Party Planner

Backyard Barbecue

A backyard barbecue has a special "flavor" of it's own. The feeling is usually relaxed, festive and friendly and often includes children and adults. Flowers can help create the mood, whether relaxing or celebrating, or both. Since barbecues usually take place in the summer, ask your florist about what varieties do well in your climate.

Floral Decorating Ideas
Daisies are a great summer flower. Consider using Mason jars filled with bunches of daisies over checkered tablecloths. Drop a few candles into similar jars if it is an evening meal. Or ask your florist to make colorful arrangements in baskets, jars, or bottles.

Special Touches
Decorate pies and cakes with matching flowers and greens. Use bails of hay for extra seating, to decorate the yard or to make a haystack. Use strands of raffia for napkins holders.

Suggested Flowers
Daisies, marigolds, roses, lilies, asters, sunflowers, scabiosa and ornamental grasses.

As people have become more interested in nature, more outdoor living areas have been incorporated into homes and a relaxed, casual entertaining style has emerged. The mood can be chic or "gardeny" but the focus is always on the beauty of nature.

Floral Decorating Ideas
For your next garden or patio party, make use of flowering or green plants in season. Clay pots fit any decor and can be used for flowering plants, green plants or as containers for flower arrangements. Topiary designs look great in clay pots and can be created with ivy or flowers. (Be sure to weight the bases with sand if there is wind.) Floating candles and flowers in crystal bowls is another idea that "weathers" the weather. Miniature vases each showcasing a different type of flower and placed all along the table is a real conversation starter and you can give one to each guest as they leave. Most patio parties take place in the summer so roses are in season and a great value. Small clusters of roses in low containers with a sprinkling of rose petals on the table among votive candles can create a very elegant mood.

Special Touches
Hang twinkle lights or lanterns from trees or place lights among flowering plants. Outline the patio with plants and twinkle lights at the ground level to create a defined space. Floral name cards or a flower on each napkin adds a personal touch that is as friendly as this style of party.

Suggested Flowers/Plants
Roses, peonies, ranunculus, snapdragons, delphiniums, anemones, lily of the valley, lisianthus, heather, hydrangea, tulips, alstroemeria, begonias, geraniums, fuschias, ferns, ivy and impatiens.