I have always thought of doing this!!! If I were to do it:
I would insist on garden hats, and have a neutral person or 2 to judge the prize(s). A bag of jelly beans gets even adults excited. If you have room, set up a croquet course(?)or lawn bowling/bocchi. The prize could be a really nice bouquet from your garden, or an inexpensive perennial, preferably in bloom. Or more jelly beans!! Depending on your social circle, you could have a huge punch bowl - pink lemonade, spiked with gin, if you really want an English type of punch, google Pimm's, or, good ole iced tea. Or cold beer and chardonnay. All perfectly acceptable summer beverages. You could go with light nibblies, or a bbq.

Show us what you end up doing!!! As you can see, I have thought about this just a bit!!!

Nancy.

The Oregonian newspaper has a post on their blog today by Bridget Otto titled 'Have a Garden Party' -- very timely for your request.

If i Vil. won't let this linke post, you can Google: The Oregonian Garden Party.

Here is a link that might be useful: Have A Garden Party

Just thinking about it makes me so excited! I love to decorate, organize, pay attention to every tiny detail, so having a garden party will bring forward all my passions!
Thank you Nancy and Foxesearth for ideas and great article. Something to think about.
Most of my areas in a garden are small and intimate - made for 2 or 4. Bistro table with 2 chairs. Small patio with table and 4 chairs. Got to make a larger area for more people to gather. "If you build it - they will come..."

You made me smile with this thread.

We used to have a big party once a year. I mean a huge party! Everybody was invited, from the Mayor and City Council, to labourers on DH's job. It was always held in the garden, and we provided kegs of beer, with others bringing their own bottles of whatever they wanted to drink.

We had BBQs, and spaghetti suppers, Chinese and Mexican food. The last party was a fish fry, and we fed 160 people. Around dark time, the band started playing some good country music, and everybody started to dance on the driveway or patio, or wherever there was a level surface. On this night, a man from down the road heard the music, and came to play his fiddle with the band. It turned out that he used to play fiddle with Bob Wills, back in the good old days! He sure could play that fiddle!

I used to love to do this annual party, but I think I would run screaming and pulling my hair at the idea of doing it now.

Good luck with your party.

We want to see pictures!

Janie

Sounds like a great idea Natalie. I've always wanted to have a garden party but have never really pulled it off. Many times a party has spilled out onto the patio and guests have wandered around the garden, but I have never really concentrated on making a garden party as such. I will be very interested in hearing about the planning and progress. Please take lots of pictures for us.

We love to have garden parties...the one to celebrate our youngest son's high school graduation got rained out last weekend, but....

String some small white lights in the trees or shrubs. Candles are wonderful in the garden after dark.

Have food stations all around to help people circulate...drinks here, various nibble stations all around...fire up the grill...

We have 5 gallon coolers we fill with lemonade or iced tea. A cooler holds ice. We also have big copper tubs to ice down soft drinks. (not beer drinkers, but you could steal the idea.)

Have mosquito repellent handy!

Excellent tips, some things I would probably miss till later, when they would be really needed and helpful: like mosquito repellent. Or wonderful extras like prizes, strings of light, food stations.
Thanks everyone! keep the ideas coming. It will be a rather small party, maybe 15-20 people to avoid the crowding. I would create smaller areas of gathering in 3 areas: front, side and back. Oh, the possibilities!... Almost like planning a wedding :)!

I have had garden parties here several years ago. I only had the front yard then, so us girls "partied" on the front porch. We had not installed our bath tub upstairs yet then and it was housed on the front porch...so I covered it with a board, a nice long tablecloth and set up our tea. The girls wore funny hats as a joke and I served cold and hot tea, I made a simple party game into a game using botanical names and it was fun. We had a short tour of the garden, picked some herbs and flowers. There were 10 of us.

If your garden party involves young children, be prepared with goodie bags filled with things they could play with. This way, you get to concentrate on the adults and the kids are attended to.

Also, Martha Stewart's website has lots of ideas on holding a garden party, including setting up the decors. If your party extends to the evening, make sure you have garden lights/lanterns set up.

Love the punch bowl idea-- I recall my great aunts' parties with fruit punch bowls... it was non-alcoholic and so quite suitable for children. It had fruit tidbits and marachino cherries .. wish I'd ask for that recipe. It was an unusual punch but it was definitely yummy.

Ianna

While I was still teaching I had an alter-ego,the "Westside
Early Morning Garden Inspector." Every morning my 3-4 mile 6:00 a.m. walk went through the streets and alleys of
different parts of the west side. I saw interesting open and hidden gardens, plants I had never seen before,

solutions to hiding trash cans, amazing things, all in
early dawn hours. All was quiet;I never saw the gardeners!

One year, as soon after school was out as I could get my
garden ready, I put invitations in the mailboxes of the
people whose gardens I had secretly admired. I offered a
Saturday morning brunch in the garden or a Sunday afternoon
tea to meet the schedule preferences of my unknown guests.

It was a wonderful success! What surprises! The retired teacher who had eased our daughter's transfer into a new school years ago, an outstanding local artist, an amateur
artist who gives 2 afternoons a week teaching at the senior
center, the person who filled her garden with lupines after an Alaska vacation and many others. Young to old, male and female. Needless to say we all found plenty to talk about.

I repeated the party a couple of years later but now my walks are no longer in the early morning and my garden visiting tends to be through garden club events and public garden tours.

Chris

Grandmachris - what a fantastic idea! True gardenlovers would instantly have a lot in common.

I've had a few garden parties. I usually make them pot luck to reduce the stress on me, and everyone brings the most delightful things to eat. I provide all the beverages and dinnerware. I also brought out my good (floral patterned) china to make it seem more elegant than paper plates. I do have a dishwasher, after all.

I potted up lots of extra perennials, and let each guest pick one as their party favor upon leaving. Years later, they still thank me for the Easter lilies, or purple sage, etc.