How to Plan and Host a Home Garden Party

Have a friend that's getting married or having a baby? A child that's graduating? Planning on playing host to a holiday celebration in the spring or summer? Forget about keeping your guests closed inside and invite them over for a Garden Party. The best part about a Garden Party is that you can use the natural landscape to provide one heck of a beautiful backdrop which will also ease the load on your pocket book. Here is a step by step guide of how to throw a party everyone is sure to love.

Theme: Pick a theme and decorate based on that. This is going to make decorating so much simplier. Since it's a garden party, many people typically decorate with a variety of flowers and plants. The centerpieces on the tables could be different variations of potted plants which will also give you teams or groups when/if you play games (i.e. the Basil Team or the Orchid Team). If your party is going to be a little later in the evening, adding some funky hanging lights or white twinkling Christmas lights can really enhance the area. Candles can also add extra beauty while also keeping away pesky summertime bugs. If your party is going to be in the middle of the day, be sure that umbrellas are available for tables to shade the sun from people who don't want it beating down on them. Also remember that if it is going to be extremely warm, to be open to having people come and go from your airconditioned house. You most definitely don't want people passing out from heat exhaustion at your party.

Most party stores have garden party supplies with many different colorful themes. If you want to get really funky, throw in a piñata ... the adults will think it's hilarious and it will provide entertainment for those who bring younger children. Another theme I have seen a couple of times is a ladybug theme. One person used red and black for just about everything and made adorable little place cards out of construction paper in the form of ladybugs. Sometimes simplicity might be just the answer. To achieve this goal, pick bright solid colors to decorate the tables and for the centerpiece, use just a simple pot with one flower in it (tulips always look really pretty for this type of thing).

Invites: Once a theme is picked, you can either purchase coordinating invitations or make some of your own. The invite should include all pertinent information including the date, time, and location. Also included should be anything you want your guests to bring (i.e. a dish to pass, other friends, or their children). On this same note, you should also include if you don't want certain things such as children or pets brought to the party so they will have time in advance to find a sitter. Invites should be mailed out as soon as possible and at least three weeks in advance.

To create invitations, you can either use scrapbooking type materials or create a beautiful layout on the computer and have them printed. Most of the time simple handmade invitations create just the look you are looking for. Here is one idea:

-Take a brightly colored sheet of cardstock and use decorative scissors to design the edges

-If you have pretty, calligraphic writing skills, handwrite the information onto a smaller sheet of card stock in a different color (if not, use the computer to print out the information on this paper)

-Take a sheet of vellum paper in a light shade and cut it to the size of the larger sheet. Attach this to the top using a small piece of ribbon that connects all three sheets

-Using a light glue, attach a button to the middle of the vellum and use shaped tissue to create petals around the button. Then take a piece of straing or an actual thick blade of grass to create a stem. This creates a simple but elegant flower on the top of the vellum.

-Another option is to get a stamp that fits your theme and stamp the vellum

Food & Drink: Generally food at an outside garden party should be light. Ham, turkey, and club sandwiches are often one of the best ways to go because they don't need to be kept warm or cold. Use a crossiant to dress them up a bit and colored toothpicks to hold them together. Also provide a cheese and cracker tray and a veggie tray. I suggest having guests bring different types of pasta and fruit salads to pass. Doing this you can also have a reciepe exchange where each person brings several copies of the recipe of the dish they provided and other guests can take a copy home with them. For desert keep it light and cool with strawberry cheesecake, sorbert, lemon merigine pie, or icecream.

You should have a wide variety of chilled drinks including ice-cold water, lemonade, and soda. If you are serving alcoholic beverages, keep them light as well. One of my favorites is a white sangria that includes a little brandy, peach schnapps, white wine, green apple, lemon, and a small navel orange. For the receipe visit cookinglight.com and request their "white sangria" recipe. Along with this, have wine coolers and of course some beer on hand for those that just want to kick back and relax.

Games: Some people prefer to have guests just hang out and chat during the party, some prefer to have guests work on "garden type projects", and some prefer to have games available. I myself am a games type of person. I think most people like playing them and if you have a wide variety, almost everyone will be active in something. Set up a couple tables for card games like cribbage and rummy, one table for a scrabble game, and then active activites such as horseshoes, badmitten, croquet, and Frisbee.

Things to Remember for the Host: Once the party is in full swing, don't forget the guests that arrive late. Keep an eye out for these people and make sure to let them know what is going on, where the food and bathroom are, etc. Have extra food ready just incase more people show up than intended. I suggest gathering everyone together right before it's time to eat and making a little toast to let them know about activities that will be going on after the food is served. Most importantly, remember to let yourself have a good time and enjoy your party as well.