Summer is a great time of the year. The weather warms up, the days grow longer, and there’s usually a little extra time to spend with family and friends. So what better way to celebrate the season than to throw a summertime party! There are a few things you can do, and tips you can follow to make sure that you throw a successful and fun summer celebration.
Make sure to start planning about two weeks before the party (as far as the specifics go) so that you’ll allow yourself plenty of time to figure out the best way to go about your plans.
First- decide what party you want to have. Do you want to invite a lot of friends are just have an intimate gathering with a few close friends. Will there be alcohol involved? And if so, will you be providing it or will you be asking the party-goers to supply their own brew. When it comes to the food it’s also important to decide how the meals will be carried out. You could have a buffet style party, a pot luck style party where all the guests bring a dish, or a small sit down dinner type of affair. My suggestion is something easy and light, preferably something you can prepare on a grill since that only ads to the overall summer theme. Plus your guests can hang around outside socializing while the grilled food is being prepared. Also it will probably be more convenient for the party-thrower to ask everyone to bring something – it could be something simple like a bag of chips or something a bit more complex like a homemade dessert. It’s been my experience that guests are happy to oblige to this rule as they get to show off their summer cooking skills as well.
Now that the food and beverages are taken care of it’s time to move on to a party theme. There are all kinds of themes you can go with for a party, but since this is a summer party it may be more applicable to stick to summer themes. A Hawaiian themed party would be a fun and easy theme to plan as Hawaiian style goods can be found just about anywhere these days. If you’re going to go Hawaiian style make sure that you have a limbo area and some tiki torches set up around the yard to set the mood. Leis are another cheap gift to hand out to guests that will put them in the Hawaiian spirit. You can also play soft ocean sounds in the background for added mood. If you really want to envelop the Tropical theme then ask guests to bring tropical style foods with them (pineapples, coconut shrimp, etc). You can also serve pineapple/coconut style drinks or just serve any drink you may have at the party in a coconut shell!
The most important aspects of the party are now covered, food, drinks, and a theme. But there are also smaller aspects of a summer party to worry about such a games and invitations. Depending on what age group you have at your party will probably depend on the games you’ll want to play. If it is a family event then you can make up some fun games for the kids to participate in, and if it is an adult only event then you can play drinking games or perhaps card games (make sure designated drivers are present)! Invitations are also easy, as they can be quickly bought at the store or made by hand depending on creative you are and how much time you have to prepare.
