July 16, 2015

Carolyn Henderson
Carolyn Henderson

Author

Digital Marketer for Targetdry by day, Fashion and Lifestyle blogger at foreverscarlet.com by night, with a love for vintage, homewares and the Irish countryside. Follow my posts for fashion trends, style advice and new collection previews.


Festival › Hints & Tips ›

Host Your Own DIY Garden Party/Festival

If you’re not fortunate enough to attend one of the numerous festivals being held across the UK & Ireland this summer, never fear. You can easily create your own festival themed summer by hosting a party in your back garden complete with music, food & camping.

Here are our top tips and ideas on how to make the most out of your DIY garden party; 

Electric signs

These signs are a big trend now, featuring at weddings, parties, special occasions or as an eclectic feature for your home décor. They are a brilliant way of adding a quirky vibe to night-time festivities and they are certainly suitable for any DIY festival party. If you’ve got the budget, go all out and spell out your festival theme like ‘boho’, ‘fiesta’ or ‘carnival’. Pretty expensive, but also pretty impressive.

DIY mason jars

Another heavily used party trend, mason jars are great for serving any kind of alcoholic or non-alcoholic beverage. Serve a concoction of spirits or offer a refreshing water based drink with infusions of berries, lemon, mint and lime. Simply save up plenty of old jam jars, drill a hole in the lids, place a rubber grommet on each to hide the rough edge and place a straw inside.

Bunting

A garden party must-have, bunting provides a little creative decoration and brings the whole look together. A favourite with alternative, boho style festivals, bunting is cheap but effective at adding colour, fun prints and patterns. Check out Etsy, Ebay and Amazon for short and long length bunting that comes in a variety of different prints.

BBQ Bucket

If you want to add more colour as well as having somewhere to cook for your guests, then a BBQ bucket provides a very affordable way of doing so. Cook the BBQ staples; sausages, burgers, chicken and onions and set up a table with all the condiments, baps, bread rolls, cutlery and crockery they will need.

If you want to go the extra mile, you can make your own salsa dips, create a centerpiece and of course don’t forget to add a few home-prepared salads.

Pitch a tent or build a teepee

Pitching a tent can be hard enough without the challenge of building a teepee! However, teepees are the new tents with beautiful décor inspiration to be found all over Pinterest.

If you want to take the time and build your own then check out Julie Blanner’s blog post on how to create a teepee using poles, rope and a canvas sheet. If you’re feeling a little nervous about taking that on, then search for teepee kits to find an easy DIY method of creating the same North Americana look for your back garden.

Night lanterns

Along with the bunting, lanterns can brighten up your back garden, adding an ethereal magical touch as the sun starts to set. Again, it’s a cheap way of making your garden look every bit the festival setting. Notonthehighstreet.com have lots of different options from Moorish to French antique lanterns and from paper fairy lights to rechargeable bottle lights or if you're feeling adventurous you can recycle some old vintage lampshades.

Musical Accompaniment 

Of course, no festival is complete without a little bit of musical entertainment! Even if it’s just a friend who’s great with the acoustic guitar, a local DJ or your phone, spotify playlist and Bluetooth speakers, you can create a great atmosphere with some musical accompaniment. Ask your guests for their requests beforehand, so you can cater for each individual taste without spending the night searching for a track on your phone.