PaperCity Social Experts Dream Up Their Ultimate Texas Parties — From Favorite Occasions and Venues to Cocktails and Entertainment

Yes, your trio of party documentarians — Billy Fong, Shelby Hodge, and Melissa Smrekar — have quite a few opinions about the numerous galas, trunk shows, charity lunches, and fashion shows we attend almost daily during the social season. Hopefully you caught the story on Party Fouls in our September 2025 issue, where we shared many unfortunate moments we’ve witnessed (some quite comical, but others quite cringy). This year, we’re flipping the script and giving you our dream of the perfect party. Feel free to appropriate some ideas for your next shindig. 

Billy Fong, Editor-in-Chief, Dallas

Occasion: “Bubbly and Balls” — a sunset soirée with champagne and croquet benefiting a local arts organization (wink-wink, Dallas Contemporary or The Cedars Union).

Venue: On the grounds of the Rachofsky House. (By then, it might have a new owner and new moniker.)

Attire: Sartorial spins on seersucker.

Cuisine: Of course, hire the one and only Cassandra of Art 2 Catering to design on-theme finger foods. She will come up with a feast for the senses that’s far from fussy.

Cocktails: Given the theme, what else? Champagne in abundance.

Entertainment: Spinstress Lucy Wrubel behind her turntables with a playlist that vibes between French pop and acid jazz. And a special live performance by four drag queens dolled up as the Heathers (from the iconic 1992 Winona Ryder film directed by Michael Lehmann) singing Doris Day’s “Que Sera Sera.”

Surprises: Have artists create the course and equipment. I’d love to wield a croquet mallet created by Jeff Koons and play through a course envisioned by Maya Lin or Andy Goldsworthy. Then you can auction off everything for the cause.

Shelby Hodge, Social & Lifestyle Editor, Houston

Occasion: “Philanthropy Fantasy Afloat,” benefiting the Italian Cultural & Community Center of Houston. (No gasps, please. There is a reason behind selecting this nonprofit, in the grand scheme of things.)

Venue: Pier 21 in Galveston, where U.S. Ambassador to Italy Tilman Fertitta will dock his 384-foot-long megayacht Boardwalk. Big spenders can arrive by helicopter, as the yacht has two helipads.

Attire: Valentino, Prada, Miu Miu, Armani, Dolce & Gabbana.

Cuisine: Of course, it has to be from Landry’s, Fertitta’s hospitality empire. The best of the best from La Griglia, Mastro’s Steakhouse, and Willie G’s Seafood, plus stone crab claws from Joe’s Crab Shack. (The benefit date should be planned to coincide with stone crab season.)

Cocktails: Bellinis, negronis, martinis.

Entertainment: Fertitta bestie Pitbull, who twice headlined the ambassador’s San Luis Salute Mardi Gras bash in Galveston.

Surprises: Live auction of 10 opportunities for an overnight stay on the Boardwalk with Fertitta as your host.

Melissa Smrekar, Digital Editorial Director, Dallas + Fort Worth

Occasion: Gemini Ball, an homage to Princess Grace of Monaco’s legendary 40th birthday party, The Scorpion Ball, for Scorpios only. Only Geminis and those brave souls married to them may attend the Gemini Ball. (Gemini Elizabeth Taylor was only invited to Princess Grace’s party because her husband, Richard Burton, was a Scorpio.)

Venue: A lavish tent erected on the lawn of Rosewood Mansion on Turtle Creek. (Dallasite and photographer Gray Malin just debuted a new series featuring The Mansion and Highland Park Village.) 

Attire: Truman Capote did it first, but the occasion surely calls for black and white.

Cuisine: A dichotomous feast fit for the zodiac’s notoriously two-faced sign, with towering sweets on one side, including tiers of elaborately frosted tiny cakes, as if directed by Sofia Coppola herself. On the other, a buffet of sinful savories. 

Cocktails: A fountain soda machine with Sonic ice and a personalized bottle of Dom Pérignon from each guest’s birth year. 

Entertainment: Lenny Kravitz, a Gemini with whom I share a birthday, will start the night with “American Woman.” His shirt won’t last long. 

Surprises: We’re giving out Hermès zodiac scarves, an idea I borrowed from another spectacular party. On the passenger seat of each guest’s car, a valet places one of those aforementioned tiny cakes — to enjoy in the bath at home.