Who doesn’t love a summer party and entertaining outdoors? Evening sunshine, vibrant colours, summer blooms with cocktails outside and the BBQ fired up are all essential elements to a great summer event.
If you’re looking to create a show-stopping summer event we’ve got lots of ideas to help give you with your summer event styling to give your summer party the edge. We always recommend focusing on the small details as these are the ones that surprise and delight guests and ensure you have an event no one ever forgets. Here are some of our summer event styling ideas to help get you planning your summer soirees.
★ Food and Drink
With such a wide variety of stylish street food and food stalls available it’s so easy to create informal dining options with different cuisine styles. If you’re worried about the weather we recommend setting up a number of tipi tents and then choosing food based on the Great British Menu; strawberries & cream with giant meringues, afternoon tea, local cider, cheese & biscuits, curries, fish & chips van, rotisserie chicken van, Pimms tricycles, alcoholic pops …. the possibilities are endless.
Set up a main bar inside a styled marquee to refresh guests but also think about having smaller hydration stations, including buckets with drinks on ice spread throughout the grounds of your venue.
★ Entertainment
Choose entertainment acts that can move freely through the crowd such as glitter artists, acrobats and walkabout forest creatures. We love acts like ‘Wandering Hands’ who are able to mingle with guests and interact with their acoustic instruments. Stand-out features such alcoholic fountains and vintage sweet shops will get guests mingling whilst traditional games such as tin-can alley and a coconut shy are great for bringing people together. The culmination of the event could be live entertainment performing with night candles lit and fireworks to light up the sky.
★ Styling
Themes such as Best of British, Midsummers Night’s Dream & Mad Hatters Tea Party always work well as well as creating your own festival but any theme can be used in summer – retro Miami Beach, the Mystery of the Souk and the Summer of 1970 – we’ve got plenty of ideas if you’re stuck!
We always think about what suits the venue and ensure everything complements the overall theme including props, music, entertainment as well as food and drink. And don’t forget to think about presentation – how the staff are styled can make all the difference.
If you’re not going for a theme consider using a colour palette to tie everything together – we suggest using either a soft pastel ‘vintage’ style look or a more vibrant punchy ‘party’ style.
Outdoor seating areas, picnic benches and wooden tables can be decorated with wild flowers to create a relaxed feel. Don’t forget a selection of parasols for shade and throws for benches. Try wooden stumps and open fire pits for the seating areas and giant lawn games.
Food tipis could be decorated with props and festoon lighting to connect them and suspended inside from the roofs. Later in the evening, as it begins to get dark, uplighting can be used to illuminate the venue with large ground torches lit. Gas heaters will provide some welcome warmth to the evening party.
And finally if you’re worried about the British weather letting you down try bringing the Outside Inside and create outdoor rooms inside your venue with grass flooring or creating a sumptuous table setting with moss runners.
For more ideas, or for information about hosting company summer parties and corporate events don’t hesitate to contact the Evolve Events team. We possess the experience and local knowledge to assist you with venue finding, activities and logistics to create unforgettable experiences.
TEL : 020 7610 2808 – EMAIL : anna@evolve-events.com