Hold a Kentucky Derby party! Ideas:

• Prepare a buffet of Southern food for your guests, such as burgoo, shrimp etufe, fried chicken, hush puppies, grits, sautéed greens, and sweet potato pie.

• Mint juleps are the traditional drink. The official recipe contains Early Times. For a non-alcoholic version, use ginger ale, tonic or lemonade in place of the bourbon.

• Fancy hats are considered in style for any major horse race. Hold a hat contest.

• Hand out words to My Old Kentucky Home so everyone can sing along.

• Have a twin spires cake contest in honor of the beautiful twin spires of Churchill Downs. See who can bake the best reproduction of this example of nineteenth century American architecture.

• Stock your party with Derby party supplies and official glasses. There are also more derby gifts here.

• Decorate your Kentucky Derby party room with action horse posters.

• Tune into early, because there will be a Seattle Slew of pre-race coverage, usually six hours worth! Typically, a smaller channel like ESPN will cover the races prior to the big one, then coverage switches to NBC at 6PM (EST).

I hope your party comes in furlongs ahead of the pack. I've included some helpful cookbooks below to assist you in the delights of southern cooking. Having lived in the south myself previously, I am a big fan of this regional cuisine. Now, as Trevor Denman says... "and away they go..."

I could not live without this woman's cookbooks! Easy, delicious - Paula Deen knows what she's doing. Now you can get a box set of two of her books (spiral bound for cooking ease) for around $20, an incredible bargain.
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Paula Deen also sells her own spices:
Buy them at Amazon