs of fresh mint
Crushed ice
Good Kentucky bourbon

Make a simple syrup by boiling sugar and water together for five minutes. Cool and place in a covered container with six or eight sprigs of fresh mint, then refrigerate overnight. Make one julep at a time by filling a julep cup with crushed ice, adding one tablespoon mint syrup and two ounces of bourbon. Stir rapidly with a spoon to frost the outside of the cup. Garnish with a sprig of fresh mint. Now sip and enjoy.

Gambling at Your Derby Party
Well, no one expects you to run a pari-mutuel betting window from your living room, which of course would be illegal and especially risky if you've had a mint julep or three. But there are numerous ways to bet on the Derby at your party. Write the name of each Derby horse on a piece of paper, put an asking price for each slip ($2 would be apropos) and just run a simple winner-take-all contest. Or, scratch the $2 entry fee, and put a Derby t-shirt on the line for the winner. While MR Jewelry does not want to aggressively promote gambling at your party, a simple game like this can really get people's blood flowing. There's nothing better than eating great food, drinking mint juleps, hanging out with friends, watching great sports while making a profit at the same time. Understanding this might help you appreciate why the Derby is so much fun.

My Old Kentucky Home
Kentucky natives take this song very, very seriously. They bawl and blubber through every word. If you were not born in the Bluegrass State, you may be excused for treating the ballad by Steven Foster as an over-the-top anthem for your sporting choir. But you should print out and provide these lyrics for your guest to bawl and blubber right along with those at the track.

MY OLD KENTUCKY HOME
By Stephen Foster

The sun shines bright in the old Kentucky home,
Tis summer, the people are gay;
The corn-top's ripe and the meadow's in the bloom
While the birds make music all the day.
The young folks roll on the little cabin floor
All merry, all happy and bright;
By'n by hard times comes a knocking at the door
Then my old Kentucky home, Good-night!
Weep no more my lady. Oh! Weep no more today!
We will sing one song for my old Kentucky home
For the old Kentucky home, far away.

So sing a little, bet a little, and raise a mint julep on the occasion of the Kentucky Derby. Most of all, have some fun. If, along the way, you discover how beautiful, majestic, and exciting is the sport, and how magnificent, competitive, and courageous is the Thoroughbred, all the better.