Whether your garden party is formal, informal, or somewhere in between, here are some ideas to get you started!
For ongoing participatory entertainment, recruit, beg or bribe selected guests ahead of time to be prepared to share their talents or demonstrate their special skills. For example, one of the best garden parties I ever attended included an orchid repotting demonstration presented by a guest; another memorable occasion sparked an honorary distribution of excess accumulated pink plastic flamingos.
When presented as though spontaneous, icebreaker games can be hilarious fun and help guests feel relaxed and at home right away. Offer a few diversionary party tricks, too.
And of course, keep the camera handy to record the highlights! Sideline activities help non-gardeners while away the hours and lend an air of authenticity to the down-home charm of outdoor entertaining, as do fly swatting and mosquito slapping.
More entertainment can be contrived quite easily with just a little creative thinking on your part. For your guests' pleasure, you might offer a variety of traditional keep cool yet active summer party games.
Since the more sedentary folks in the crowd will undoubtedly want to relax, be sure to dust off, rent or borrow plenty of portable seating units (lawn chairs, for example) several days in advance.
Maybe you'll opt to be devious and arrange seating in what appear to be secluded intimate nooks and niches throughout the garden. Be sure to arrange equally "discreet" seating nearby and within earshot. There will be no end of great gossip all winter thanks to your efforts.
Need a table topic? Conversation between gardening and non-gardening types can be tough, I know, especially when the gardeners are all off puttering along through the weeds by themselves. So: How about those cosmopolitan seabeans?
What say you to Wine, Cheese and An Eclipse?
How about that perennial favorite, the ever popular Suite 101.com Third Annual Tacky Yard Art Contest!
And last but not least, there's always the Y2K thing -- is this the last garden party of the millenium for you? Yikes!
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