Temperatures are increasing, flowers are blooming, and the message is clear: Summer is almost here. The warm-weather season is the best time of year for hosting fun outdoor parties for friends and family — but before you send out the invites, you need to be sure your home is ready to host seasonal festivities. This checklist should guide you through preparing your indoor and outdoor spaces for your first summer party.
Complete Home Repairs
You don’t want to welcome your guests into a construction zone. As temperatures continue to rise, you should rush to complete any home repair and renovation projects you started during the previous seasons. Usually by summer, most home projects are close to completion, so it should not take too much time or effort to finish those last few steps and clear away the tools and debris for your first summer party. Of course, if there is a relatively large home repair that will take most of the season to finalize, you might try to isolate it from your main entertaining spaces or else put the party planning on pause until next year.
Tend the Landscape
Spring is the season of new growth, and that can give a wild and uncontrolled look to the plants around your home’s exterior. Even if you appreciate the ordered chaos of a natural landscape, you should put some time into making your outdoor areas more inviting. Trees, hedges and large shrubs should be trimmed to look tidier and prevent any potential damage to your home and outdoor living spaces. If you have not yet, you should mow the lawn, and you might fill any empty containers with some fresh, seasonal flowers to bring lively color to your exterior scene.
Tidy up Surfaces
Inside and outside your home, you should identify and eliminate unnecessary clutter. Decluttering can be a persistent process as you continue to accumulate new belongings. There are several decluttering methods you might employ, such as KonMari, four boxes and quarantining. However, it is important to remember that you might not necessarily need to get rid of your things; instead, you might simply need a reliable place to store certain types of clutter. For example, if your entryway is often littered and unkempt, you might help it stay tidy by investing in organization tools like a shelf for shoes, hooks for coats and bags, a hanging mail organizer and more. Once your surfaces are tidy, you might give them a good clean — with a dust rag if inside or with the hose if outside.
Invest in Sufficient Seating
You want to be certain that any guests you invite to your home for a summer gathering will be sufficiently comfortable. Because the summer weather tends to encourage congregating outside, you might be in particular need of new patio dining furniture. Indoor-outdoor living is incredibly in style, so you should select a patio dining set that looks beautiful, feels comfortable and can withstand the elements.
Install Beautiful Lighting
Even if you expect your summer event to take place during the day, you want to be certain that you have the lighting in place to keep the party going after the sun sets. Generally, party-friendly lighting tends to be soft and indirect, so the space feels more intimate and comfortable. For the event, you might turn off any harsh overhead lighting or task lighting and turn on table lamps or use candles for a more flattering atmosphere. Outside, you can hang market lights across your yard for a fun look, but you should opt for a warm tone and a low wattage to keep the ambiance calm and cool.
Clean Your Cooking Spaces
Most summer parties involve some amount of food or drink, which gives guests something to do as they enjoy your company. However, you don’t want to serve your guests snacks and beverages created in a dirty environment, so before you start cooking, you should give your indoor and outdoor kitchens a deep clean. Likely, your normal cooking area only needs a wipe down to be ready for your party, but after a few months of disuse, your outdoor cooking area probably needs a good scrub.
Once your home is clean, tidy and well decorated, you are ready to invite your guests to your first summer party. You might consider planning a summer-ready activity or two to keep everyone engaged and entertained — or you might simply relax and enjoy the beautiful weather together.