The best buffet ideas for a casino theme use an assortment of finger foods. Casino themes tend to contain games and lots of activity. You need to serve food that can move with people as they socialize and gamble. Anything that requires sitting down with a fork and knife will be too cumbersome.
Basic Buffet
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Offer a basic buffet if you're trying to stick to a budget for your casino theme. Choose delicious and cheap finger foods so that you can cut costs without sacrificing taste. Use a "golden treasure" theme with fried foods, such as French fries, tater tots, chicken fingers, fish sticks, cheese sticks, mushroom caps and jalapeño poppers. Add a variety of dipping sauces and some healthy, "golden," side dishes, such as pineapple chunks, sliced yellow apple and yellow pear spears.
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Dessert Buffet
A dessert buffet idea for a casino theme can be as simple or elaborate as your budget allows. Cut costs by making the desserts yourself or splurge and pay a bakery to make the desserts for you. Use white sugar cookies, blue blueberry sugar cookies and red strawberry sugar cookies stacked like poker chips. Add mini apple tarts or fudge brownies decorated to look like playing cards. Fill plastic treasure chests with chocolates, caramels and hard candies to create the treasure.
Gambling Buffet
Take your casino theme to the extreme with a gambling-inspired buffet. Cut cantaloupe, honeydew and watermelon pieces in spade and club card suite shapes. Cut finger sandwiches into diamond and heart card suite shapes. Stack round cracker, cucumber and cheese slices on a platter like poker chips. Add bowls of foil-covered, chocolate coins for a dessert.
Gourmet Buffet
Gourmet food tends to be an easy thing to find around a big casino. Gamblers who win big want to celebrate big, and most casinos provide many opportunities to splurge. Help your guests feel like big winners with prosciutto-wrapped asparagus spears, crab-stuffed mushrooms, lobster cheese puffs, shrimp-stuffed celery and artichoke-heart bacon bites. Add some bruschetta garnished with pine nuts, rosemary butter rolls and honey-glazed dried apricots.
Seafood Buffet
A seafood buffet is a common site in most casinos. Seafood tends to be expensive and difficult when used in a buffet, making its inclusion a sign of a quality establishment. Indulge your guests in the lavish experience of a casino buffet by providing a few of the many seafood finger foods available. Start a casino-themed seafood buffet with a variety of shrimp dishes. Offer fried popcorn shrimp, shrimp cocktails, teriyaki shrimp rolls and spicy shrimp poppers. Add crab cakes, crab puffs, lobster-stuffed mini croissants and fried clams. Prepare a variety of dipping sauces and some side dishes, such as rolls, veggie spears and/or fruit salad.