My husband and I have been hosting an annual party for the last few years on the Saturday of the Kentucky Derby Race. My love for the Kentucky Derby began as a little girl. I love dressing up and I love to wear the fun hats.
I thought it would be fun to post all of the party decor we have had so far over the last few years. When we started the Derby parties, we had just gotten engaged. We have had low budgets for this party since the first year we started hosting, but the good thing about an annual party is that you save what you used the year before and use it for the next one! I have also bought additional things over the years.
Below is the latest party we had in May 2021. We always use greenery walls or some type of photo backdrop. I made a horse head out of foam core board, moss, roses and cardboard spray painted gold for the halter. You can find the DIY post for the horse cut out here. Most all of the decor was purchased from Amazon and others were a DIY. You can shop all the decor I have used here.
What is a Derby party without a drink fountain?? This easily elevates the setting for any type of party. For the punch, I mixed Hawaiian Fruit Punch, Pineapple Juice and a little bit of Sprite together. Some of our friends mixed this with Malibu Rum, while other guests just drank it without the alcohol. Delicious! My husband also bought this whiskey barrel for me. I thought it went great with the party theme!
Below are pictures of drink areas we had set up for mimosas and mint juleps. You can find the link to the decorative toothpicks here.
Two years ago I wanted to wear some sort of flower crown with a horse. After searching for inspiration, my mother-in-law made me this gorgeous headband to wear. She used a wide black headband, floral foam, moss, clipped floral stems, a horse from the dollar store spray painted gold, and we made a tiny rose lei for him from tiny roses bought from amazon. You can find the tiny roses here. We had to secure the floral foam to the headband using zip ties/hot glue. We hid the zip ties and hot glue with the moss.
All of the banners we used, we made along with photo props for the photo wall. My mom made most of them. She is a creative Kindergarten teacher and is great with crafts.
The pictures below are from our first Derby party. We have come a long way, but every year we have so much fun and we enjoy getting all of our friends together.
Thank you for stopping by! Be on the lookout for our next Derby party post!
Xoxo