This past weekend was one of the first times I’ve been out of the house past 8pm since baby girl was born back at the end of December.

Now that she’s a little older and I’ve gotten back into the swing of things at work it’s been fun to explore the city after dark again with friends and family.

My brother had a few tickets to a show and so we called some friends and had a group night out at the Paris Hotel and Casino.

This is one of my all time favorite casinos-the amount of detail here in the interior design is unmatched, and there are so many sober friendly aspects of the Paris.

We had tickets to see Inferno, but before the show, a friend of mine who is a fellow non drinker and I decided to try and see if we could find a good mocktail.

Hexx Kitchen is where we found ourselves and as we saddled up at the bar, I did have a moment of weakness.

Sometimes I feel strong enough to walk into a bar and not be tempted to drink, rather to enjoy the nightlife atmosphere, and sometimes I don’t.

Luckily, because my friend wasn’t going to be drinking alcohol either–it made the decision much easier and temptation passed quickly.

Sitting at the bar looking over the menu I had a small panic because it didn’t appear there were any alcohol free options…and then I spotted the Specialty Cocktail section.  Although nothing on it was alcohol-free, everything on it looked like it could be made sans alcohol and still be DELICIOUS.

Eric, the incredible bartender we met that evening at Hexx, made my friend and I two alcohol-free versions of cocktails.

Mine was the Desert Smash (which was fresh blackberries, rosemary, agave, and fresh lime juice) and my friend ordered the Raspberry Fizz (peach puree, raspberries, mint,simple syrup, and lemon syrup).

Eric told us that this was one of the first times that he’d had a request for an alcohol-free version, but he was warm and welcoming and made us two beautiful and refreshing beverages.

I so appreciate a bartender willing to make something alcohol-free for me, and Eric (who was working alongside Jared while we were there) were incredibly gracious in not making us feel belittled for wanting something on the sober side.

THANK YOU ERIC & JARED!

I will be recommending Hexx to anyone who wants a night out on the town Vegas style, but wants to wake up without the hangover.

Following our guilt free alcohol-free drinks we made our way over to the Paris theatre to meet up with my brother and another friend of ours to see Inferno: The Fire Spectacular.

Growing up in Vegas I have a deep love for magic and a deep love for spectacle. This show features both so I was in entertainment heaven!

The show features international Illusionist Joe Labero, Ronnie “The Animal” Nilsson, and The Fuel Girls.

If you’re interested in hearing a bit about how the show was conceived and created, you can listen here on the Live From The Strip podcast.

I don’t want to give away too much about the show, but there are a few things I’ll mention:

• The show does feature fire, very loud noises, burning incense, and flashing lights (just want to say this in case you have health concerns)
• I probably wouldn’t bring a young child to this show. It’s an after hours show for adults, and although there isn’t any full nudity or foul language, it just doesn’t seem like a good fit for a person under say…eight or ten?

Now that we have that out of the way–I would 100% recommend this to ANY adult looking for the full Vegas experience all in one show.

Between the incredible magic illusions that Labero creates, the pyrotechnics that the Fuel Girls & Nilsson have put together, and the overall atmosphere of beauty and chaos created visually–this show truly does have everything!

I think what I love most about Las Vegas and shows like this is they don’t apologize for their flashiness.

Even though I love to see a challenging Chekhovian drama from time to time, there are also nights I want to see something visually stunning and fun.

I look forward to going back (yes I loved it that much that I would totally go see it again!) and I can’t wait to head over to Hexx again to enjoy an adult mocktail before the show.

---

Thanks for reading and happy sobering friends!