Nautical Summer Party

 

{ This post was recently featured on the Tiny Prints Blog }

This was the first party at our new lake house, so I was thrilled when I discovered the 'Swell Times' invitation on the Tiny Prints site - it was the perfect fit for our theme! 

 

 

We ordered our invites and coordinating address labels and thank you cards (I love the anchors!) and got to work planning our party.

 

 

Our invitation was the first step in coming up with a theme and color scheme for the party.  My best tip for planning party decorations - pick a color, or a range of colors (in our case it was all shades of blue with a nautical theme) and go with it.  Start collecting accessories, table settings, and decorations in your selected color, and everything will look well pulled together. 

 

 

 

 

 

We kept the flowers simple - light blue hydrangeas, and put them all around the house.  The perfect summer flower to compliment our nautical theme.  By the way, did you know that Costco offers flowers in bulk online?  I ordered our flowers there and was pleasantly surprised - they were gorgeous and a great price as well!

 

 

I used glass vases and jars filled with sand, shells, and driftwood to compliment our beachy, nautical theme.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We decided to go with a Summer picnic theme for the food.  The menu:  pulled pork sandwiches, coleslaw, potato salad, pasta salad, potato chips, watermelon slices, potato chips, and caprese skewers.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our simple dessert station:

 

 

One of my favorite spots to set up - the drink station!  More hydrangeas and lots of blue to fit with the theme.

 

 

 

 

I added a collection of nautical themed prints in our colors to add interest to the drink station.  I love how it looks and how simple it was to put together!

 

 

 

 

 

I printed out names of the drinks we served on my computer and placed them in small frames.  The Lake Michigan Spiked Lemonade was very popular - so popular that I never had a chance to photograph it!

 

 

 

We had a wonderful party!