Summertime is a great season to get together with family and friends to make wonderful memories. Well, any season is really a great time but I tend to allow myself to get so busy during the other seasons, so I really enjoy the quality hangouts that Summer brings.
Speaking of making memories, I recently hosted a party for a very special lady in my life; my mother! You would never guess it by looking at her, but she just turned 60! The theme of the party was “Wine and Garden.” It took place in my backyard, and thank God we had such beautiful weather!
I used standard table linens to cover the picnic tables, and cut strips of burlap the length of the tables and used that as the table runners. I also used the burlap to make individual silverware holders, and stitched them together with yarn. My husband made candle globes from recycled clear wine bottles to protect the candles from blowing out.
Since tiger lilies and daisies were blooming everywhere that weekend, the morning of the party I picked the flowers fresh from a friend’s garden, and placed them in the center of each picnic table as the centerpiece in antique milk jars.
I feel very strongly against using paper plates and plastic silverware so I reached out to my sister and borrowed her classic white dinner plates, (as well as using my own dinner plates from my 12 piece set) and borrowed extra silverware from a friend which she had accumulated over the years. I purchased 2 sets of 12 Mason jars and used them as drinking glasses. I found free printable Mason Jar labels from a site I found on Pinterest so people could write their names on their jar.
Using real plates, silverware and glasses did cause a bigger clean up, but to me it was worth it to have beautiful place settings, rather than just the standard pile of paper plates at the beginning of a buffet. Plus its soooo much better for the environment because you have less trash.
For the main dishes my husband made feta and basil burgers (so yummy!) and I made cranberry walnut chicken salad on a french baguette. Both were such a huge hit that we didn’t have any leftovers! We also had a bunch of side dishes that my family members contributed like grilled corn on the cob, no mayo potato salad, veggies and dip, orzo salad, and various summer fruits!
The moral to today’s story is you don’t need to spend crazy amounts of money to throw a great party. I believe you should spend the money where it counts, but do not be afraid to use other people as resources. Also another thing to remember is if someone offers “Is there anything I can bring?” do not be afraid to take them up on it!
I’d like to personally thank Joshua Hoke of Joshua Hoke Photography who came to the party and took some great family photos, and well as all of the photos featured in today’s blog.
Great parties during the hot Summer days lead to great nights on the patio enjoying and margarita and laughing with your best buds around the firelight. I think about the infamous song from Grease “Summer Lovin” and the line that plays again and again in my mind is “Those Summer nights” which has really been my personal theme in 2012.
Happy partying!
xo,
Maggie
