Nothing says Kentucky Derby quite like seersucker and fascinators! We partnered with Rena Jacobs and Mary Massey of Type Social and John Garda of Diageo to celebrate the greatest two minutes in sports at Sons & Daughters. We are excited to share our Derby Day with you!
The Kentucky Derby is a horse racing event, rich in both history and tradition since 1875. The Derby is held annually at Churchill Downs race track in Louisville, Kentucky, on the first Saturday in May. The Kentucky Derby is in its 143rd year and is the longest running sporting event in the United States. The tradition of sipping mint juleps, donning fabulous hats and singing Stephen Foster’s “My Old Kentucky Home” transforms the Derby from just a sporting event to a grand celebration of Southern culture and Americana.
We transported our guests to the Club House of Churchill Downs. Our stylish and sophisticated party featured equestrian and Southern-themed decorations, signature cocktails and a Southern-inspired menu. We selected a preppy color palette featuring shades of blue, green and yellow with hints of orange. Hostess with the Mostess has several Derby printables that you can download for free. Her Preppy Paddock printables fit perfectly with our theme and matched this adorable backdrop from WH Hostess. We purchased a variety of picture frames from Michaels to display our printables. Last year, we choose Americana colors and used this set of printables by Hostess with the Mostess.
FESTIVE FLORALS
The Derby is often called “The Run for the Roses.” Accordingly, roses are the official flower of the Kentucky Derby and a garland of red roses is draped over the winning horse. Inga from International Garden created our floral arrangements with beautiful yellow, orange and white roses. Since this is a horse race, Archana also created adorable paddock centerpieces complete with mini horses. We spray painted the horses to match our preppy color scheme.
FASTEN YOUR FASCINATORS AND BOW TIE ONE ON
Dressing the part is key. Ladies wore floral dresses and festive hats/fascinators while the gentleman sported bow-ties and fedoras. Vineyard Vines was the official sponsor of the Derby, but we also recommend our friends Ralph, Ted, Kate, Lilly and Milly.
CHURCHILL COCKTAILS
Mint Juleps are the official drink of the Kentucky Derby and are often served in ice-frosted silver cups. Since bourbon may not be for everyone, Diageo and Sons & Daughters also served Winner’s Circle Punch, Derby Day Collins and Run for the Rosé (for those that prefer wine to cocktails).
We added Southern charm to the glassware with floppy hat and bowtie wine markers. We also made Derby hat stirrers and Derby drink flags for the Churchill cocktails.
TRIPLE CROWN MENU
We worked with Chef, Jon Bignelli at Sons & Daughters to create a Southern inspired menu.
We ordered the fried chicken and biscuits, which was delicious. Guests also raved about the Kentucky Hot Browns and the Bowtie Pesto Pasta.
THE PHOTO FINISH
We believe every party should have a fabulous Photo Booth. We designed Derby Photo Booth props that coordinated with the preppy backdrop from WH Hostess.
THE KENTUCKY DERBY TROPHY
We scouted for Best Dressed Southern Gentlemen and Southern Belle throughout the evening. Our friends, Noah and Kristen, won the awards and received custom Best Dressed cookies from Julie James of The Meringue Bakeshop NYC. Julie is offering a 15% discount to Twinspirational Followers- just place your order with the code Twinspirational.
THE FAVORS
Archana created chocolate Derby favors for the guests. She made bow-ties, ladies hats, horses in milk, vanilla, orange and lemon chocolate.
THANK YOU
Special thanks to Rena, Mary, Diageo, the wonderful staff at Sons & Daughters and everyone that joined us.
We couldn’t have asked for a better group!
Can’t wait for the next big event! Cheers.
“The best thing about the Kentucky Derby is that it is only two minutes long. It is the quickest event in sports, except for Sumo-wrestling & Mike Tyson fights. Maybe Drag-racing is quicker, but I have never been attracted to it.”––Hunter S. Thompson
I love how everyone really dressed the part, everyone looks like they’re having fun! I’d surely love to try those refreshing cocktails and those delicious appetizers.
Whoa, this looks and sounds like an AMAZING place to go to! I would love to visit here myself one day.
Run for the roses! How lovely and inspirational!
This is SUCH a cute idea!! I’ll remember this for next year.
Wow, sounds like a great fun Derby event! I am loving everything about it❤️. From the beautiful theme-based decor to stunning outfits to those delicious foods, just WOW 😍😍😍
Wonderful outfits, truly colorful. Didn’t know about the Run of the Roses before, but I do now!
the event looks wonderful! it is such a nice idea!
It looks like you had a lot of fun. This is really exciting.