The Ultimate Guide To A Garden Themed Party

There is something magical about garden parties – a humble backyard transformed into a quaint world of manicured rose bushes, twinkling lights, and fresh summer treats. It makes the perfect setting for a variety of events as guests can relax in a sophisticated and delightful atmosphere.

At Table Art, we don’t think garden parties need to be confined to just the garden. All the elements of afternoon tea and a meticulous English garden can find their way indoors to take the magic to a whole new level.

Wherever you decide to host your garden themed party, we’ve created this guide to give you the best ideas for decorating your venue, developing a fantastic style, and making your lighting come alive to form an enchanting atmosphere.

Getting Started With A Garden Party

Garden parties can be pitched at just about any level. They work for intimate birthday parties or smaller conferences and they can be scaled up to make for marvellous weddings, banquet dinners, and award ceremonies.

They create a feeling of curiosity and can be a great platform for launching a product as well as providing great social media and branding opportunities. To find out more about using social media to promote your event, be sure to read this post by Kimberley Reynolds.

Typically a garden party is held outside but to account for unpredictable weather and to have more controlled staging you might consider using a pavilion, marquees, or having the entire event indoors by transforming a venue.

When choosing an outdoor space, make sure that it has adequate facilities for all your guests and entertainment needs. It might be easier to fit more guests in an outdoor area but you still need to have dining furniture and lighting equipment nearby. 

Decorations, Furniture, And Design

There are a few approaches you can take with a garden party and your choice will shape the design choices you make.

You might opt for a traditional English garden tea party where you could make use of kitchen tableware, cake stands, teapots, and a variety of flowers and plants such as roses, peonies, hedges, and twisting ivy.

Or you might go for a fantasy, Midsummer Night’s Dream-inspired garden party using renaissance style decorations, as well as twinkling lights, string curtains, drooping willow branches, and a collection of woodland critters and features.

Finally, you could choose to channel the relaxed atmosphere of gardens from around the world by making use of a Zen-style Japanese garden or a beachside California hangout. You can decorate with a variety of exotic plants, lanterns, Buddhist statues, and minimalist furniture.

When it comes to outdoor furniture, there is no reason you can’t still exude a strong sense of style. Consider using lit poseur tables, umbrellas, plinths, and cube style seating. This furniture can be used for a stunning effect both indoors and outdoors.

Centrepieces, Lighting, And Colour Scheme

If you’re using an outdoor-focused venue, then your colour scheme should play off what’s around you. You can contrast greens and browns with bright colours and gingham patterns or meet those natural tones by using pastel colours.

With a fantasy garden party, you want to make use of strong blue, purple, and green colours to really change the feel of your venue.

Your lighting choices are crucial for a garden party theme as they can radically change the landscape and how you see your venue. Lanterns, festoon bulbs, candle-style bulbs, and garden torches can be used to guide guests around your event and will make it truly enchanting.

Dynamic lighting can be difficult to install outside but a cost-effective way of doing this is by using Table Art’s custom centrepieces. They can be lit in a colour of your choice even when used outside and this can be changed throughout the night to match the mood as it unfolds.

For your centrepiece, you can choose from a range of props and fabulous designs. Use a pixel plinth twisting with ivy, a glowing bulb that attracts eyes from across the room, or a Buddha lantern. They can add texture at different height levels and make for a consistent theme across your entire venue, indoor and outdoor.

Check out more of our centrepiece creations to see what’s possible.

A Night In The Woods With A Garden Themed Party

A garden party theme is a perfect way to take advantage of good weather, to give people a unique experience, and to allow your guests a break from reality for one day or evening. Try to really explore what an outdoor space can allow you to do and see how you can transform it.

If you want help designing and creating your garden themed party, then get in touch with Table Art for a consultation. We can build, transport, and install custom centrepieces and furniture so that you are free to relax.