Ever thought about hosting a casino night? A casino party for friends is a fun and interactive way to host an event at your home. There are two basic ways to arrange the party, one you organize everything yourself, and two you hire a professional company.
Hiring a professional casino event organizer
Whether you arrange the party or hire a professional to come in and organize everything for you there will be some expense. A professional company will bring croupiers & dealers, a bartender, caterers, entertainers if needed, and set up all the props and bring authentic equipment such as a roulette wheel. Whether you choose to hire a company will largely depend on your budget and how much time you have. Maybe it is a very special occasion such as a birthday so you wish to push the boat out a little.
Let’s assume you are going to organize the event yourself. What are the things you need to consider when first planning the event?
Is it legal to host a casino night in your home or private property?
This would depend on whether you are actually going to gamble real money or if it is a fundraiser. If for instance, you were organizing a fundraiser then you may need to be a registered charity. Gambling laws are different in each country and state so be sure just to check up with the local gaming authority in your area. A quick Google search should be enough.
If you are unsure then simply play with fake money. Print up some obviously fake notes such as $1000 denominations and hand everyone one-note as they arrive. They can then change these for chips to play with.
What games should you arrange?
Keep it simple. Not everyone knows all the casino games. In fact, many of your friends may never have visited a casino. Perhaps some have visited an online site like energycasino.com and played some slots or other games but try to make everything simple so on the night everyone can have fun with no worries about complicated rules.
A good choice would be a roulette wheel, blackjack, poker, and perhaps craps depending on the space available and the number of people attending your event. You can pick up poker sets and roulette wheels easily. Look online at eBay and Amazon for poker & blackjack tables. Make sure you get plenty of sets of dice in case some go missing.
Alternatively, you could rent the equipment. Again, check online for suppliers to casino parties and ask around friends. Quite possibly one of your friends has a poker set you can borrow for the evening.
Print up some cards showing what each of the hands in poker means and laminate them if you like (for spilled drinks). This can be a handy reference for anyone who is new to the game.
Should I have a theme?
Why not? This is completely up to you but get everyone to come as James Bond characters, although you may end with everyone in tuxedos and not much variety! Alternatively, make it a gangster theme from the prohibition days. It all adds to the fun of the night with everyone already in a party mood before they arrive.
Food and drinks
Don’t even think about organizing a sit-down meal. The point of a casino night is people gathering around the games to join in or to watch. You should lay out an area for buffet-style food. Make it as fancy or as simple as you like but food that can be eaten easily with minimal mess. Chicken skewers, olives, sliders, cheesy bacon bites, and a selection of dips. Don’t forget to cater to vegetarians and vegans too.
For drinks, you could set up a small bar. This doesn’t have to be manned. It could simply be a small area set aside in the kitchen. Soft drinks, beers, spirits and mixers may be required depending on what you already have in your home. This is not a cheap part of the party and careful consideration might be needed.
Buy soft drinks and mixers on offer or in bulk. Likewise for beer. Look around for offers. Don’t feel that you need to provide imported craft beer from Bavaria for instance. You could make your own cocktail list. Work it out that you only need a few spirits to make a variety of cocktails and then name them after Bond villains, or gangster themed or maybe something around Las Vegas such as the Bellagio Banger.
Scotch, vodka, gin, and a few others and you should be set for simple drinks with or without mixers and a small list of cocktails. Consider asking your guests to bring a bottle. Many will bring one out of habit whether you ask or not.
Staffing
One other area that could hit your budget. Do you hire staff to deal and bartend? If you plan on doing this yourself you could find that you and your partner are left out of all the fun. Maybe there are some teenagers in your neighborhood who would look after this area for a few hours. Just run through your drinks menu and basic game rules beforehand.
Prizes for the guests
Everyone hopes to win when they go to a casino so why not provide some small but fun gestures for your guests to take away. After the games finish, swap the tokens for raffle tickets and the winning tickets will be allocated something to take home at the end of the night.
Whatever you decide to do and how you choose to arrange it just remember to check the gaming laws if you are planning to gamble for money. For sure it is much simpler to organize games simply for fun and will remove any possible unpleasantness if someone loses. This way you don’t have to worry about the ages of your guests either as no real gambling is taking place. Remember after all the organizing to have some fun!
