Party Panache, Delayed Derby
We have had a Kentucky Derby watching party the past few years,
wearing crazy hats, picking the winners,
noshing on apps and sipping cocktails…
Of course in early May, everything was shut down
and we were so disappointed…
But when we found out it was rescheduled for Labor Day weekend
we were thrilled!
It has become a family tradition to gather at the beach house
for Labor Day, with HH’s sister and her family,
together we are 12 adults and 11 children
Since everything we do is outside
we felt comfortable keeping the tradition this year
Daytime is spent boating and in the evenings we cookout,
the adults watch sports and chat
while the kids swim in the pool or play in the sand
We couldn’t watch the traditional Alabama football season opener,
which is delayed until September 26
But we could watch the Derby
and have our Kentucky Derby party!!
I got busy and printed out the betting sheets
We have been using these sheets the past few years,
there is a site, here, that generates kooky fun horse names
by entering the first letter of a name and birthday
Each child was included too,
they really have fun picking the winners
Instead of betting with money, we bet for prizes
Everyone chose a horse to win, place and show,
and we watched “the most exciting 2 minutes of sports,”
cheering on our choices!
My financial genius nephew calculated the votes
and declared the winners after the race
Each bag was filled with goodies for the whole family,
fancy BBQ sauces, mustards and other jarred condiments for the guys,
scented soaps and shower gels for the ladies,
and lollipops for the kids
The win and place bags also had goodies from my Society 6 shop,
a tote bag and an acrylic box
There was even a bag for last place,
with 1 bottle of BBQ sauce and a few lollipops
Just for fun I tucked a sheet of “dollar bills” into each bag
Everyone loved their prize bags,
and by sheer luck each category was won
by a family member of each of the different families!
One family couldn’t come at the last minute
and a couple of the boys were doing other things,
so our group was smaller this year,
10 adults and 7 children…
CC had no trouble keeping all her boy cousins in line!!
We kept things simple,
one night we had a shrimp boil with fresh gulf shrimp,
local Conecuh sausage {smoked sausage},
fresh corn and new potatoes
The next night we had hamburgers,
HHjr asked the butcher at the grocery store
to make 3 dozen slider sized burgers,
he combines ground steak with ground beef for a delicious burger
Having the butcher make the patties doesn’t cost any more
and it’s one less thing the cook has to do
We set out a burger buffet line
with buns, pickles, condiments, chips and salad
An easy way to feed gang of kids and adults!
You can also make these Cheesy Bacon Party Burgers for a crowd,
they can be made ahead of time and baked in the oven
No last minute cooking stress!
I hope you had a wonderful Labor Day!
On to football!!
I will be joining these fabulous parties and blogs:
Meal Plan Monday Love Your Creativity Over the Moon
Between Naps on the Porch, Celebrate Your Story,
All About Home/ Common Ground Follow the Yellow Brick Home
Make it Pretty Monday Tasty Tuesday Oh My Heartsie Girl
Turn About Tuesday Full Plate Thursday Centerpiece Wednesday
Thursday Favorite Things Creatively Crafty Creative Cumpulsions
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What delicious fun over Labor Day Jenna! Love your win, place, show and show-up bags! Your grands and their cousins are growing up! ♥
Thanks Mary, it’s so much fun to have a group of them together!
Jenna, you and your family know how to throw a party. I am always amazed at how you do all you do. You never miss a beat with entertaining family and friends. CC is the only girl with all the boy cousins…the children are adorable in their swimsuits. What a delightful way to celebrate the Labor Day Weekend. Football will be different this year, Roll Tide!
Almost forgot to mention, the shrimp boil looks fabulous!
We did have a great weekend, thank you Pam! CC does have 2 girl cousins, but that family didn’t get to come…My family all lives in Calif so they don’t get to see those cousins too often, but luckily they have their Alabama cousins that they see often.
Now THAT seems like the normal family party- YAY!! So glad you could still do this, Jenna. The food sounded great, and those party bags super thoughtful and fun. That is one really good-looking group of kids!!
It did feel so normal Rita…we had such a great time…but one family lives in Boston and they had to get Covid tested before they could fly home! Definitely NOT normal!!
Sure looks like a wonderful Labor Day weekend for your family. I know how much you look forward to hosting your extended family and what fun to have the Derby to entertain all. Great food and love the kiddos. Strange not having our football!
Thank you Emily, we had so much fun, but no football was strange…fingers crossed every thing will go as planned once it starts, Roll Tide!
I was so thrown-off when I turned on the TV and saw the Derby on Labor Day weekend! Topsy turvy world, for sure! So glad they finally got to run and so glad your family got to have their party. Those children are blessed to belong to such a loving and fun group of nice people – who feed them very, very well! Yum!
You are too sweet, thank you Leslie Anne!
What a fun party and idea! Good idea for the Derby to be on Labor Day weekend! Love the win/place/show things and the food sounds delicious (surprise, surprise! — it always is!)
Thanks Jeanie, it was so wonderful to be together!
What a fun party idea! Looks like everyone had a great time. Loving those bacon burgers, too.
Thanks Kim, yes great weekend, so thankful!
What a wonderful party! Great ideas, and I love the hat!
Thanks Dorothy, even the boys wore hats {for about 2 minutes 😂} !
Looks like you had a perfect day, Jenna! LOVE the cousins’ picture: what a good-looking and darling group they are. Menus looked wonderful: I like the idea of having the butcher form the sliders and mixing up the beef. You are the best of hostesses and I love the idea that everyone could “vote” for the winners and have a chance for such creative prizes. You made it all possible and showed that life could be almost normal again!! Bravo to you!
Thanks so much Rosie, it did feel normal even though we would normally be watching football…as for the prizes, I basically raided the pantry and bagged it up 😂 With so many mouths to feed, I wanted to keep it really simple…one thing I didn’t mention was the charcuterie boards we had every night, basically just several cheeses, crackers, salami and apples…kept those hungry boys happy while dinner was cooking!
Love these pictures–a fun time was had by all. So glad we can vicariously share the good times of your family as they squeeze the last drops of fun and sun out of the last days of summer. A summer that desperately needed these images of family–thanks for sharing. Georgia Gal
Thanks Georgia Gal, I was grateful for every second and we were all so happy we were able to keep our Labor Day tradition!
Jenna, you are a genius! What a fun Derby Party.
Thanks so much Judy, we did have fun!