Kentucky Derby Party

From the second I opened L & J's invite to their Kentucky Derby Party--it sounded like fun. First they sent out an evite out, so that when you responded, you could see who else was invited and who was coming. This works out great for an introvert! You can see the guest list before you arrive. And it doesn't break the bank on stationary and postage.

The Evite- covered all the details. They talked about dress code, included kids, talked about the activities. They let us know we'd be outside a lot. It was just very thoughtful. They announced a hat contest and traditional Mint Juleps in keeping with Kentucky Derby tradition. They encouraged us to bring an appetizer and drinks with us. The overall note was upbeat, centered on fun and made you excited to attend.

We brought our favorite appetizer, Spinach and Artichoke purses and filled up some water bottles for beverages for the kids (good for my hosts' carpet, good on a hot day!)

My 8 year old daughter and I "googled" Kentucky Derby hats. Then we pulled a couple of hats out of the dress up box. We picked one out for her 3 year old sister, that was fine as it was. We took a beat up old blue sun hat and pulled out some tulle and fake flowers and my 8 year old designed a great hat.

While all this hat designing was going on, I took time to describe the race to my daughter. Good thing! She thought the horses were going to race around in our neighborhood! Yikes! I wish I had taken time with her to find a horse to dub as our own and cheer on.

When we arrived at L & J 's home, I was greeted warmly by the hosts and their family. The lighting was perfect and what was really nice is they thought about room temp. on a hot day. (I alway forget this part). Also the hostess had arranged stations; beverages; good eats; a place to sit and watch the race; then a place for the kids to play. She had obviously thought about what the kids might like to play with and had it all ready for them. That was just inside! Outside they had chairs arranged on their deck, horseshoes in the backyard, darts in the garage-kids picnic table at the top of the drive.

L & J did a great job. They captured our attention from the invite and set us up for a bunch of fun! And fun we had! Hope they do it again and we are fortunate enough to be invited for a repeat.