Family photo before all the guests arrive and things get going!
I mentioned in my "Weekend Shenanigans" post that Scott came home as a birthday surprise for David!
{Yes, it was somewhat intentional that the photo goes youngest to oldest}
{Yes, it was somewhat intentional that the photo goes youngest to oldest}
We chose the Casino Royale theme and set up a poker table for Texas Hold 'Em, a table for Blackjack, and a Roulette table. Everyone was asked to dress up ("Think James Bond"), and they all came looking SHARP! We were so amazed and excited about how willing everyone was to participate.
There were very few people who couldn't make it, or didn't come. We had a turnout of 29 people {31 if you include my parents who popped in for 10 minutes}!
Adam and I. Many random Blackjack photos throughout the night
Loving the bow-tie! Very handsome birthday boy. And very creepy Scott!
Jeff's awkward bathroom selfie. Bow-tie is on point though!
Guests arrived and were given the run-down by David. They were able to purchase their chips and gamble their hearts out! $20 got you 500 chips, but it wasn't mandatory that you put money in. At 6:30pm gambling started up.
We had champagne ready for guests when they walked in. We had some wine and beer available, and we served margaritas (or Stu-garitas as we call them) all night as well as a non-alcoholic punch. Other than that, it was primarily BYOB.
Jeff and Scott picked up Heine-keg for the evening. We had to do a quality control test before everybody got there of course.
Champagne as you enter!
Fruit Punch
Elissa was a wizard as she kept re-stocking the food plates/trays as they emptied. She's a better host at my house than I am! Haha. We SO appreciated her help with making sure everything was stocked up and people were happy and fed.
Look how nice everyone is dressed! They all participated. Love it!
One thing I've learned from hosting parties is that the vegetables ALWAYS go. I feel lame sometimes bringing vegetables to an event as a "snack", but they're often the first thing to go! People need their greens.
From 6:30-10:00 people trickled in and gambled away. We arranged to have dealers for each of our three games who were all knowledgeable and could teach rookies how to play while keeping everything organized.
{Poker - Kelly Dinney; Roulette - Greg Gerber; Blackjack - Rich Gerber}.
Again, we cannot believe their enthusiasm and willingness to help us out! We are so grateful. They were all perfect. Charismatic, helpful, fun, organized... everything that helped our party go smoothly!
Uncle Rich being our professional Blackjack dealer
You may notice I am wearing two dresses throughout the night. This one is my Grade 12 grad dress. After a while (and much food), it got too tight and I decided to change into a more comfortable (and more sparkly) dress.
Lots of winners this round!
Uncle Rich looks so pleased to be taking our money. Also Jake came in his fancy Indian dress clothes! Love it!
Caitlyn ruling at the Roulette table. Nobody dared compete for a while.
Kelly really knows what she's doing!
Scott was taking some "reaction shots" at the Blackjack table. Here's one of my favourites.
I love this shot Jeff took of Scott, Adam and I at the Blackjack table.
Scott and Ross. Looking sharp!
Glad Scott took some selfies with the guests! Spencer and Scotty
Photobomb a la Brad
Everyone was excited as Greg dolled out the winnings in Roulette.
Poker-chip's view
Many people crowded around the Roulette table playing their odds!
Look at all those bets!
These photos are all SO out of order. This is from the very beginning of the night.
At 10:00 we had cake and sang "Happy Birthday" to David. Allana baked a delicious Casino-themed cake for David. Very thoughtful of her, and I'm glad I didn't have to worry about it!
After everyone had had a piece of cake, we did a quick chip-count to establish which 5 people had the highest number of chips remaining. We had arranged to have 5 prizes for our top 5 chip leaders instead of doing a cash payout at the end of the night. (Couldn't risk house losing!).
GOOD THING WE DID THIS! Caitlyn Van Dijk dominated at Roulette and would have cleaned out our bank account if we had to pay her back in real cash! She won first prize and picked the $25 Starbucks Card. Second place went to Taylor's friend Andrew, who picked $20 worth of Scratch & Wins. Third place went to Scott and he also picked another prize of $20 Scratch & Wins. Fourth place went to Rachel and she chose a bottle of wine. Finally, fifth place went to Ross, and the last prize remaining was a free buy-in for the Poker Tournament that was starting after our general gambling.
LOVE this cake! Perfectly fits into the theme.
After prizes were distributed everyone had a chance to continue gambling if they wished, eat some food, socialize or head home.
I can't recall what time the Poker Tournament started (maybe 10:30?), but there were 9 players who bought in (including Ross). At midnight I poured some Kraken and we rang in Jeff's birthday with song and shooters!
At around 1:00 am Elissa and I decided to make another batch of popcorn in the popcorn machine (which I regrettably forgot to take a photo of). That was the best idea we'd had all night! Everyone loved the little buttery salty mid-night snack.
Over the next couple hours players slowly started to lose and by 3:00 am (after time-change) it was down to the final three: Michael, David and Jeff. Michael was next out and won back his $20. The only two left were the birthday boys! David ended up in second place and took home $40, while Jeff won the remaining $140. Very fitting!
Kelly was our Texas Hold 'Em dealer for the evening, so she stayed for a little while to watch the boys get going with their tournament.
That is a full table!
Late night/Early morning selfies while we wait for our husbands! Elissa, do you think we need a "couple name"? Renissa? Elinee? I like Renissa better...
We spent a while with some of the poker losers playing around with Snapchat and the face swapping. I couldn't figure out the next day why my abs were hurting, and then I recalled how hard we were laughing!
This gem right here is a face swap between Adam & I. It is just wayyy too confusing for my brain to handle, but you can imagine why we were laughing so hard. {Especially with a few drinks in us and considering it was 2 am}.
This is what was left of the Kraken near the end of the game. Yikes!
This brought us to 3:15 am, and most people went to bed. We had a bunch of people staying over, so David and I stayed up until everyone was settled in. That means we didn't get to bed until 4:00 am! When is the last time I stayed up that late? Over-nighters in high-school?!
One regret. I didn't take as many nice photos as I wish I did... I was too busy enjoying the fun! The photos I posted were a compilation of my phone photos and my brothers'. A lot of them are rather dark as my iPhone just doesn't cut it anymore.
I also wish I had taken some video, particularly of Caitlyn winning at Roulette. That was a sight to see! It was so loud in that room every time she won!
While I regret this, I'm glad I wasn't obsessing over the photos and having more fun living in the moment.
**UPDATE** Mom sent me this short, but sweet video from the party! Yay!
Overall we could not be happier with how this party turned out. We are so thrilled it went smoothly and we were so organized. A huge thank you to all those who made it possible. Everyone who participated and dressed up, gambled, socialized, dealt, and had fun with us!
Some people have even told us they think this was the best birthday party they'd ever been to. That's reassurance enough for me!
Now what do I do for MY 25th birthday in December?! Better start planning now!
1. So sad to be part of the few who couldn't be there
ReplyDelete2. I love eating veggies when someone else has gone to the trouble of chopping them up for me.
3. Jake looks awesome.
4. Love that you had to change into a stretchier dress. But mostly impressed that you were able to get into it in the first place. Doubt that I could.
5. Brayd would have played roulette all night long. Maybe it’s better that we weren't there ;)
6. Definitely Renissa. Miss you girls!
Such a great party – way to go super planner!!