Easy ways to make your summer party more festive

By Chinggay Labrador, Pretty Does It | Yahoo! SHE

It’s the season for backyard fiestas, barbecues and pool parties. Whether you’re having family over, entertaining your kids’ friends or inviting the neighbors for a casual night of cocktails, dressing up your home to fit the festive air of summer can be fun.

Creating a tablescape, adorning your home with fresh flowers and putting on some music can instantly turn your party into an occasion more festive than it already is.

Here are a few décor tips for your next big to-do and celebrate summer before we bid it adieu.

1. Decorate your drinks.

•     To your glasses, add cocktail umbrellas, bright fruit slices and colored ice cubes made out of  juice or punch.
•     Make easy, DIY coasters. Draw or print out some quirky sunshine-themed graphics on heavyweight boards and laminate them for reusable table accessories you can bring out each year.

2. Trim your ceiling.

•     Cut up some triangular flags in a palette that pleases you—construction paper brights for a Mexican-themed bash or pretty pastels for an afternoon tea party—and clip them to a piece of string you can drape across your ceiling. Crisscrossing festive flags indoors is a no-fuss way of bringing the outdoors in and creating that backyard atmosphere indoors, rain or shine.
•     Paper lanterns are also a fun option. Hanging various sizes on different lengths can create delicate chandeliers at a budget-friendly cost.

3. Top up your table.

•     Create a picnic-themed party, whether indoors or outside, by using a traditional red-and-white gingham fabric as a tablecloth. Paired with paper placemats and floral centerpieces arranged in mini-wicker baskets or reused soda bottles, they can create the perfect casual barbecue setting at home.
•     Another ubiquitous summer theme is the beach. Adding a nautical-striped table runner, some red, white and blue napkins and message-in-a-bottle centerpieces can offer a different spin on a much-loved theme.

4. Brighten up the bathroom.

•     Don’t overlook your bathrooms. They’re used frequently by guests  although most homeowners often forget this space and the many ways it can be spruced up.
•     Stick to the summer theme by prettying up a small corner with mason jars filled with sand, sand dollars or shells.
•     Thoughtful details like a tray with delicate hand towels in citrus colors can add a lively, surprising touch to the room as well.

5. Accent with scent.

•     Fashion a complete party atmosphere in your home by aiming to please all the senses with subtle oil burners and summery scented candles in certain nooks.
•     Be sure to situate these scents away from the buffet or dining area and relegate them to your foyer, to welcome guests with a surprising whiff of fragrance, to the powder room to give them an instant boost while freshening up, or even outdoors.
•     Fire up a few citronella candles for their lemony scent and help protect your guests from mosquitoes as well.

Have more home and organizing questions for the author? Email her atchinggaylabrador@yahoo.com

Chinggay Labrador is a freelance writer and stylist, contributing articles on beauty, lifestyle and design to local magazines. Her background in architecture has her profiling trends and homes throughout the region. A travel junkie who likes to frequent Japan and Korea, Chinggay is the former editor-in-chief of Sparkling, a quarterly K-Pop publication and is also the author of “Popped and Popped, Too,” books based on the fun, frivolity and friendship centered on Korean Pop music.

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