I’m on the chapter before the last on my current novel, and I need reasons for why a mob family would throw a party. I want the scene to mirror the start of the novel which is this big funeral for the Don that draws all the press, so I’m trying to figure out what reason can his heir throw a celebration to draw the same kind of attention? Reasons other than engagement/baby announcements? Open to ideas. The party is meant to be a pretense for an entirely different reason, but the other mobster fams need to show up.
Usually it is traditional celebrations to the specific culture. Where alliances are made through marriages, everything connected to families (engagements, marriages, child birth, birthdays, naming/christening, graduations, coming of age) milestones are celebrated. Since your story is in an imaginary world, you can do something like a national holiday, or if you want to emphasize the racing side of your story, it could be the culminating race of the competitive cycle, like a Cup of Champions or whatever. It could be a carnival or harvest or new year celebrations…
Ooh, a national holiday or special race sound like awesome ideas. I’m going to think about that a bit more. New Years seems like the easiest way to go since I think all cultures celebrate when there’s a new year? I think? But that feels like the easy way out.
People who regularly hold these types of things can do it for anything. Bought a series of paintings? Set up the king gallery with easels and have a party to come view the art. Raised falcons, and the new set just fledged? Celebrate that.
It’s nice when things can have motives, but people who regularly throw parties don’t need reasons.
You can combine the two. A Race for the National Holiday kinda idea? Also, right now my province is going all crazy because the two teams that are playing for national hockey title are from Alberta, so they call it a Battle of Alberta and pee their pants, so maybe you can do a race on National Holiday, called a Battle of NationName… sorry, I have the hardest times remembering the nations’ names in your book for some reason.
Well, yeah, but in a book, it’s better to have it plot important/linked imo like your first one was, particularly if you want to mirror-image it to show how far the characters had come
The party is meant to be a pretense for an entirely different reason, but the other mobster fams need to show up.
I’m going to think about that a bit more. 
New Years seems like the easiest way to go since I think all cultures celebrate when there’s a new year? I think? But that feels like the easy way out. 