Long days and nights spent on the beach are often filled with country music sounds and small fires during the cooler evenings to create the most tranquil evening of fun. People often pack in delicious snacks and spend the day and night chatting away, while their skin dries from the salty waters and the sun starts to set. A great way to add some fun into downbeach evenings is to bring some games into the mix or if it's too cold out, you can bring the downbeach atmosphere straight into your home.
Regardless of where you decide to have the evening, below are some tips to follow to make for an ideal evening.
The easiest and most efficient option is a deck of cards. You can play so many different games with a deck, like poker or blackjack which will make you feel like you're having a real New Jersey casino experience when in fact you're still in your bathing costume, watching the sunset over the horizon and smelling the fresh air of the downbeach. A fun way to bring tokens into play, in case you go the poker route, is by using shells or small rocks that you find on the beach. It will bring a more downbeach experience to an otherwise casino-themed evening. You can even record who the winner is by marking lines in the sand, just be sure to notice if the wind picks up so that you don't lose the tally. Bring some more thrill into the evening for every losing hand, the person has to take a plunge into the ocean and the winner gets to decide how long the person has to stay in the water. There are so many fun ways that you can combine some friendly rivalry in casino games whilst still enjoying the outdoors of the downbeach.
Some of the most noteworthy cocktails could be virgin champagne jello cocktails, you can prepare these early during the day and add some blue food coloring which makes it look like the ocean. A fitting drink to match the celebratory nature of winning a hand at a casino game with champagne but making it blue to suit the downbeach atmosphere. You can also make a virgin royal flush drink, which could be a funny one for the loser to have to drink or even make a virgin Las Vegas bomb shot that the winner gets to drink as their reward.
Always make sure you have some fun snacks to go along with the casino theme. Think about the colors of a poker table, there is often a lot of green, red and gold. Although these colors are a bit hard to find, you should try to incorporate them into dishes, even if it is just for the garnish. If it's too hard, then stick to sweet treats as it is much easier to add custom colors, such as poker-themed brownies or cupcakes. This will add a poker dimension to the game night.
One of the easiest and best ways to get everyone into the casino theme is by playing a famous casino movie. You could pop in an Ocean's Eleven movie, which is fitting for a casino night, before the evening gets started or have it running in the background. Make a fun game out of it and have everyone at the poker table say a line from the movie to play their hand. If a movie doesn't sound like the right idea to you, then add some poker-themed decorations. Keep the beach shells as the tokens to keep the downbeach theme going but add a poker-themed tablecloth to your dining room table to make for a more festive spirit. The options are endless, so pick the ones that seem the most fun to you and get going.
By Chris Bates
