Secret Agent Josephine

I’ve wanted to throw a girl’s poker night for ages. Why should the men have all the gambling fun? Only problem is I don’t actually know or really want to learn how to play poker. I just want to dress up, drink out of fancy glasses and have fun. Which is a good enough reason to throw any kind of shindig in my book.

It all started with this glass decanter. I have a favorite thrift store I always stop into whenever I run errands in the next town over. They ahave the best treasures and it’s right on the main boulevard on my way to everything. I spotted this decanter right away in the curiosities section, my favorite section. I know decanters have fallen out of favor since we now know that lead glass can cause poisoning if you keep liquids in them for a prolonged amount of time but I was a sucker for it anyway. The clear round top called out to me. I could see the decanter sitting in a pretty bar cart that and then I would take pictures through that round sphere, distorting everything delightfully. Maybe I could peer through it and take a selfie.  I love funny old things like this.

Next I spotted the short, silver-rimmed coupe champagne glasses and I knew exactly what I had to do.  These would be perfect for sipping my favorite sparking Italian wine at an old-fashioned poker party. My girlfriends and I always need a reason to get together, eat snacks and drink fancy drinks. Who cares about the cards? It’s all about the snacks and drinks!

I did a little research on the champagne glasses and found similar ones by Dorothy Thorpe. I’m not getting my hopes that these are the real thing (they only cost me $3 each) but they sure do look like them.

Thorpe was a mid-century American artist who started decorating existing glass pieces when her husband lost his job during the depression. Her designs were so popular she set up shop that became the famous Dorothy Thorpe Inc. that we now know from her iconic whiskey tumblers that were popularized by the first two seasons of Mad Men

It turns out a few of my girlfriends do play poker so I bought some poker chips on eBay and I dug out my boyfriend’s collection of old playing cards. I wanted to spring for some vintage pin-up girl cards but decided against it in case any of my guests found them inappropriate.

Do you know the difference between casino chips and poker chips? Poker chips are mass-produced for home use. You can get them in clay and plastic and many blends in between. Casino chips are usually fancier because they are made by casinos and are used as currency when you are inside the casino. They are customized to the casino and can even include serial numbers and microchips inside them to avoid counterfeiting.

I chose these small poker chips because I liked the colors and I like tiny things.  When they arrived I was so happy with how smooth they felt nice in my hands but my boyfriend thought I was crazy. He prefers the big, brightly-colored chips instead. Maybe because he’s a seasoned gambler and likes to pretend he’s a high roller. I had other visions in mind. In fact when I sent out the invitations to my friends via email I included a whole sheet of pictures of women in Great Gatsby-esque get-ups for inspiration. There is nothing like a theme to get everyone excited and involved.

Next it was time to set the table. I opted to skip the traditional green felt table cloth and the round table since I didn’t have one and we weren’t that serious about playing cards by the rules but that could have been fun. If I had gone that route I would have desperately wanted a velvet painting of dogs playing cards to go behind my side table too. But that would be a whole other party.

Instead I dug out my collection of Sari’s and draped one on the wall and one on the table. I saved the more expensive dry clean only one for the wall where it was less likely to get soiled. Then I spread out some Middle Eastern doilies I had on hand to add more texture.

I found every cut glass item and silver tray I had in the house and set up my buffet table with fruit and cheese, crackers and chocolate. For my fruit and cheese platter I used an oversized cutting board.

I whipped up some of Tori’s famous stuffed figs with goat cheese and drizzled them with honey. I set them on a plate on an elevated cake plate to give my dishes some height.

Figs are coming into season and they always make such beautiful, rich addition to any fruit platter.

We can’t forget macarons, chocolate covered almonds and spicy sesame sticks! Since we were not serious poker players we set the snacks right on the table where we played cards but if you were following the rules you probably wouldn’t want to do that because I’ve heard that reaching for food can be a “tell” and reveal if a player is nervous or has a particularly good hand. Good to know!

My girlfriends took the theme seriously and dressed to the nines which made me extremely happy. Our get-together almost turned into a fashion show as we shared the stories behind our vintage jewelry and outfits. 

I love that everyone had pieces passed down from their mother’s and grandmothers and we finally had the perfect reason to wear them! So what started out as a fun card game turned into a night of story telling, laughter and good food. What more could you ask for?