6 Festival Themed Party Ideas

The theme of any event sets the mood and tone of the evening, and what better way to get everyone into the garden and enjoying the sun than a festival themed party? Once in a while, we think that everyone should catch a break from their busy schedules by getting all glammed up and popping on some music. Whether it’s a special occasion or a birthday celebration, no event is too big or small to add a dash of glitter and bohemian chic. So, whether you’re planning a small and intimate garden party with loved ones or a big celebration with friends, we have put together a guide on organising the best festival themed party you can imagine.

How To Organise A Festival Themed Party

Summer parties are always best outside, with the BBQ blazing and the sunshine keeping you warm, so why not bring Glastonbury to your home with some music and festival-themed outfits and decorations?

As you can imagine, there is a lot of planning that goes into organising an event, regardless of how big or small it may be. Everything from finding and purchasing decorations to coordinating hire packages to arrive on time will have to be part of your planning process. So, as professionals in entertainment offering services such as our much-loved photo booth hire in London, we are here to lend a helping hand by offering some fabulous festival themed party ideas:

• Festival Themed Garden Party
• Festival Themed Party Decorations
• Festival Themed Party Entertainment
• Festival Themed Party Outfits
• Festival Themed Party Food & Drink
• Kids Festival Themed Party

Festival Themed Garden Party

If you’ve decided on a festival theme, we recommend hosting your party outside to create an authentic festival feel. If you have a garden spacious enough to accommodate all your guests, this will be the perfect location! Otherwise, you can always look into renting a field or garden to host your event in.

Once you’ve decided on a venue and chosen a date, you need to consider decorations, entertainment and refreshments. Be sure to confirm any items or services you plan on having at your party with the venue before booking to avoid complications! You should also ensure that these are compatible with an outdoor event: avoid lightweight items that could blow away easily and consider hiring a gazebo tent for guests and catering to shelter under if there is a possibility of rain.

Festival Themed Party Decorations

Decorations play a big part in any event as it helps to create a specific atmosphere as well as enhance your theme. The decoration side of any event is going to be one of the hardest aspects to design and organise, as there is a lot that goes into forming your magical evening. The reason for this is because decorations require you to think about lighting, balloons, bunting, dance floor, seating areas, table decorations and much more, all of which will need to be coordinated.

The first step to designing your decorations is to think about your theme and what you would usually see people wearing at a festival. Try to think about Coachella and the types of outfits and decorations that you can see celebrities such as Gigi Hadid rocking. Usually, the theme involves a lot of beading, sparkles, and pastel colours, so try and find products and decorations that suit this. If you are decorating the garden, then think about how you are able to decorate the trees and fence with colourful bunting or artificial flowers. Along with this, you can also create sections in the garden for people to sit by placing bean bags or patterned cushions on the floor. Alternatively, if you have seats or a garden sofa, then purchase some snazzy cushions to brighten up the garden.

Fairy lights are a great way to add some brightness to your event, especially if you are planning on having it in the evening. There is a range of fairy lights that you are able to choose from, but we would suggest getting those with a slightly yellow tint, as it will help to set a relaxing, bohemian mood. You can find a range of fairy light designs on Argos, with some even incorporating leaves to integrate them into your landscape.

Other festival themed decoration ideas include the following:

• Colourful Balloons
• Ribbons
• Lots of Flowers
• Teepee Tents
• Hammocks

Festival Themed Party Entertainment

The entertainment you choose for your festival themed party has the potential to make or break it! We suggest going all out and thinking outside the box to truly wow your guests and make your party one to remember.

Music

You can’t have a festival without music, so be sure to make organising music for your party a priority. Luckily, creating a playlist is extremely easy and can either be done using iTunes or setting up a Spotify account. Seeing as not everyone is going to have the same music taste, try to add popular music that everyone will love or ask for requests to be submitted a few hours or days before the party. By doing this, you can ensure that everyone will thoroughly enjoy their evening and can get up and sing the night away.

If you want to turn the party up a notch, then you could even think about incorporating a DJ booth into your garden. You can either hire out a DJ set or place big speakers outside for a proper festival feel. You can then wrap your speakers in ribbon or flowers to incorporate them into the theme, as every little detail will have an impact on how the evening feels.

Unique Interactive Entertainment

Whether you have little ones to care for or need to cater to teenagers, there are a host of fun entertainment options and activities that guarantee enjoyment for all ages. Here are some of our favourite ideas:

• Photobooth – Our London photobooth hire service is a perfect source of entertainment for your guests, who can document their fabulous festival get-ups. From the classic booth to the stylish mirror booth, our team can pair you with the perfect photobooth to match your theme.
• Graffiti Wall – If you want your party to include unique entertainment that will get people talking, look no further than hiring a graffiti wall in London with our team. These interactive digital screens allow guests to draw their own designs and take photos in front of them to share on social media.
• Fire Performers – If your party is going to continue late into the night, why not amaze your guests with a dazzling fire performance in the dark?
• Magician – Magicians are a classic form of entertainment at parties, and it’s not hard to see why! Entertain guests of all ages with an impressive magic show to make your party one to remember.
• Fortune Teller – Enhance the magical feeling of your festival themed party by enabling guests to catch a glimpse of what the future holds in store for them!
• Face Painters – Bring your theme alive by offering guests the opportunity to have their faces decorated with bright colours and glitter!
• Glow Drummers – By hiring glow drummers to perform at your party, you’re providing musical and visual entertainment all in one!

Festival Themed Party Outfits

As we mentioned before, beading, sparkles and pastels are everywhere at festivals like Coachella. If you want your outfit to reflect the festival theme, we recommend dressing and accessorising with these things in mind. Typically, the outfits worn to Coachella would be described as boho, often featuring floaty fabrics with colourful prints, lots of eclectic jewellery, flower crowns and round sunglasses. Tie-dye prints also make an appearance and can make for a fun activity before or even during your festival themed party!

Whatever you decide to wear, don’t hold back! Self-expression is key to the energy of any festival-themed event, so whatever your aesthetic, there is always a way to give an outfit you feel confident in a festival-inspired twist. Whether this is by the addition of a decorative belt or some thrifted jewellery, the beauty of festival fashion is that there’s something for everyone!

Festival Themed Party Food & Drink

Now, you can’t have a party without some form of food, and a festival themed party calls for a host of fun, quirky finger food platters on the table. Having specialised in food entertainment services for many years, we have seen our chocolate fountains, candy floss machines and popcorn machines work their magic in various themed events. All of these services are perfect for adding to your party theme and providing you with a fun form of food entertainment.

Other foods that you could consider are things such as hot dogs, burgers and other BBQ foods, or sharing platters. You can choose to either purchase party food from your grocery store or whip up bowls of salads, crisps and nibbles to pop onto your garden table. If you decide to make your own, then BBC Good Food has numerous party food ideas for you to try!

For the drinks, all you will need to do is purchase some fizzy drinks and other cans and bottles of your choosing, ready to be popped into a bucket full of ice. You can even make your very own homemade lemonade to pop into a glass drink dispenser. To make the theme stand out even more, you can find a host of fancy glasses and cups, along with straws and mini umbrellas.

Kids Festival Themed Party

If your festival themed party is for (or needs to accommodate) kids, there are a few activities you can organise to keep the little ones busy and enjoying themselves! These are some of our favourites:

• Water Balloon Dodgeball – If it is nice and sunny, then why not get your guests to blow off some steam playing dodgeball with water balloons?
• Creating Art With Nature – Use leaves, sticks and mud to create masterpieces. For example, use the leaves and sticks to create a paintbrush and then draw a picture with the mud.
• Fill The Bowl – Place large bowls at the end of the garden with a line at the top of the bowl. Then, get each guest to fill a cup with water from a bucket and repeatedly run to and from the end of the garden to fill up the bowl. The first one to fill the bowl to the line wins.

You can still get kids involved with a festival theme, even if they’ve never been to one! Most kids will be thrilled to dress up in colourful, sparkly clothes and beaded accessories and will have a blast dancing to music amongst fun decorations. So long as responsible adults are watching out for the kids to ensure their safety, there’s not a thing to worry about!

Fabulous Festival Themed Party Ideas

There are so many fun ways you can create a festival themed garden party, adding in all of the little touches to make it feel special. If you have a festival theme event in the making, then why not contact the Harry & Edge team to discuss how we can help. Whether you’d like to hire a photobooth in London, book some food entertainment, or try a graffiti wall in London, designing and planning your event entertainment couldn’t be easier! For more tips on planning to host a party at your home, festival themed or not, check out our previous article.