Beauty and the Backyard: Ideas for Party Decorations

by Claudia Rivas Fiesta4Kids

With spring in the wings and summer around the corner, the happy prospect of backyard parties and barbecues beckons. With a little creativity and some inexpensive materials, you can turn the area into a festive party landscape that delights your guests while celebrating the pleasures of the season.

Spectacular Silhouettes

Medallions, a popular type of ornamental trim, are often used to add a note of grandeur to interior ceilings and walls. Paper or foil versions of these regal-looking design accents can do the same for your outdoor party. Consider using pleated paper medallions to add splashes of color to bushes and trees, enliven stockade fences, and brighten deck corners. You can create them in colors that coordinate with your party’s theme, or use gold and silver for a more formal, upscale look. Medallions in crisp, cool white look are particularly effective when displayed against greenery, where they radiate casual elegance.

The Well-Set Table: Centerpieces and Decorations

The transformative effect of draping ordinary picnic or card tables in swaths of pretty fabric is no secret. But you can add even more “oomph” to well-chosen tablecloths by accenting them with runners that offer vivid contrasts in color and texture, and enlivening them with natural, organic displays that resonate with the great outdoors, such as fresh flowers, seashells, or candles. A row of pink roses in bud vases, a mauve runner and a teal tablecloth can provide a fresh, bold effect. Or you can opt for the rustic appeal of stoneware pitchers of daisies or sunflowers on a white runner against a yellow and white gingham table covering.

For a sunny-looking table decoration that radiates cheer, make a citrus vase featuring flotillas of fresh lemon slices. Or achieve a romantic effect by floating large, showy blooms such as peonies, roses or hibiscus in shallow glass bowls.

The Tried-and-True: Tropical Glamour
There is a reason that party givers have long favored flickering tiki torches and garlands of brightly-colored paper or plastic accordion lanterns -- their exotic shapes and bright colors give a celebratory “island” atmosphere to even the most land-locked locations. Using colored ribbons, you can hang them from rafters to enliven porches, string them along railings to brighten decks, or position them in trees to create the illusion of fantastical fruits and blossoms. Craft eye-catching columns of lanterns by connecting them one atop the other with fishing line.

Outstanding Oases

You can set up a lounging area for your guests that mimics the sporty charm of a poolside cabana. Tall shutters painted bright white provide the “cabana” look; brightly painted canoe paddles or fishing rods (hooks removed, please) lean casually against them to evoke visions of summer aquatic sports. A large square of indoor/outdoor carpet in beach-y stripes and an arrangement of beach chairs or chaise lounges with nautically patterned cushions complete the look, while tables covered with nautical-themed fabrics can hold ice buckets or coolers of beverages.

IF your house or deck features a thriving assortment of potted palms or other greenery, you can achieve a luxuriant rain-forest effect by setting up them up in a semi-circle; lawn chairs and tables inside the leafy glade encourage sitting, sipping and socializing. Use a table adorned with hurricane lamps or tea lights -- or twinkling strands of white or colored outdoor lighting -- to ramp up the festive look even more.

A beach-themed party can feature an expanse of clean, white sand spread over a tarp to create a makeshift shoreline; scatterings of seashells, arrangements of ornamental grasses and driftwood displays all contribute to the feeling of the seaside. Plates in cool ocean blue and white candles inserted into glass jars of clean sand add more maritime accents.

Gifts from the Garden

Don’t forget the contributions of your garden when planning a backyard party. Displays of fresh, seasonal foods can rival the beauty of store-bought arrangements – consider using a crystal punch bowl filled with ruby-red strawberries or garden-grown tomatoes as a design accent.

If you grow pretty, fragrant kitchen herbs such as basil, rosemary, mint, thyme or sage, you can present them in elegantly-wrapped packets to serve as decorations, which can later be taken by guests as party favors. A garden of show-stopping sunflowers can yield not only decorative blooms but also beribboned jars of the attractive black-and-white seeds. After they have graced a table, guests can take them home for nibbling or planting.

With the help of some pleasing-looking natural elements and a few simple materials, you can stage a summer party that will help your guests consign the long, bitter winter to distant memory, while welcoming the summer ahead. Have fun!

About the Author:

Claudia Rivas, the owner of Fiesta4kids and one of Toronto’s premier party planners, has been delighting children for over two decades with high-quality, family-friendly entertainment. An alumnus of the prestigious Toronto Film School, Claudia has performed her popular “Claudia’s Show” at such high-profile venues as “Canada’s Wonderland” and “The Hispanic Fiesta” in Toronto.