The long, cold winter is over at last. The sun has melted the snow. The first leaves started to appear on the trees. The grass has covered the earth with a green carpet. All of us want to bask in the warm spring sun, enjoying the joyful singing of birds and feeling a tender breeze on our cheeks. It’s time to arrange the first backyard party in the new year. If you’ve never had an outdoor event before or you are looking for fresh ideas, here are some suggestions from professional event planners.
1. Theme
The first thing you need to choose for your backyard party is a theme. There are countless options including the following:
- Popsicle theme. As we are heading towards the summer, we’ll be consuming more cooling products such as ice pops. By selecting this theme you remind your guests that the hot days are not far away.
- Movie theme. If you have enough room in your backyard, you can set up a makeshift movie theater. Make the screen out of an ordinary bed sheet. Have each of your guests dress as a character from their favorite movie. If you don’t have your own film projector, lease one and show your guests an interesting film. Comedy? Thriller? Rom-com? Let them take their pick.
- Rainbow theme. The rainbow is a combination of bright colors that will make your backyard party vivid and appealing. Apart from decorating your backyard with green, yellow, red, and blue objects, have these colors be present in your guests’ clothes and dishes you are going to serve.
Find more theme ideas here.
2. Invitations
Once you’ve decided on the theme, make and send out invitations to the people you want to attend your event. The invitation cards must reflect your theme and contain the key details of the future event. Take some time to write them in your hand. That makes your invitations more personal. Choose the words and phrases that relate to the new season. For example, invite your friends to “Take in the spring air, smell the fresh flowers, and soak in the sunshine.”
3. Backyard party decorations
Again, the decorations for your outdoor event largely depend on the theme. That said, you can use various items regardless of whether you are going to have a movie, nautical, or Hawaiian party. Here are a few ideas to consider:
- Make tissue flowers. Go to the nearest craft store and buy everything for creating tissue flowers. You can paint them gold, blue, purple, or any other color. Spraying some perfume on the flowers is also a good idea. The tissue flowers on the table, in vases, and on your clothes will look beautiful.
- Use fresh tulips to decorate each of your guests’ seat. Purchase as many tulips as you expect guests at the backyard party and put a tulip on each plate. You can wrap the flower in a napkin. Your friends will be impressed by this ingenious decoration trick.
- Use a fruit instead of a seating card. Instead of a standard seating card for your guests, use a fruit such as an apple or orange and a card with the guest’s name pinned to it.
- Hang paper lanterns. You can order them over the Internet if you have no stores selling lanterns nearby. These colorful decorative pieces will create a festive atmosphere in your yard. More expensive varieties have electric lights inside, which you can turn on to make the evening a bit mysterious and soothing.
Learn about other ways to decorate your backyard here.
4. Food
The food is the focus of the gathering. No theme, no decorations will save your event if your guests thumb down the dishes you offer them. Here are some ideas you may like for your backyard party:
- Fresh fruit and cheese platter. It’s a perfect appetizer before your guests plunge into the big meal.
- Roasted chicken with clementines. It’s a natural dish with a beautiful aroma and taste that everyone will like.
- On the grill. That’s something outdoor parties are great for. Grilled burgers, hotdogs, and shrimps are delight to anyone’s palate.
- For the sweet. Treat your guests with apple pie, watermelon slices, cupcakes, or macarons.
Find more suggestions for your outdoor party food here.
5. Drinks
What you and your guests will be drinking can make or break the party, too. Try to prepare something original, something that you don’t have every day. A couple of examples:
- White sangria.This is a perfect solution for a party with a large number of guests as you can prepare it beforehand. It is softer than red sangria, but has a wonderful taste and will definitely prompt your guests to give a higher mark for your efforts.
- Strawberry mojito. Put ice in a glass along with fresh mint and a strawberry to serve with the mojito. Make sure to have enough of this sweet drink as your guests will soon ask you for more.
Look for other party drink ideas in this article.
6. Games
You’ve had a barbeque. You’ve had a few drinks. Now, it’s time to entertain your guests. And what is a better way to do that than organize an active game in the open air for them? There are all kinds of games for adults and children including the following:
- Eat donuts. This game is immensely popular among kids and adults alike. A donut is hung on a string. A participant must eat it without touching it with their hands faster than the other contestants.
- Pass the orange. Make two teams of your guests with an equal number of members. Have the people on each team stand side by side. Give the first team member an orange. Get them to place it between their chin and neck. Then give the signal to begin. The participants must pass the orange to their neighbor’s chin/neck without using their hands. The team that manages to pass the fruit from the first person to the last without dropping it, is proclaimed the winner.
Need more descriptions of games for your party? Look them up here.
7. Tips
When organizing your spring backyard party, you may find useful these tips from experts:
- Have Plan B. The weather in spring is still unstable. You may begin your party under a cloudless sky only to see it completely gray an hour later. That’s why you need to have Plan B in place. Prepare one of your rooms to continue your party indoors if it suddenly starts to rain cats and dogs.
- Have several sources of light. Light is important for the success of an outdoor event, too. Have minimum three light sources in place. You can put lamps in the bushes, make a fire, and hang several bulbs over the table.
- Make your outdoor furniture serve several functions. Your guests will be moving about with their plates and drinks a great deal during the party. That’s why it’s recommended to have enough small tables or stools where the guests could put all that. Also, consider hard benches, which can be used both for sitting and for setting plates and glasses.
- Hang swings and hammocks. Your guests will love to have a bit of rest swinging in a hammock after a hearty meal.
We are sure that these ideas will help you make the first backyard party of 2018 a hit. Whatever the arrangements and decorations are, though, this event is a wonderful opportunity to enjoy the company of your friends and family.
