Bunco Ideas

annedemps

I am a lurker on here from time to time and would love to enlist some help. I am hosting my first ever Bunco party with a new group of people. Needless to say I am trying to make a good first impression. The party does not have to have a theme but am looking for some good ideas from people. Any help would be much appreciated! 

JennyQ1985

Maybe just do a little spring theme.  It's easy enough, put fresh spring flowers (with lots of color) as the centerpiece.  Then you can take fake leaves and write the people's names on them placecards.& use colorful table clothes & paper goods.

Are you serving food?  Maybe just something on the light side?  You could do a spinach or spinach/artichoke dip with light flaky crackers, fruit & cheese kabobs (or by itself - baked brie is always good), a little veggie platter or something like celery stuffed with a good veggie dip.

I'd provide a light non-alcoholic punch or tea along with some wine.

kelly-sean

One of my co-workers has a group of friends that do bunco night once a month, and they rotate whose house it is at, and when it is your turn you do all the cooking, that way you only have to do it once or twice a year depending on how many people are in your group.  Some groups do prizes for the winners, but they have a $5 buy in so you win money instead. 

katarczyna

Caprese skewers always go over really well when we entertain. (Small ball of mozzarella with a cherry tomato and piece of basil on a toothpick, drizzled with olive oil and salt)

When I've done Bunco with friends, pretzles and M&Ms on tables seem to get eaten. Whether people like them or not might be a different story. . . I dont think we realized we were eating them. 

Jim&Jaime

I always pick some sort of theme for my parties.  That can mean many things: Greek, Italian, cocktail, appetizers, BBQ, etc., but I find that once you pick out that common thread, everything else has a line to fall into.

klaus

I am in a bunco group.  I thinkhaving a theme helps with the planning and with the color scheme.  Some of the themes we have used are:

cinco de mayo, springtime in paris, mediterranean, tailgate, valentines day, st. patricks day, Christmas, fall, halloween, 4th of July, breakfast for dinner

We usually do 6 apps and 3 desserts.  The apps are a variety of cold and hot.  The drinks usually go with the theme...ie. watermelon martini's for 4th of July or spiced apple cider for fall or halloween (diet soda, soda, water and sometimes beer and/or wine too). 

Some apps that are crowd pleasers:  sausage roll, buff chix wing dip, caprese salad on a stick, blue cheese dip, mexican tortilla roll-ups, bruschetta, chicken skewers, sliders, grilled chic wings, mini-quiche, greek layered dip with pita, aspargus wrapped in prosciutto, gorgonzola stuffed apricots

Desserts: choc covered strawberries, frozen choc covered banana bites, cupcakes, mini-key lime tarts, cookies, build your own crepe bar (fruit, nutella, ice cream)

 I am sure you will do a great job.

 

T&A08

my bunco group tends to use the holidays as our themes too.  We do more of a potluck, so each person brings something to share.  For us it is easier than putting the burden all on one person.

If you have to do all the cooking, I would keep it light. Our experience is if we go overboard with food, everyone spends too much time eating and it takes forever till we can actually play the game! 

annedemps

Thank-you ladies. We rotate food and drink month to month, but from what I noticed at the 2 other parties I have been to the host ususally makes a little extra.

I will definitely try to set a theme and go from there. I appreciate your advice.  

MadebyaPrincess

Hi!  I just hosted my first bunco party this past Saturday and it was a Pink Parisian Bunco Bonne Fete theme.  Since pink is my favorite color and I love all things girly and french I figured this was the perfect theme to kickoff our bunco parties.  This is what I did:

Invitation: Pink background with a Parisian cafe scene across the top and black and white damask along the bottom.  The wording said: "Come to an evening in Pink Paris, For a Bunco Bonne Fete, C'est Magnifique!"   

Decorations: Pink, hot pink, black, white, and silver were the colors I used.  The party was held outside in my backyard so I had twinkly lights in the trees and candles on the tables. I made tissue paper pompoms and hung them in the trees.  I bought balloon lights from Michaels and strung them through the pompom so they glowed.  At the end of the light I hung a pink crystal with fishing wire so they looked like floating diamonds in the trees. I used black and white tablecloths and used the same crystals hanging in the trees in vases on the tables with "fake" candles to cast a pink glow.  I designed and created all the bunco materials and each table had a different theme (Eiffel Tower, poodle, "Paris", and parisian cafe.) In the house I had more lighted pompoms with drop crystals, glitter garland (from Martha Stewart), strings of pink crystals in the windows, and pink, white, and black serving pieces.

 

Food: Chocolate dipped strawberries, strawberry wafer cookies, gougere, tray of french cheese and crackers, macaroons, puffed pastries, brownies, cookies, mini quiche, tomato and cucumber salad, and chips and dip. We also had lots of French wine and sparkling pink lemonade.

 

Wow factors for the guests: The twinkly tissue paper pompoms dripping with crystals.  Everyone loved those and it was a fairly easy (although time consuming project).  The coordinated scorecards, table tents, and tally sheets, wine charms, and accessories were a big hit as well (www.madebyaprincess.etsy.com).

 

Have fun!