Rooftop season is out and game night season is in! Who doesn’t love playing a few board games and drinking cocktails with friends? We hosted a fabulous game night at Sweetwater Social. With some TWINSPIRATION, you’ll want to host your own event at this perfect game night venue.
Most of us choose to repeat the same evening activities every week. While there’s nothing wrong with getting dinner, grabbing drinks or seeing a movie, why not shake up your normal routine with a festive game night? You could plan it at home or at a venue in the city. We hosted our first game night last year in an apartment lounge. This year we decided to switch it up and host our event at Sweetwater.
send out the instructions for game night
We used Splash to customize the perfect Game Night invitation. Splash distributes online invitations (think Evite, Paperless Post and Punchbowl), manages contact lists (think MailChimp), sells tickets (think Eventbrite), and creates a page to showcase the postparty photos (think Flickr). You can find our original invitation here.
the games
Sweetwater is centrally located in Soho. The space has a large selection of games from foosball to Ms. Pacman to Shuffleboard to the classics, Jenga and Connect 4. These games are a great way for your friends to get to know one another. Some games are geared to small groups, but we recommend playing in teams or tournaments to get more guests involved.
decorate the board game
We incorporated Scrabble themed printables from Catch My Party into the decor. We incorporated a bold color palette of purple, sky blue, green, orange and royal blue. We framed our section of the bar with a whimsical Scrabble Banner. Our fabulous floral arrangements featured beautiful pink ombre alstroemeria, blue hydrangea, purple daisies, eucalyptus and DICE. We styled the mini buffet table with food and drink tents. The labels not only told guests what they are eating (or drinking) but also added the perfect Scrabble touch.
game night bites
We created festive game night treats for our guests. Cheese Jenga was a was a big hit last year, so we repeated it this year. And yes, you can even play Cheese Jenga. Just make sure to serve it with crackers. We also created Domino popcorn bags with white paper bags, colorful circle stickers, black Sharpie markers and of course, popcorn! We also made chocolate dominos and poker chips.
reward the winners and guests
Archana also made game night themed chocolate favors and prizes.
add some whimsy to the bar
We believe every party should have a signature cocktail. Guests had their choice of three specialty drinks:
Applejack Sour: lairds applejack, lemon, sugar
Cruzan Strap ‘n Stormy: cruzan black strap rum, ginger, lime
Rittenhouse Old Fashioned: rittenhouse rye whiskey, demerara, bitters
Guests had a blast whether they were the winner, loser or viewer.
We had an amazing time at our second annual game night. Thanks to all of our friends for joining us.
Have you ever hosted a home game night? What are your favorite games to play with friends? Tell us in the comments.
“If you’re not prepared to lose every friend you have over a board game, you’re not playing hard enough”––Anonymous
Love this and the – if you’re not prepared to lose every friend quote!
That sounds like a fun night. It sure would be nice to be able to get together with friends for a game night like this. It sure would make me giggling like a little kid!
This looks like it was such a fun night! My group of friends loves to do game nights, but we host at our house since we have a wall of games. I like the themed food, though. I’m going to have to try to recreate some of those!
This looks epic. We have games nights with our friends at least once per month. Staying in is the new going out!!
Oh wow! That’s not a game night, that’s a game soiree! I love how you combined fun games with such a gorgeous atmosphere. Very cool!
Hihi…I think I am not playing enough board games. All the people I’ve played with, are still my friends. I love it that you all had fun here!
This is awesome, the type of game we love to play as a family. Interesting games on this post.
Who doesn’t love family game night??? Seriously so much fun and the competition in our house is fierce. Thank you for the inside look at the info. workers.
Looks like you had too much fun. Going out with friends and spending time is important. It not only gives you a chance to connect with them but also fun.
This looks like so much fun! We do family game nights, but we should definitely invite over some friends too!