HOW TO MAKE YOUR BBQ PARTY PINTEREST WORTHY

It’s BBQ season; the month where you drink too much beer, have too many knat bites and eat too many burgers. Oh August, you lovely month you.

Everyone loves a good BBQ right? It’s the type of party where it’s totally acceptable to turn up in flip flops, eat waaaay too much and sit out in the garden until silly o’ clock nursing your food baby.

Hosting a BBQ party can either be one of the most stressful things you’ll ever do (‘flippin’ heck, I’ve forgotten to cater for the bloody vegetarian and there isn’t enough chairs FFS’). Or, as is my stance, it can be one of the best ways to hang out with your pals and one of the best opportunities to throw a good shindig.

Alllll the pretty little things you see in this post have found their way into my BBQ party collection from the lovely HomeSense, Harlow. They asked me how I’d make a BBQ beaut. I shopped their fabulous store for inspiration. And in the words of Montell Jackson; ‘This is how we do it…’

Let’s get on with making our BBQ look sassy yeah?

Here’s 5 Pinterest worthy ways to create an awesome setting for your BBQ party:

 

Decorate like a pro. Listen up; you don’t need to do tons and tons of decoration to make your party pop.

It’s key, eye catching decs that are gonna make your party look like it’s wandered straight off a Pinterest board.

DO NOT try and decorate your whole back garden. That would be foolish. DO focus on one key area where everyone will congregate and then make it look pretty AF.

Oh and we all lead busy lives right? So yes, it’s fun to make bunting and DIY all those paper lanterns/pom-poms/origami swan shaped napkins. But time is of the essence here people.

The tassel garland below was only £7.99 from HomeSense, Harlow. I whipped it up in less than 10 minutes and it has a pretty big impact on the space. Less hassle and more time for making up that lush bowl of Pimms.

Get your priorities right.

Use you’re prettiest (and most mismatched) china. Obvs if you’ve got 40 people coming, paper plates are gonna trump China any day to save on the mountain of washing up. But I try to use China whenever I can ’cause look at it? It’s way prettier. And it makes cutting lamb steaks less of a drama.

You are not your nan. Don’t worry about having a whole matching set of plates and cutlery. Where’s the fun in that?

Mix and match it up. Clash your patterns. Forget conventional and traditional and embrace the eclectic. It’ll create a real relaxed atmosphere. Your pals will love you for it.

 

Make food that looks/smells/tastes babin’. (But isn’t complicated whatsoever).

I get that time is of the essence and we all lead super busy lives, but nothing beats a bit of home made food. Yes, it’s ridiculously easy to pick up a pack of burgers from M&S and stick some preprepped chicken drumsticks on the barbie, but do you know what’s even better?

Preparing your own food.

Your pals will be way impressed and think you’ve been slaving in the kitchen for hours but actually, something like this chicken is so simple and easy to whizz up.

You can find the recipe here.

You could marinate prawns in garlic, chilli & parsley. Prep your lamb in fresh mint, yogurt and spices. Throw together a fresh salad with crumbled feta, olives and pomegranate seeds.

Home prepared food over prepackaged anyday. Give it a whirl.

Find cute ways to add ultimate comfort to your BBQ party. If your BBQ’s are anything like mine, you and your mates are gonna be sitting out in your garden for hours to come, blaring out your music at all sorts of unsociable times. (noughties RnB, obvs).

Think about cute ways to ensure all your guests are still comfortable at 11pm/12am/1am.

Invest in some gorgeous chair cushions to keep everyone’s tush’s happy and inconspicuously place a basket of throws in the corner.When that sun goes down, everyone will be reaching for a throw to drape round their shoulders or cover their bare legs.

Keep warm and keep the party going.

Search for novel ways of serving those bad ass cocktails. People (and Pinterest) love being served drinks in unconventional ways. “Oh look dear, my pina colada’s in a coconut shell! How lovely!’

Bars all over the shop are coming up with ingenious ideas a to serve their cocktails. Jam jar glasses, popcorn boxes, test tubes – it’s all a bit of fun.

So how about serving your potent punch in milk bottles? Your guests will think it’s cute and novel (your female guests, that is) and  probs Instagram the hell outta it.

It’s a simple way to elevate your party style to the next level and it costs next to nothing. These little cuties below were only £1.39 each from HomeSense, Harlow.

Now if you’ll excuse me, my pals have literally just turned up. They’re a bit shocked that I’ve gone to all this effort ’cause LOL they were only popping round for a drink and a bite to eat.

What can I say, I’m the hostess with the mostest.

If you wanna create a colourful, eclectic outside space for a fraction of the price, get your bums down to HomeSense, Harlow for some inspiration and ultimate buys.

Happy BBQ season everyone.

This is a sponsored post in collaboration with HomeSense, Harlow. But obvs, all thoughts, styling and party tips are my own.