Live Dealers in Your Living Room: Hosting the Ultimate Casino-Themed Party
Have you ever wanted to host a casino party at your own home? This guide will help you plan every aspect of your casino-themed party, from the games you want to play to little details like picking a menu. Once you’ve read this guide, you’ll be able to host a casino night that will make your friends and family feel like they’ve just taken a trip to Las Vegas.
- Introducing the Ultimate Casino Night… at Home
- Understanding Your Audience: Tailoring the Experience for Your Friends
- Setting the Stage: Creating a Casino Atmosphere
- Game Selection: Bringing Your Home Casino to Life
- Pro Dealers or Willing Volunteers?
- Enhancing the Casino Party Experience with Tech
- Laying Down the Law: Setting Rules for Fun and Fair Play
- Food & Drink: Crafting the Perfect Casino-Themed Menu
- No Deposit Bonuses: The Ultimate Party Bag Gift?
- Conclusion: A Night to Remember
Introducing the Ultimate Casino Night… at Home
With Canada’s casino boom in full swing, more and more people are interested in throwing their own casino night parties at home. Hosting a casino-themed party can be a thrilling experience, as you bring the excitement of your favourite games directly into your living room, just for you and your loved ones.
But a great DIY casino night isn’t just about the games. Anyone can set up a table and play poker, but a great casino night offers everything you’d get at a world-class resort: a fun theme, fabulous food and drink, and just the right atmosphere to make your home feel like a true night out.
Thankfully, all this isn’t nearly as much work as it might sound. We’ll break down all the ways in which you can give your friends a fun, memorable casino night without breaking the bank or making you pull your hair out sweating over every detail.
Understanding Your Audience: Tailoring the Experience for Your Friends
One key to a great casino party is knowing what your guests are looking for. Understanding what your friends and family enjoy when they visit a casino is key to ensuring the games, atmosphere, and stakes that are right for your party.
Here are a few of the common types of guests you might have to offer something for at your casino night:
- The Enthusiast: This person loves the excitement of gambling in a number of different ways, jumping from game to game throughout the night.
- The Novice: This is a guest who is new to casino gaming, but wants to learn some easy-to-play games.
- The High Roller: This player is an experienced casino gambler who wants VIP treatment and the ability to make big bets.
- The Casual Gamer: While this person enjoys the casino atmosphere, they prefer relaxed, non-competitive games.
- The Observer: This guest will be more interested in soaking in the atmosphere, theme, and food/drink options rather than playing games.
- The Digital Doyen: This individual wants a digital, high-tech experience that’s more like an online casino than a real-world resort.
- The Lucky Charm: This guest wants to roll the dice, playing games that don’t require skill and instead give them the chance to just get lucky.
- The Entertainment Seeker: This person wants a fun party first, with entertainment at the forefront and gambling as a secondary part of the night.
The No-Go: Be aware that some people won’t be interested in a casino party, with good reason. You may have friends or family for whom this style of party will be neither fun nor appropriate. Don’t invite those who you think may have gambling problems, and don’t be offended if anyone declines your invitation (for any reason). If you wish to help someone you suspect has issues with gambling, or are concerned you may be at risk yourself, we have a range of advice to offer.
Setting the Stage: Creating a Casino Atmosphere
Theming is an important aspect of any party, and can be key to a successful casino night. Here are a few quick tips on how you can create the perfect casino atmosphere.
Choosing a theme
To start with, you’ll need to pick a theme for your home casino. There are an endless number of possible themes, but here are a few ideas to get you started:
- Vegas Casual: Invite people to come dressed for a fun – but not stuffy – night out, with button-down shirts, polished shoes, and designer jeans or pants being the norm, just like it would be if you spent a weekend in Vegas with some friends.
- High Roller Glam: Let people know that you’re looking for them to dress up in formal attire, the kind of outfits you might wear out to a Hollywood premiere or an awards show – or to the high-roller room of a luxury casino resort.
- Retro Casino: Do you want to evoke the feeling of hanging out with the Rat Pack in a 1950s casino? Bring back the feeling of when casinos felt rare and special (and often tied to organized crime) with vintage clothing, fedoras, and anything else that feels like a blast from the past.
- Character Inspired Themes: In this theme, you will build your casino night around a famous character from movies or television – probably one that has close ties to the gambling industry. A classic example is James Bond, who comes with a bunch of easy theming ideas like baccarat, tuxedos, and martinis (shaken, not stirred).
Decorations
Of course, your casino night needs felt tables and chips, but that can be just the start of the decorative touches. Think about finding some gambling-themed neon signs, custom chips, and features related to your theme – like Las Vegas signs for a Vegas-style party, or European touches for a bit of Monte Carlo. Smaller decorations like stringers, plates, and napkins can be gathered from premade party sets with the casino theme.
Lighting
Casinos don’t use the same lighting as your typical house or apartment, and so you’ll want to make some adjustments for your casino party. Think about getting some coloured lighting for your gaming floor, once again finding ones that fit your chosen theme. In addition, you may want additional soft lighting to help players better see each gaming table…unless you’re going for the retro look, in which case dark and dingy might work for you!
Music
The music for your casino night should support your theme, but not overwhelm the senses or distract from the gaming. Think modern pop for a Vegas party, some Sinatra for a Rat Pack theme, or classical piano for a VIP session. Keep the volume down to where it feels more like background music than a live concert.
Game Selection: Bringing Your Home Casino to Life
Game selection is a critical part of any casino-themed party. For one, you’ll want to pick games that will best satisfy the needs of the people who are coming over to your home. Do you need simple games that are easy to learn? Strategic challenges for experienced players? Social games that involve many players at once?
You may need a mix of game types to satisfy everyone. In addition, you’ll have to consider how much room you have for gaming and what equipment you have on hand. You might want to offer everything from poker tables to craps and slot machines, but even some commercial casinos struggle to offer everything, and your space is likely far more limited.
You might not be sure how to play all these games, but that’s okay. Here at CBCA, we offer complete rules guides to all popular casino games, such as our guide to odds in baccarat – a must have for any James Bond-themed party.
Casino games to consider for your party
| Game | Learning Curve | Equipment Required | Space Required | Number of Players | Interaction Level |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Poker | Medium | Cards, Chips | Medium | 2-10 | High |
Blackjack | Easy | Cards, Chips | Medium | 1-7 | High |
Roulette | Easy | Wheel, Table, Chips | Large | 1-8 | Medium |
Craps | Medium | Dice, Table | Large | 2-20 | High |
Baccarat | Easy | Cards, Chips | Medium | 2-14 | Medium |
Slots (Digital or Machine) | Very Easy | Machine or App | Variable | 1+ | Low |
Texas Hold’em | Medium | Cards, Chips | Medium | 2-10 | High |
Three Card Poker | Easy | Cards, Chips | Medium | 2-8 | Medium |
Caribbean Stud | Medium | Cards, Chips | Medium | 2-8 | Medium |
Bingo | Very Easy | Bingo cards, Marker, Balls | Medium | Unlimited | High |
Pro Dealers or Willing Volunteers?
When it comes to running the games themselves, you have two main options. You might use yourself and some knowledgeable guests who want to deal one or more games to run your casino night. Alternately, you can bring in some professional dealers from a local casino party service to do the job for you.
There are advantages and disadvantages to both approaches. You and your friends work for free and might have fun doing the dealing, but you’ll probably make more mistakes, and might feel more like you’re working than having fun at a casino party. Meanwhile, the professional dealers will allow everyone to enjoy the fun, and might even bring their own equipment – but this costs money, and can really up the budget of your event.
Enhancing the Casino Party Experience with Tech
The most popular games in nearly every casino in the world are slot machines. While it’s possible to get actual machines into your home for a casino night, that might not be feasible for most people. Instead, a DIY casino night can take advantage of the vast number of free slots apps that are available online. You can even use free games from online casinos to offer slots or table games without taking up much space.
If your casino night is going to be more about keeping score than actually winning or losing money, there are some great mobile apps that offer generic score tracking. A couple great examples include Score Counter for Android or Scorekeeper XL for iOS.
You can also take your cue from Canadian casinos that are implementing new technology every day. Check out our guide to the future of land-based casinos to see what’s changing and what’s coming soon at real-world resorts.
Laying Down the Law: Setting Rules for Fun and Fair Play
Some casino parties might be fast and loose with how seriously the games are, while others might want to strictly emulate the casino experience. That’s why it’s so important to set up your rules of play before any actual gambling gets started.
First, you’ll need to decide what the betting limits are for your games. Are you wagering real money, or are we just using fake chips to see who comes out on top at the end of the night? If you’re playing with real money, be aware that you may well be violating gaming laws, and probably shouldn’t hire outside help. Real money gambling may also turn off some guests, though you could have everyone put up a set amount of money and award the pot to those who end the night with the most chips.
It’s also important to clearly state the rules and procedures of each game. Here are a few areas to consider:
- How are you going to prevent cheating?
- How should players make it clear what bets they wish to make?
- How will any disputes be resolved?
- How strict are the rules going to be followed?
Coming up with a set of guidelines that make everyone happy – from veterans to casino newbies – will help make your party fun rather than stressful.
Food & Drink: Crafting the Perfect Casino-Themed Menu
Like everything else about your casino party, the perfect menu will depend on your theme. However, the key is keeping players happy and energetic throughout the night. That likely means avoiding a full sit-down meal, and instead relying on appetizers, finger foods, and a variety of drinks (both alcoholic and not) that can be quickly grabbed and enjoyed at the gaming table. You might even include a buffet table to emulate the casino buffet experience!
Of course, the exact foods and drinks you choose to offer are up to you, and you should always take your guests’ dietary needs, allergens, and other concerns into consideration when planning a menu. With that in mind, here are a few popular ideas for casino night:
- Buffalo wings
- Mozzarella sticks or other fried snacks
- Meat and cheese platters
- Cocktail shrimp
- Sushi (arranging it into a roulette wheel is optional!)
- Oysters
- Chocolate desserts
No Deposit Bonuses: The Ultimate Party Bag Gift?
Once your casino party is over, your guests might be itching to try more gambling at home.
If anyone is interested, one great idea is to provide your friends with a link to our No Deposit Bonuses page! This will allow your guests to continue exploring their love of casino games – perhaps even some new ones that they just learned – without having to risk any of their own money. Who knows: one or more of them might have a great story about their first online casino win at your next party.
Conclusion: A Night to Remember
We hope that this page has given you everything you need to throw the perfect casino-themed party at your own home. Be sure to check out our homepage to learn more about Canada’s many great online casinos, each one of which can provide a personal gambling experience at your convenience. It’s kind of like an instant casino party for one that’s available anytime you want!