Tips on How to Throw The Perfect Garden Party
Hosting events of any type requires detailed planning and critical considerations so as to avoid last minute run-arounds or worst still have your party ruined by circumstances you did not prepare for. So below are the tips on how to plan your garden party and have it go as smooth as silk:
1. Your Invitations: The type and custom of the invitation you send to your guests determines how they respond in your party which in essence determines the mode of your party. Since it is spring, you might want to add some more color to your invitations. Flowers and herbs can serve. You can purchase them from the store; include dried ones to your card or cut out colorful pictures of them and attach them to your invitation card. You can be creative and do some flower paintings on a terracotta pot and deliver them yourself to your expected guests.
2. Location: Choosing a location for your garden party might give you a tough time since everyone expects a garden party to be hosted in a garden and not everyone has the luxury of a well-trimmed garden at his/her disposal. Feel free to choose from the list of locations that are available to you even if a garden isn’t on the list.
If you have a spacy back or front yard, go on and raise your party tent there. You’ll even be afforded a great deal of privacy in your yard. During spring, your porch can be a perfect substitute. If however, you don’t have either a yard or a porch, i.e. you live in an apartment, don’t panic, there’s no harm in hosting your guests in a park. Just make you secure enough space for your activities. The beach can be a flawless alternative to a garden if you have one not very far from your home.
3. Type of Decoration: Decorating your party venue to suit the time of the year (spring) is one great way to spice up your party. You can buy flowering plants at very cheap rates and combine them with your own hand-planted flowers.
Irrespective of the tone of your party, waterproof battery powered lights draped around trees and shrubs can spice up the atmosphere if your party is held in open air. If your party is on the formal side, don’t be cautious with your ceramics and glassware but if it is on the informal side, paper and plastic can serve well provided you recycle thereafter.
4. Entertainment: There’s a lot on the list if you’re looking to make your party lively. Depending on the size of your location, you can start with a good number of games provided no one would get hurt in the process – because parties are for fun. If you’ve got plenty of space, badminton and other games similar to it wouldn’t be a bad idea, but if your space is limited, you might want to consider games like bocce ball, horseshoes and flying birdies. If however, your location can not accommodate any of those games, don’t worry, you can still light up your party by having your guests bring flowers, plants or little inexpensive presents and exchange them with other guests.
5. Dress Code: Things like the time of the year, location and the type of food you serve play vital roles in the type of attire your guests come in. If you intend to serve wine and three course meals, you might want your guests to come in dinner dresses and tuxedos. If however, the weather is warm enough for swimming, let them know they’d be using their swimsuits. Whatever you do, make sure your plans can help your guests exercise their fashion skills and let them be comfortable about it.
6. Suitable Music: Any party’s atmosphere is largely defined by the kind of music playing amidst all the activities and fun. Since your garden party is happening during spring, don’t dare to leave out liveliness in the kind of music you choose to play. If your party has a formal context, classical songs are a good bargain. If however, there’s more informality in your setting, rock and roll might just be perfect. Disco isn’t a bad idea if you want to get your guests dancing all the way.
7. Food: No matter what time of the day you’re having your party, be sure to treat your guests right when it comes to the food you serve them. If your party is a casual get together, you can’t go wrong with finger foods and some fruit salad by the corner. You can also fuel their appetites with well grilled barbecue and pasta salad. If your party is on the formal side, you might want to have your guests sit down to a three-course meal where cookies and puddings can serve as perfect choices for a nice finishing.
8. Drinks: If there’s any item to joke with on your party list, it shouldn’t be your choice of drinks. You can have a barkeeper spice up your options if your budget can accommodate his services. Else, you can have a combination of soda pop, beer and a classic choice of white and red wine if you can’t afford the services of a barkeeper. Lemonade and sweet tea can equally light up any kind of party, so be sure to have them handy as well. Whichever way, be sure your drinks selection goes down well with the taste of all your guests.
9. Accommodate Unforeseen Events: Well, no one wants to have his/her party ruined by a single event that wasn’t included in the plan of several weeks. So, it’s best you eliminate every possible occurrence that could ruin your party or have you dismiss earlier than planned. Since nobody get surprised when it rains in spring, ensure there is a shelter next to your party location (if your party isn’t held under a shelter) where your party can be moved to in the event of a rain. Making plans to erect canopies when needed wouldn’t be a bad idea at all. But if your party must be held in open air, then be sure to follow the forecasts accurately during your planning period.
