secret Garden party ideas
BY A PROFESSIONAL PARTY PLANNER
For unique garden party ideas, perhaps to make an adult birthday dinner a bit more special, you can apply a Secret Garden theme.
Loosely inspired by the classic children’s novel, the name alone is wonderfully evocative. Implying a sense of discovery, it has mysterious, romantic, and enchanting connotations.
A Secret Garden party theme is very versatile and can be adapted to suit all different occasions.
It’s sophisticated enough to be used for an adult birthday or it can be applied in a more subtle way to an everyday cook-out such as an alternative to a BBQ.
The garden party ideas below are inspired by the rustic beauty of an English country garden and incorporate all the wonderful flavours and smells of herbs, fruits, vegetables and flowers into the food and drink, table styling and decorations.
If you’re planning a kid’s birthday party you might prefer to adapt some of these garden party ideas and call it a Woodland Fairy theme by including fairies, sprites, butterflies, and ladybugs. Or you can apply these garden party ideas to a tea party. Check out my Alice in Wonderland party page for more tea party ideas.
For inspiration you may also want to check out the photos on our Facebook page from when I used this theme for a party for The Red Cross (below).
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i’m matt james
professional event producer
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01 GARDEN PARTY IDEAS: INVITATIONS
Below are some suggestions for invitations to go with these secret garden party ideas:
ADVICE FROM A PRO
Matt’s tip
“I think it’s important to create a big first impression, which is why I always try to include some sort of 3D object tied to the printed invitation with ribbon.
This is a little trick that’s often used by professional party planners to make invitations stand out.
It doesn’t have to be anything expensive, just some cheap novelties, and you can use it re-enforce your party theme. For example, kids sunglasses or a flip flop for a beach party, a toy dinosaur for a dinosaur party, or an eye patch for a pirate party.
People just love to receive unusual invitations; it really captures their imagination and gets them excited about the party.
Click here to check out some examples of 3D object invitations from my party invitations page (opens in a new tab)”.
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key invitations
Grab your guest’s imagination from the beginning by using ornate keys as the invitation. These will evoke a strong visual image of guests letting themselves into a hidden garden.
To make these, pick up some these ornate keys and attach a small tag with all the party details on.
Hand-write the details onto a decorative shipping tag, spray a few drops of grass scented fragrance, available here, onto the tags before sending out in these cute box mailers.
The smell of fresh cut grass greeting your guests when they open their invitations will really bring your these garden party ideas to life.
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02 garden party drinks
Lots of top cocktail mixologists use herbs to compliment fruit based cocktails, so don’t be afraid to bring the flavors of the garden into your drinks. Below are some cocktail recipes to compliment these garden party ideas:
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PEAR & ROSEMARY COCKTAIL
Pear and Rosemary is a great combination for a refreshing summer cocktail so check out this recipe from Martha Stewart.
Similar combinations perfect for these garden ideas include this Apple and Sage Martini, and this Lemon and Basil Martini.
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ROSE PETAL MARTINI
Shake the following ingredients over ice in a cocktail shaker, pour into a martini glass and garnish with pink rose petals
—2 Shots Vodka
—1 Shot White Creme de Cacao
—1 Shot Lychee Liqueur
—Dash of Grenadine
—Rose Petals to Garnish
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lavender MARTINI
This Lavender Martini recipe from The Food Channel has a lavender sugar rim which adds a lovely appearance to this delicate garden themed cocktail.
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butterfly cocktail
This recipe for a Butterfly Cocktail uses basil, mint, Citron Vodka, Elderflower cordial and is garnished with an edible flower (I’d suggest a Pansy) so is a perfect cocktail for these garden party ideas.
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garden elixir
If you want to wow your guests with something really original try this Garden Elixir recipe from Food and Wine, which combines cilantro with gin, apple juice, celery juice, lime, and Chartreuse.
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03 secret garden party food
Think about what foods are in-season and really try to capture the flavors of the garden by creating an earthy menu:
ADVICE FROM A PRO
disclaimer
“As a professional party planner, I’m lucky enough to be able to collaborate with some amazing chefs to create menus for my events.
As I’m no chef myself, and cannot create dishes from scratch, I’ve searched the web for recipes that I think would work well for this party theme.
All credit goes to the talented people who have created these recipes, so please click through to their site for full details, ingredients, methods, and in some cases step-by-step tutorials”.
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Bring your garden party to life
Create an earthy menu that uses lots of fresh herbs, fruits, vegetables, and edible flowers. Try to make sure every dish incorporates at least one of these in a significant way and before you know it your menu will start to bring these garden party ideas to life.
To give you an idea, below are some of the dishes I used for a similar party for The Red Cross (which actually took place in the fall). Note the ‘on-theme’ ingredients are highlighted in bold.
APPETIZERS
FIRST COURSE
MAIN COURSE
DESSERT
Obviously these dishes were created by a professional caterer, but hopefully it will give you some ideas for how you can embellish your own menu by including lots of natural, earthy ingredients and flavors.
Below are some other recipes that work well with these garden party ideas:
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Chilled soups
Great for a garden party theme, serve chilled soup in individual shot glasses they’re easy to eat standing up—plus they look really cute.
Check out this recipe for Chilled Pea and Mint Soup with Creme Fraiche from Modern Foodie, alternatively you could try this Chilled Potato Leek Soup by Martha Stewart.
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use herbs for color, flavour & aroma
One of the appetizers we served for the Red Cross party was slices of lamb skewered on a branch of rosemary. Here’s a similar recipe by Canadian House and Home. Likewise, here’s a similar recipe to the Zucchini Roll Ups that we served, from health.com.
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re-imagine salads as cocktail party appetizers
I love the trend of re-imagining salads as cocktail party appetizers by serving them on skewers. Here are a few for inspiration:
Bacon and Romaine Skewers with Blue Cheese Dressing from Food and Wine,
Greek Salad Skewers from My Baking Addiction,
and Skewered Caesar Salad from Chefs Resources.
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edible flowers
This type of party theme is a great excuse to serve some more unusual dishes such as ones that incorporate edible flowers.
First I’d recommend you read this really informative article about edible flowers which is a great introduction to how best to use them, including a list of suitable flowers.
Then check out this extensive list of edible flower recipes, which includes dishes such as Edible Flower Cream Cheese, Rose Petal Ice Cream, Chicken with Lavender and Honey, Salmon Pizza with Nasturtiums, Beef with Rose et Poivre, and even a Lavender Blueberry Soup!
Here are a couple of other edible flower recipes I came across which would work well with these garden party ideas.
These Salmon and Cream Cheese Stuffed Nasturtiums, from Cafe Nilson, look great, or if you’re not feeling quite so adventurous try adding some flowers to a salad such as this one with Blood Oranges, Edible Flowers, and Poppyseed Dressing, from Healthy Happy Life.
One other edible flower recipe I just had to include is this Goat Cheese, Asparague, and Beet Salad, from Herbivouracious, because the presentation is stunning and it includes instructions for how to arrange it like this. This dish uses chive flowers (the purple puffballs in the photo) and rosemary petals.
Finally, you can also try these Cheese Stuffed Zucchini Flowers from Panachemag. Although I have to confess I really like these when they’ve been deep fried tempura style so here’s an alternative recipe in case you want to try them this way.
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Bruschetta
Bruschetta makes quick and easy party food and there are so many different options for toppings that you can easily find something to tie in with these garden party ideas.
This Prosciutto, Marscapone and Honeyed Arugula Bruschetta, from Food + Words, looks great, or for something a bit different, try this Balsamic Strawberry, Basil, and Goat Cheese Bruschetta from Yummy Mummy Kitchen.
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Tomato Macaroons
Here are three other simple garden themed appetizer recipes, all of which can be prepared in advance and then assembled at the last minute.
Goat Cheese and Pistachio Served on Baby Spinach Leaves, Potatoes with Creme Fraiche and Bacon, and Beet and Goat Cheese Hors d’Oeuvres (all three from Martha Stewart).
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Tomato Macaroons / fruit bouquets
These Tomato Macaroons with Basil Buttercream, from Double Cream Single Sugar, caught my eye as they just sound so unusual and that’s what I think party food should be all about (who wants to be served the same old everyday food at a party? Be adventurous! If you want ‘safe’ options you can go to a restaurant).
For something a bit more playful, try making Fruit Flower Pops, by Lindsay Ann at Dollhouse Bake Shoppe,
or see the video below for a demonstration of how to make Fruit Bouquets.
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Hydrangea Cupcakes
These Hydrangea Cupcakes, from Glorious Treats are so pretty, or for something really simple just fill meringues with whipped cream and blueberries and garnish with violets, like these from Country Living).
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JELLO SHOTS
If you want to try something a bit more unusual, try making these cocktail jello shots, from the Jelly Shot Test Kitchen.
These three flavors The Bramble, Cucumber Lime Margarita, and Elderflower Mojito fit well with these garden party ideas.
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FLOWER POT DESSERTS
Finally, I love these Flower Pot Desserts by Ree from Pioneer Woman, which are perfect for these garden party ideas.
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04 FOOD STYLING AND PRESENTATION
Styling and presentation tips to compliment these garden party ideas:
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rustic, natural & stylish tableware
Keep trays and serving dishes as rustic and natural as possible by using lots of wood and decorate with leaves, petals, or flowers.
Browse your local garden centre for small planters, seed boxes, or terracotta flower pots to serve dishes in, or fill small glass cubes with flowers, grasses or decorative stones and position one on each serving tray for decoration.
See the photos below created by one of the UK’s top catering companies The Admirable Crichton for inspiration.
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Terracotta pots / wheatgrass
This recipe for Feta, Tomato and Rosemary Flower Pot Breads, from Delicious Magazine, is a great example of how you can serve foods in terracotta pots.
Another great idea for food styling is to serve appetizers on skewers and present them in trays of wheatgrass, as in the photo below from Catersource.
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flower ice cubes
Freeze flowers (or fruit, such as berries) into ice cubes, below from Martha Stewart, to add to drinks, or serve food in ice bowls with flowers frozen in them, below from Food Network.
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ice bowls
For step by step instructions on how to make ice bowls like these to incorporate into your garden party ideas, see the video below.
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cucumber cups
Think about what fruit and vegetables you can carve into cups and bowls to serve food in. For example, I love serving pumpkin soup in hollowed out baby squash.
Below are a few different ideas for how to serve appetizers in cucumber cups which go really well with these garden party ideas.
Spicy Gazpacho in Cucumber Cups (below from Viking), Cucumber Cups with Ginger Carrot Puree (below from Stranded in Cleveland), and Creamy Cucumber Chive Cups (below from Wholefoods)
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buffet table styling
I always think it’s important to make a feature of the buffet / dessert table. Creating a well styled food table acts as a focal point for all the garden party ideas and decorations.
Check out this amazing veggie buffet table (below, from My Bride Story) for inspiration. It just shows how easy it is to style a table just using fruit, vegetables, and a few flowers.
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DECORATIONS AND TABLE STYLING
Hit the ‘Read More’ button below to check out my garden party decorations page with lighting and table styling tips to compliment these garden party ideas.
