Party Guide: Garden Party
In response to popular demand (ask and you shall receive my friends! We’ve got you.), and to the fact that we absolutely believe in our souls that people need to be getting together more with their beloveds, in real life, no excuses! complete with clinking glasses, and conversations while the kids play make-believe under the table, and singing together, and having little dance parties in the kitchen…We are bringing our party guides back. We’ll give you ideas for food and drink and themes, but the important thing to remember is this: what makes a party fun is that it is personal. Don’t try to make it too perfect or polished.
Quick quick! Before summer is over, let’s throw a garden party! If you don’t have a garden, I think you can still have a garden party. Just eat al fresco by whatever means necessary and serve foods inspired by the bounty of the garden. It will be great.
I’m actually getting ready to host a garden party myself, so here you can have the whole menu I’m planning and just steal it!
The Vibe:
I’m pretty sure garden party is a vibe all of its own. To conjure the warmth of long summer days and the bounty of the garden, look through your plates and linens and use anything that is white, sky blue, tomato red, or butter yellow. For decor, fill jars or clay crockeries and vases with freshly cut garden flowers or wildflowers and place them all over the place. Just use what you have! Stacks or bowls of colorful seasonal produce like tomatoes, peaches, or snap peas also work to decorate and give the requisite feeling of plenty.
The Drinks:
A punchy, herby lemonade is where it’s at. One of our favorites this summer is what we have been calling a “Lazy Last Word.” It features the gorgeous and glorious herbal notes of our Spruce Gin and Herbal Liqueur - all you have to do is top them off with lemonade to make a real treat.
Lazy Last Word Pitcher (8 servings)
1.5 cups Vikre Spruce Gin
1/2 cup Vikre Herbal Liqueur
4-5 cups good lemonade
additional lemon to squeeze in to taste
Combine all the ingredients in a pitcher with ice. Stir and squeeze in fresh lemon to taste. Serve in cute little cups.
Another fun option for a garden party is to have a SPRITZ BAR. Set out a variety of liqueurs and a bunch of chilled prosecco, and let people make their own spritzes. I’m going to set mine up with: a bottle of our Aperitivo Classico, a bottle of our Amaro Superiore, a bottle of St. Germaine, and a bottle of good quality Creme de Cassis. Set out little trays with garnish options including: green olives, orange slices, grapefruit slices, and mint sprigs. Add several bottles of chilled prosecco, some chilled soda water bottles, and a bucket of ice with a scoop. If you’d like, you can make a little instruction card telling people to combine anywhere from 1/2 to 2 ounces (depending on how sweet they like things!) to a wine glass and to top with 3 oz. of prosecco and a splash of soda. Garnish as desired and add as much ice as they like.
For an NA drink, stick with the lemonade genre and fill a pitcher with lemonade plus something fun like one of the following: gently muddled basil leaves, a small dash of rosewater, sliced cucumber, sliced peaches, or sliced strawberries.
The food:
You want the food to be food that feels at ease sitting around outside, and it’s nice if it is seasonal produce heavy (again, we are celebrating summer’s bounty people!!!!). I will be making this salad, which is my current summer obsession. I’m also planning on making lots of little sandwichy foods (some made on gluten free bread). Slices of baguette topped with lots of butter, thin slices of radish and sprinkled with sea salt. Baguette sandwiches with really (REALLY) good ham and brie, and more baguette sandwiches with whole milk ricotta, grilled summer squash, chopped mint, and sprinkled sea salt. I will also definitely make some of these tomato puff pastry tarts but made with goat cheese added to the ricotta instead of parmesan (so easy with store bought puff pastry! Try to find puff pastry made with actual butter, if you can.).
For dessert a cake with berries and whipped cream is a must. I’m also planning to make this chocolate and hazelnut cake which is one of my favorite gluten free cakes. Another fun idea is to have a few different infused syrups (strawberry syrup for example, or cherry syrup, cardamom orange syrup, raspberry ginger…get creative!), soda water, and vanilla ice cream so everyone can make creative floats!
The Conversation
Full disclosure, for my party I’m making everyone wear hats (I started making hats as a weird hobby this summer and I need excuses to wear them), which makes for easy conversation starters. Since we are lucky enough to have a yard with space, we will also have yard games. Other excellent topics include what fun and summery books people have read lately, a favorite poem or work of art they have recently discovered, favorite type of flower, or which song was their favorite in K Pop Demon Hunters (this is the hot topic in our household at the moment. Obviously “How It’s Done” thank you very much. Next question. ;) )
