Engraved Hip Flasks and the Racecourse: A Gift Guide for Racegoers

The engraved hip flask is one of the most popular personalised gifts in Britain, and it has a natural home: the racecourse, on a cold afternoon in the jumps season, with a racecard in one pocket and a flask in the other. But before you fill it, there are a few things every racegoer should know.

Choosing a hip flask

Flasks are designed for carrying a drink for the day, not for storing spirits for weeks: rinse with warm water after use and leave the cap off to dry. Never put a flask in the dishwasher, especially a leather-wrapped one.

What to engrave

• Initials or a name on the front, with a date or message on the back.
• "Best Man", "Father of the Bride", "Usher" and the wedding date.
• A racing touch: the name of a favourite course, a horse, or "Cheltenham 2027".
• A humorous line: "Emergency supplies", "For medicinal purposes".

Can you take a hip flask to the races?

This is the question every gift-giver should check. Many British racecourses, including several of the biggest, do not allow you to bring your own alcohol through the gates, and bags may be searched on entry, especially at major meetings such as the Cheltenham Festival, the Grand National meeting and Royal Ascot. Rules differ from course to course and sometimes between enclosures, so read the conditions of entry for the course and meeting before you go.

There are traditions where a flask is perfectly at home. Car-park picnics, complete with tables, hampers and champagne, are a long-standing ritual at some courses and meetings; and at point-to-points, the amateur jump-racing meetings held on farmland across the country from winter to early summer, racegoers traditionally watch from beside their cars with a picnic and a flask on the bonnet. The stewards of a point-to-point are usually far more relaxed than those at a big racecourse, and the bookmakers set up on the field.

Dress codes

Most racecourses have a smart-casual dress code in their main enclosures, with stricter codes in premium areas. Royal Ascot is the strictest: morning dress and a top hat for men in the Royal Enclosure, with formal day wear and hats for women. For a winter jumps meeting, tweed, a warm coat and good boots are both stylish and sensible. An engraved flask, a flat cap and a pair of binoculars make a complete race-day gift set.

Betting at the course

Half the fun of a day at the races is the betting ring: rows of bookmakers chalking or displaying their prices, shouting the odds and taking bets in cash or by card. You can also bet with the Tote, a pool system in which all the stakes go into a pot shared among winning tickets after a deduction, so the final dividend is not known until the race is over. Bookmakers' odds are fixed when you place your bet. For a first-time racegoer, a small sum of "betting money" in an envelope, labelled with the name of each race, is a lovely addition to a race-day gift. For how odds and each-way bets work, see our Grand National and Cheltenham guide.

A flask for every occasion

Hip flasks are not just for racegoers: they are popular with walkers, fishermen, shooting parties and golfers. See our guides to personalised gifts for him and gifts for golfers who like a flutter, and for the history of engraved tankards as sporting trophies, read our tankard guide.

Written by the Ribbon & Tag editors.