Have you ever considered sharing your love of poker with your closest friends? Why not do so in the most epic, memorable way: by hosting a poker night! But here’s the catch. Instead of your usual, run-of-the-mill at-home poker game with snacks and cigars, this time you add another one of your favorite hobbies into the mix: LEGO.
Whether you have friends who are LEGO enthusiasts, buddies who regularly partake in poker games, or a select few of extra-special friends who enjoy both, surprising them with a LEGO casino at poker night is sure to make you the talk of the group for years.
To ensure your LEGO casino poker night [i]goes off without a hitch, you will want to plan ahead. All the information you will need to throw the perfect party is provided below.
1. The Decor
When attending a theme party, you expect appropriate, fun decor to set the mood.
To get started, create fun invites, whether to print out and mail or to send electronically. Etsy is a great site or app you can use if graphic design isn’t your speciality.
A quick search will yield hundreds of results for LEGO and poker-themed invitations. Many Etsy shop owners will custom-design an invite for you upon request.
When creating an invitation, be sure it includes the following:
- Start and end time
- Buy-in and re-buy
- What they are required to bring
- Whether food will be provided
- If there is a dress code
- If they can bring someone
- RSVP requests
To continue with the theme, you will want to build casino-themed Lego masterpieces. Check out the video below to learn how to make LEGO casino poker tables and a LEGO roulette table. You can use the creation as a table centrepiece or place it somewhere else in your house, just as long as you know people will notice it.
You can also decorate your home with pictures of games in online casinos. These live-action shots add to the theme and fun, while encouraging sparking conversation. Here[i] is a great site to visit for ideas.
You can also include the poker theme [ii]in your decor by using black, white, and red decorations. Think of unique ways to incorporate the four card suits into your decorations, whether by creating a banner to hang on the wall or by making shaped cut-outs to sprinkle over the tables.
2. The Food
What party would be complete without tasty snacks and delicious food? But for the ultimate LEGO casino poker night, not just any ordinary grub will do.
When thinking about what food to serve at poker night, you should consider opting for finger foods and snacks that won’t make a big mess. For example, as delicious as chicken wings are, they aren’t ideal for card players who would have a hard time playing a hand with sauce-covered fingers.
Perhaps the most important food group of all, at any party, is chips. It’s super easy to incorporate the LEGO theme into this part of your party. You can use original LEGO blocks, ideally red, white, and black ones, to create containers large enough to hold your snacks. Use a LEGO platform as the base, then build up the sides of the container in whatever shape you desire. A simple square “bowl” will do! Then, fill the LEGO container with chips. Repeat for however many dishes and chip options you want to serve. You can use the same idea for a napkin or utensil holder as well, as pictured below.
Another great food idea to serve is a hot appetizer that can be kept warm in a slow cooker. Meatballs are a great option! You can find perfectly-themed toothpicks at just about any nearby party store. Allow your guests to fill their plate and use their poker-themed toothpicks to munch on meatballs as the cards flow.
A fruit or vegetable tray is another great easy food idea that stays relatively mess-free and is popular among party-goers.
Of course, you can’t forget about dessert! You can create fun, tasty cookies that look like poker chips[iii], or a sheet cake decorated to look like a playing card. If you are feeling adventurous, you can create a cake that looks like it was made from LEGO bricks, then decorated to fit the poker theme.
3. The Crowd
When putting together a party of any sort, it’s essential to take extra precaution when creating your guest list. Particularly for a poker night, you will want to do your best to make sure the people you are inviting get along. Poker is a competitive game, but you want to keep it friendly.
As best you can, invite people who know how to have a good time without letting things get out of hand. But be careful not to intentionally let anyone feel left out. If you are even the least bit concerned about how someone may behave at your get-together, don’t invite them. It’s always better to err on the side of caution.
4. Don’t Take Things Too Seriously
Remember, at the end of the day it’s just a party. Your intention all along was to create an event that would be fun for anyone and everyone involved. Don’t let the small details stress you out and don’t let anyone take things too far. Keep it light, keep it fun and have a good time. You never know, you just may start a tradition among your friends, family, or colleagues.
References:
[iii] Etsy – Poker chip cookies
