8 ideas to dress up an alfresco garden party

It’s time to celebrate with an alfresco garden party. Whether it’s an engagement, a birthday, an anniversary, a promotion, graduation, or you’re simply celebrating being alive on a gorgeous summer day, alfresco is the way to do it. Here are eight simple ways to make the outdoor setting even more special, more exciting, and more party-ish!

Eight ways to make your alfresco garden party setting more gorgeous

You want your guests for gasp out loud when they enter your garden? Here you go… get inspired with this.

1. LED solar lighting – LED lights are great because they don’t get hot, are really cheap to run, and the bulbs last for years. Solar lights are excellent because they don’t need an electricity socket, you can place them more or less anywhere, and they’re available in a multitude of exciting designs. Roll them together and you get the ultimate in outdoor lighting, the perfect garden lights for your party. Think strings of LED solar lights to illuminate a pathway or stepping stones, or to hang in bushes and shrubs, to highlight a seating area or mark out an outdoor dance floor. There are some great choices here, on the Lighting Direct website. One thing to remember, don’t leave the lights on outdoors all night. The light will disturb the circadian rhythms of the plants and wildlife.
2. Garden candle lamps – There’s nothing quite so lovely as the natural flickering of a real flame. It draws people in, makes us feel at home, safe, and comfortable. But naked candles outdoors? Hm, maybe it isn’t always the safest choice, especially in a heatwave when the garden is as dry as a tinderbox. It might also not be the best idea when there are little kids running around, or adults who’ve had one or two too many! The solution? Go for a stunningly lovely wooden candle lamp from the Florenity range, available in three colours. Made from sustainable eucalyptus wood, it’s painted in either sage green, deep grey or pale grey and offers room for one or a group of candles. Make them citronella candles and it’ll also help keep biting and stinging insects at bay.
3. Garden bunting – You can buy strings of plastic or fabric bunting for the garden. Both materials can fade quickly in the sun, so look out for special garden bunting that doesn’t fade. If not you’ll probably need to buy new strings each year. But it’s very easy to make. All you do is cut out a load of little fabric triangles using pinking shears so they don’t fray – which means there’s no need for sewing. Then simply staple the triangular flags onto a long piece of string. Take them down after the party if you want them to stay in good condition for next time, otherwise leave them there for a funky festival look all summer.
4. Dangly baubles – Who says shiny baubles are only for the festive season? They also look stunning at an alfresco party, hanging from bushes, shrubs and trees. You can hang them with ordinary sewing cotton for single-event use, simply cutting them down at the end of the party. If you’d like to keep them up for longer, hang them with fishing nylon. For all-year gorgeousness, you’ll need some wire. Cut a length of wire, anything from 10cm upwards. Make a hook at either end by bending the wire. Dangle the bauble on the hook at one end, then hook the other end over a twig or branch. They look brilliant lit by the flickering light of a real fire, amazing when the breeze makes then move and shimmer. Don’t forget you can also buy cool things like balloon arches and balloon garlands, pinatas, party streamers and loads more sparkly goodies from alfresco garden party supplies stores like Party Touches, all just as good outdoors as indoors.
5. Chiminea – Every alfresco garden party needs an attractive focal point, and a chiminea is the perfect solution. Designed in Mexico, where they’re used on an everyday basis for outdoor heat, light and cooking, a chiminea is a safe way to enjoy open fires in the garden. The flames stay where they belong, inside the fat belly, and the chiminea itself quickly heats up like a massive radiator, providing a handy source of heat, light, excitement, romance and glamour. They look fabulous, and because you don’t need a big fire to generate masses of heat and light, they’re very fuel-efficient.
6. Beautiful outdoor cushions – Our garden furniture is very lovely on its own, perfect for every kind of alfresco party, but when you want to add extra drama and colour… bring on the cushions. Make your own using funky upholstery fabric, protecting them with a good waterproof fabric spray. Fill them with waterproof cushion fillers, available on Amazon and elsewhere online. Then treat them in the exact same way you treat your garden furniture cushions – keep them somewhere safe and dry when they’re not being used.
7. Colourful rugs and blankets – Did you know there’s such a thing as outdoor garden rugs? They’re often made from a clever polypropylene material designed to resist the damp and dirt well, and they’re fully washable. They come in all sorts of colours and patterns, a perfect way to provide extra chilling space outdoors. The same goes for throws and blankets. Bring washable indoor throws outdoors, find vintage tartan picnic blankets and car blankets, create beautiful areas for people to gather, chat, lounge, lie, drift off.
8. Dress your gazebo up! If you don’t have a gazebo yet, take a look at ours. They’re magnificent, a great point for people to gather, take shelter from the sun, stay warm after dark, eat, chat and even dance. A plain gazebo is a wonderful thing, but they’re also easy to dress up to create something exotic, unusual and attractive. Think ‘yurt’ and you get the picture. Take a load of wall hangings, bed throws, colourful blankets and pieces of fabric, even beautiful patterned duvet covers. Drape them over the gazebo, hang them like curtains, tie them back, create a really cosy stage-like space, an outdoor room to remember.

Think home decor and you get the picture. Decorate and embellish your outdoor space to add comfort, style, and fun to every outdoor occasion. Think creative, mix rainbow colour, dream up a theme. Whatever you do, make it fabulous.

PS. This article might interest you, featuring three brilliant garden games to play.