As the weather outside gets warmer, people love eating outside in their garden and also love to hold garden parties.
There are all kinds of garden parties from formal to casual, so it all depends on what kind of party you are looking to hold.
Here are some tips for holding the perfect garden party:
Hold the party in a gazebo
If you love the idea of having a garden party, but don’t have a place to hold it you also may want to get a gazebo for your yard. Then you can throw the best possible garden party in your new backyard gazebo.
There are several kinds of gazebos to choose from such as prebuilt and those you build yourself, so installing one likely will take a bit of preplanning.
Check out the best gazebo for your garden party
Pick the Perfect Date
First, holding the perfect garden party takes a bit of preplanning.
You need to take a look at the upcoming weather forecast and make sure it isn’t supposed to rain on the day you want to have the party.
You also don’t want to have your party on the hottest most humid day of the year either, so try to find a date where there will be some sun, but not overbearing so everyone is sweating the whole party.
Choose a theme
It’s more fun if your garden party has a theme.
It doesn’t have to be anything fancy, but you could at least put out invitations and tell the guests what they should wear, if they need to bring something and start planning the type of decorations you want to use for your garden party.
You can decorate with flowers from your garden if you have them, or make some colorful paper decorations like flowers or chains of paper. Add some fun colored light strings, etc.
You can use some casual tablecloths and napkins and choose a couple of main colors that you can layer and mingle into the décor.
If you expect it to be windy, be sure to hold down your tablecloths with tablecloth clips.
Decide on the food and drinks
It’s also a good idea to plan your food and drink in advance so you have time to order it all.
You can make it easy on yourself and have a BBQ and add some extras like potato or macaroni salads, a fruit tray, a veggie tray, cheese and cracker plate, finger foods, corn on the cob, etc. It’s also a good idea to make your garden party buffet style to make it easier for your guests.
If it’s a more formal type of garden party you can likely have it catered in and provide fancier fare as well as have personalize place settings, elegant table centerpieces, etc.
If you do have things like potato or macaroni salad be sure to keep them in an ice cooler so no one gets food poisoning! Make sure you know how many guests so you can order enough food and everyone will be happy.
As for drinks, make sure you have something for everyone. Not everyone drinks alcoholic drinks, for example, so have a mix of water, soft drinks, sodas, beer and wines. You could even have something like a coffee bar with a K-cup type coffee brewer and lots of different flavors of coffee to choose from.
What about dessert?
You should also incorporate some sweets into the menu for after the main meal.
You can go to a bakery to pick up an assortment of things like cupcakes, fruit tarts, cookies or brownies.
Or, if you love to bake you can make your own.
Another idea would be to a store and pick up things like pound cake, various kinds of fresh berries and some whipped cream so everyone can choose their own favorites.
If you have a way to keep it cold, have an ice cream bar with different flavors of ice cream, toppings, fruits, etc.
Plan the music
Choosing the music is vital to a good garden party.
Be sure there is a mix of genres so everyone gets a chance to hear the kind of music they like, and don’t put the volume up so high your neighbors will be calling the police on you.
It would be super cool if you have any friends who play the guitar really well, and then you could add something like a singalong to your garden party.
If your party has a specific theme, you can make the music reflect that theme. For instance, if your theme is based on a western flair, play all kinds of country and bluegrass music or if your theme is rock and roll, play some oldies from the 60s and 70s.
It’s all up to your tastes and how you want to do it.
Protect your guest from insects
No one wants to come to a great garden party and then deal with insects, bugs and bees harassing them.
You need to protect your guests by setting up things like nets to keep away the insects, as well as shoo-fly covers on the foods, and hang some bug zappers or light some citronella candles or tiki torches.
You can weave it all into your decorations too so it won’t look so intrusive.
Your guest will thank you for a bug-free environment to have fun and socialize in.
Great garden parties don’t need special occasions
The bottom line is that summertime is a great time to enjoy the outdoors with your friends and family by holding fun garden parties.
You don’t need a special occasion to hold a garden party!
You can make up your own reasons or just do it to show off that new gazebo you bought for that very purpose!
All in all, holding the perfect party garden party does take a little preplanning if you want everything to turn out great, but when all is said and done, it will be a great way to enjoy all your efforts and bask in all the praise when it’s over!