The weather forecast is looking promising, and it has us all asking: when is the next bank holiday? Well, it’s just a few days away. This year, it falls on Monday 30^th August. That gives you just about enough time to plan a Covid-safe garden party, and if you’re lucky enough to own a summer garden room, we have plenty of ideas to make this year extra special as we all transition to the ‘new normal.

Whether you have a small garden and want to host a cosy gathering or have a large garden with plenty of space for games, we’ve got some great ideas.

A Smoother Transition

We use the phrase ‘new normal’ because that’s the phase we appear to be in with the pandemic. Life is getting back to normal in terms of socialising, but Covid has not gone away as much as we’d all like it to.

Not everyone feels comfortable going out and about and socialising as they once did, but they still want to see family and friends.

So, how do you safely make the most of this summer bank holiday? Well, with a fabulous outdoor garden party hosted from your summer garden room, of course! After all, it’s the last bank holiday before Christmas, and it’s been a while since we’ve been able to get together quite so freely.

Hosting a party outdoors remains the safest way for everyone to come together, and with a bit of luck, Monday will offer at least a few hours of sunshine.

Summer Garden Event Ideas

If you’ve just had your summer garden room installed, you’ll almost certainly be brimming with summer garden event ideas, but we thought we’d share some that you may not have thought of yet.

Celebrate Everyone’s Birthday

Most of us missed celebrating at least one birthday in the way we would have liked to over the past 18 months. As one of our favourite summer garden event ideas, you could make the day extra special by celebrating all the ‘lockdown’ birthdays. To add to the surprise, you could always keep the cake and other party surprises in your summer garden room ready for the big reveal!

Create a Mediterranean Vibe

Being unable to travel overseas safely has made us miss the culture, scenery and weather experienced abroad. So why not create a Mediterranean feel at home for your bank holiday garden party. Think stark whites contrasted with bright blues, terracotta pots, colourful ceramic tiles and pops of green succulents.

We adore how the owners of the Key Studio garden room below have accented their garden with ‘Santorini’ blue.

Bring Your Indoors Outdoors

If you’re planning on holding a sophisticated soiree this bank holiday and are stuck for outdoor décor ideas, you may not need to look very far. Consider moving your indoor vases outside with some freshly cut flowers from your garden, hang your indoor mirrors among foliage, and trail outside Christmas or fairy lights from your home to your summer garden room.

Think Day to Night

As far as summer garden event ideas go, this is a great one. The best garden parties transition effortlessly from day, to night. So what’s the secret? Well, if you have a summer garden room, you can retreat inside when it gets a bit nippy yet still feel as if you’re in the garden. If you haven’t got a garden room yet, though, a chiminea or fire pit is a great idea. Some cleverly designed Rattan fire pit sets neatly contain a central flame for enough warmth. They look stunning next to a summer garden room. You can’t quite see the fire pit in the garden below, but the owners of this wonderfully proportioned Ultra garden room have carefully ‘zoned’ their garden for entertaining.

Invest in a Spa

All the rage at the moment, no garden party seems to be complete without a hot tub, whether that’s an inflatable one or a permanent feature. In fact, one of our clients chose to ‘frame’ their Belle garden room with a six-seater Lay-Z-Spa ready for those summer gatherings.

Another client decided to make their hot tub a permanent feature of their Affinity summer garden room by neatly placing it on the adjoining decking under the shelter of a canopy. With a glass door leading straight into their garden room, it’s the perfect place to entertain and relax this bank holiday.

Make it Cosy

It can sometimes be a little cooler towards the end of August. So make sure you’ve got plenty of throws and cushions on hand for your party guests. Make your summer garden room the perfect evening retreat as the owners of this Belle garden room have done. Hanging from the fairy lights are postcards from all the places they’ve visited – a real talking point for guests!

Tips on Hosting Others at Home in Your Garden

It can feel daunting hosting a garden party, especially since we’re all a little out of practice. So how do you make the most of your home entertainment space this bank holiday?

1. Be practical with numbers

Hopefully, if all continues to go to plan, you should be able to host your party restriction-free. However, depending on how you and your guests feel, you may still wish to be a little cautious with how many people you invite to your party (only you can make this judgement call). If you have a large gathering, ‘zoning’ your garden will help spread people out a little. For instance, you could place picnic blankets on your lawn, move chairs and tables to different parts of the garden, and fold back the doors to your summer garden room. People will naturally gravitate to where there is seating.

2. Stagger arrival times

Stagger when people arrive. This is a great idea for any home entertainment space, regardless of the Covid situation. We’re not talking hours, but maybe 15 minutes or so between groups of people. This will allow you to welcome everyone properly and offer them a drink.

3. Organise some games

No home entertainment space is complete without a selection of classic garden games. Giant Jenga is a favourite of ours, and Robert Dyas has a large garden-sized version of the game on sale now. Hoopla (throwing hoops onto hooks) or a bean bag into a hole are also popular and deceptively difficult! If you have the time to spare this weekend, you could pop down to your local DIY store and build your own games.

4. Cater for everyone

It can be tricky to cater for everyone. That’s why it’s a good idea to prepare a selection of different foods.  To save yourself having to tell people what’s in each dish, it’s a good idea to create flags (from cocktail sticks) to easily show what’s vegetarian, vegan and gluten-free.

5. Don’t forget the music

The music you choose can really set the mood of a home entertainment space. So, think about who’s coming and what their music tastes might be. Then, if you’ve invited everyone through WhatsApp or Facebook, ask them for their top five songs (just don’t forget to play them!).

6. Make full use of your garden room

One of the best things about having a summer garden room is that it is an incredibly versatile home entertainment space. It can be a cosy retreat, a cool shaded area for young guests to play in, somewhere to keep the flies away from the buffet, a drinks station or a DJ room! It can serve almost any purpose you want it to.

Order Your Brochure Now

We hope you’ve found these summer garden event ideas helpful. For inspiration, you’re welcome to download our brochure, which includes over 50 examples of the garden rooms we’ve installed throughout Suffolk, Norfolk, Essex and London.

There are 7 different garden room ranges to choose from in 60+ sizes with prices starting from just £10,525. Moreover, each of our SMART garden rooms boasts full thermal insulation, making the perfect entertaining pad all year round.

You can even have a go at designing your own home entertaining space using our SMART Configurator AR Visualiser App. Simply search ‘Smart Garden Room Visualiser’ on App Store or Google Play to download the App. It’s super-easy to use.