How To Summertime Parties
I give a lot of parties, did a little catering for weddings and corporate events in my previous life, and also took 20 weeks of cooking and pastry school at The New School of Cooking in Culver City about 15 years ago so I know a little bit about food, cooking, and throwing parties. That being said, I don’t have a lot of time to do parties on my own anymore so sometimes I just put them together with lifehacks.
Here are some of my summertime lifehacks for how to give a fun summer outdoor party:
Candles are key to any outdoor party. Buy lots of votive candles and use them. They create ambiance in your backyard. Make sure you have more than you need. Here is the math. We used 72 votives for our 24 people on the long table to give you an idea. Where can you buy them? Almost anywhere. Our favorite come from here. Also, if there are mosquitoes in your neck of the woods make sure to buy a combo of citronella and regular unscented votive candles.
Flowers are another essential. You can buy freeze dried ones that you can use again and again from here or you can buy fresh flowers from your local Trader Joe’s for $5.99 a bunch and break them up and put them all over the middle of your table around the candles. We bought 4 bunches for $5.99 for our 24 person table.
Outdoor speakers don’t need to be expensive, but music is so important. Buy some from Amazon.com for $44.99 made by Sony and connect them up to your Spotify or Pandora account playlist and you are set for the evening.
String lights are so pretty and really light up any backyard. We had someone install them for us professionally so they can last forever with steel lines that hold the LED string lights in place because we live in Los Angeles and fine outside all year round. However, you can install your own string lights for the summer and get them from JCPenney or Overstock.com.
Food and wine are very important for any adult Summertime party. My suggestion is to either cook everything beforehand and freeze it so you can take it out and warm it in the oven and serve the night of your party or to hire a caterer. We usually make all of our food and plan it out with a cheese, crackers, vegetables crudités, and drinks station in one area and a food buffet in another area, but this time we decided to hire a South African rotisserie chef to do roasted leg of lamb and rotisserie chicken. This was one of our best ideas ever because he brought his own rotisserie oven and rolled it right into our backyard and had everything cooking in our backyard while we got to do the setup in the house without worrying about bumping into everyone in our kitchen.
You can also hire a traditional bbq chef or even hire someone from a local cooking school who wants to work hourly at your house and you can plan out the menu and buy all the meats and vegetables for him or her to cook for you. These are just so ways to help you plan a Summertime party without keeping you in the kitchen the whole time while your guests are having a great time.
Drinks are another place where you want to make sure you have some preparation ahead of time so you guests are happy as soon as they arrive. I usually research a few options so that I have choices for my guests. They may like wine with dinner, but a lot of times they will start with a cocktail. I always put some choices together by putting the ingredients in front of the liquor. For example if it’s a blackberry lemon gin and tonic I will group all the ingredients on the table next to one another with the glasses. I also always have easy drinks like a Ciroc pineapple vodka with soda water and a pineapple spear so that people can quickly put together a drink and start mingling.
Place settings and tables are another place you want to make sure you plan ahead with before your party. You don’t want to be running around all night getting chairs for people. I like to rent chairs, tables, and tablecloths with stemware for parties because I often like to change up the types of stemware or seating I need and I don’t have room to store it all. If you have room to store it, definitely invest in owning about 12 good folding chairs and 2 tables that are 6 feet along with tablecloths in white and wine stemware so that you can whip them out whenever you have a dinner party. Buy some all purpose wine glasses and you can have them on hand for any party. Get all purpose wine glasses at Overstock.com.
Party staff is always a good idea if you can swing it. I used to do all my parties with no help and would be angry at the end of the night when I had nothing to eat, had to clean up and wash every dish, and put everything away after cooking all day while my husband and friends were having a great time all night. After years of DIY I decided I needed to get some help for parties. Now, I usually always have one person who can come help me for 5 hours in the kitchen so I am able to concentrate on cooking and my guests. If you are creative you can always ask around for people in your neighborhood who want to make some extra money on the side on the weekends or you can always call a local cooking school because students always want extra work if they can get it. There are also party staffing companies who will be able to help you staff your party with bartenders, chefs, servers, and event managers.
And as long as you are organized with your food, drinks, and decor shopping, the day of the party should not be stressful at all. Just make sure you give yourself 2 hours to set up whether it is just you doing it or you and someone who you have hired to help you.
Check out some of the our favorite dress options for summer to wear to dinner parties.
