Here are Champagne HQ we love an opportunity to hang with our galpals and drink a fizzy drink as the sun is going down. We also love throwing parties and have learnt a bit over the years about what makes a good one.
So, here are our top 5 tips for throwing the best spring soiree.
Delightful decor
Keep the decor super simple, don’t get all craycray over it. Here’s my top ways to make the decor look great:
- long tables with mismatched chairs – I have a bunch of trestle tables and folding chairs in the shed for such events
- neutral tablecloths – I use calico fabric cut to size and bleach the wine stains out of it after each party
- jars filled with greenery or flowers – just grab stuff straight out of the garden, my centrepieces feature rosemary and lavendar as I have heaps of it
- disposable bamboo cutlery and plates are pretty and easy if you don’t want to deal with all the washing up and they can go in the recycling bin
If you don’t have chairs and tables, why not do it picnic style with blankets and cushions on the grass. You can pretty easily knock up a table with some milk crates and pieces of ply (they’ll cut it to size for you at most hardwares if you aren’t handy). Buy a few rolls of butchers paper and roll it all the way down the table and you have a made to order hipster tablecloth!
Fizzy, fruity, icy-cold drinks
I set up a drinks stand separate to the table, this way people can go and help themselves. I have a small table set up with lots of wine and champagne glasses (I have boxes of them stored in the top cupboard, otherwise if you are hiring you can get a dozen for less than $10) and a drinks dispenser with water with berries or lemon slices in it.
I have two of those large flexible tubs that I use as ice buckets where people can put their wine if they are BYOing. I like to have LOTS of ice on hand so generally buy 2 or 3 bags of ice per tub.
If you want to get super fancy, freeze some edible flowers or fruit into ice cubes.
If I’m making cocktails I like to make is easy for myself and have all the mixers and ingredients on hand with instructions and then people can help themselves. I like to hang out at my party, I don’t want to spend my whole time making drinks!
Here’s some very awesome ways to pimp your prosecco if you need some inspiration.
Grazing platter
I’m totally obsessed with grazing platters at the moment. I love the idea of a generous, heavily laden platter groaning with delicious food. There’s loads of companies out there that are doing amazing platters, or you can do your own. There are a few logistics to take into account when doing your own catering.
If you have a long table, you probably want to create three or four long skinny platters on wooden boards or narrow plates. Use a mixture of meats, cheeses, fruit, veg, deli bits ‘n bobs and crackers and nuts. If you have a smaller group, it can also work well to group your food, for example meats together, cheeses together etc. See example below.
Allow roughly 4-5 ‘pieces’ per person per hour. You obviously need to take into account the heat so you want to put less of anything that is perishable and keep restocking from the fridge. Make sure you are aware of any food allergies prior, so you can include food that all your guests can happily eat. Because I am coeliac, I’m hyper aware of all this stuff now. I always serve a platter of gluten-free crackers separate to the other crackers.
Music to shimmy in the sunshine
Get your groove on with this awesome playlist created by our very own resident DJ, kick-ass Carolyn.
The best galpals
In all honesty parties are really just about bringing rad mates together, so as long as you do that and then throw a bottle of plonk and a plate of kabana and crackers on the table, it will pretty much be the most awesome party of all time.
