Your patio is the extension of your living room. And summer, with extended hours of daylight, is the perfect time to extend your parties out onto the patio, deck, and into the yard-and with the right lighting, the party can extend well into the night! Outdoor patio lights and special party themes will make your outdoor summer parties memorable.
The possibilities are wide open: beautiful lights strung along the deck, in tree branches, garden trellises, or under the patio umbrella make the setting magical. And the themes for your special summer party are endless. A party theme makes it more fun for those planning the summer party and for those attending. To help you along with planning your patio party, we’ve listed a few summer party themes to spark your imagination.
Try a few of these great themes for your summer patio parties. Then invent a few imaginative themes of your own!
- Garden Veggie Grill Party: Invite friends and neighbors to bring fresh veggies they’ve grown in their gardens and marinate and grill them for a delicious, healthy alternative to meat (provide rice, pasta and bread to serve with the veggies)
- Hoedown: Have an old fashioned square dance with southern food
- International Day of Friendship: 7/30 – invite your closest friends over for a patio party to celebrate.
- Ice Cream Social: Be sure to include a variety of toppings
- Wine Tasting: This could include specialties such as dessert wines with a chocolate fountain, or dry wines with specialty cheeses
- Summer Movie Night: You’ll need patio chairs, pop corn, a white sheet on the clothes line (or build your own screen), and either the rental or purchase of a projector
- Outdoor High Tea Party: They are more elegant at night
- Campfire Party: You’ll need blankets, s’mores, a fire pit, scary stories and campfire games or songs
- A Beach Party: Even if you don’t live near the beach, you can throw a beach party-Beach Boys music, volleyball, water balloons, and water guns
- Hawaiian Luau: Wear grass skirts, coconut bikini tops, and play or hire musicians who perform Hawaiian music
- A ’60s, ’70s or ’80s BBQ: This one calls for clothing, food and music from whatever decade you select
- Mexican Fiesta: Celebrate with tacos, margaritas, burritos, sombreros, piñatas, and Mexican music
- Elegant Cocktail Party or Black Tie Dinner Murder Mystery Dinner: Use Night of Mystery’s easy online resources or this book, Murder Mystery Party.
Decorating for your patio party doesn’t have to be expensive or complicated. If you have no table, one can be made from sawhorses and a slab of wood or an old door. When covered in a colorful cloth, it is transformed. If you have no patio furniture, you can bring your indoor furniture outside to create an elegant event. (Just check the forecast.) Be sure to use the furniture to create areas for guests to gather. The arrangement will differ depending on your party theme (dancing, murder mystery, movie viewing, etc.).
The one decoration that really transforms the outdoor patio party is lighting. There are many lighting options to choose from to create the right mood for your summer event.
