People start observing the Labor Day holiday since 1880s to show honor to the workers for their contributions to the society. Like other holidays, people celebrate the day with parties, outdoor activities, traveling, cooking, and enjoying time with their family. Throwing a party is a very common Labor Day activity. Check out these theme ideas for your Labor Day party:

Image via: LoulaM via Flickr

[ad#co-1]

Southern States Theme

Southern states can be the theme of your party that will celebrate the trends and culture of the country’s southern states and Hawaii. You can create a combination of exotic Hawaiian and typical southern atmosphere by decorating your yard with tiki torches and red, white, and blue Christmas lights. Fill the air with some compilation of Hawaiian music alongside scores of jazz and blues. Choose a menu that includes southern recipes along with a few traditional items.

Image via: Pinterest

Old-Fashioned Block Party

An old-fashioned block party is a great way to know your neighbors, especially if you have newly shifted into a neighborhood. Without arranging for everything, ask the guests to bring games, music, and food to share. To make the party interesting, you can throw an old-fashioned dance party that can be enjoyed in the warm night. Dancing under the stars with retro dress up and swing music or big band will be a treat to everyone.

Image via: Party City

Back-to-School Theme

Many people miss their crazy school days and rear a secret wish to relive those days sometimes. So, recreate the school spirit into your backyard with plenty of cheap eats, rocking music, and your old pals from those raging days. Apart from that, you can enjoy the party by playing softball, volleyball, flag football, and some lawn games like croquet, horseshoes, bocce, etc. Instead of the backyard, such a party can be arranged in a beach too. The warm sand and bonfire will allow you people to squeeze the most out of the fleeting summer days.

Carnival Theme

You can decorate your Labor Day party after the summer carnival theme too. In this case, the decorations and necessary accessories should be colorful and music should be loud to bring the carnival feeling. Multiply the enjoyment by setting up booths for the guests to play games and win prizes. Arrange for easy but competitive games. Set up bottles and see who can knock down the highest number of bottles with a single strike of baseball or set up a dartboard and watch who can hit the bull’s eye. In such a party, you can serve typical carnival foods like hamburgers, corn dogs, soft pretzels, and lemonade.

Image via: Celebrity Party Planner

While many people like to concentrate on patriotic themes, you can include a unique mix of decorations and foods representing cultures around the world because Labor Day has a universal appeal that appreciates the hard effort of all the working people around the world.

For more Labor Day ideas on Stagetecture, click here.

Labor Day is here and it’s time to celebrate!  Time for BBQ’s, back yard cook outs, and maybe the last pool party of the year. How about we get creative by adding a punch of the good’ol red, white and blue to our homes? The best way to really add the ‘wow’ factor to your décor is via the front yard, after all isn’t that the place that everyone sees first? Here are some great ways to turn the front of your house into the most patriotic on the block:

How to Add Patriotic Red, White and Blue to your Front Yard

[ad#co-1]

Dress Your Door

Why not turn your door into a huge American flag! It is super easy and makes a big impact to neighbors passing by.  Before long the entire neighborhood will be gathered at your door to admire your handiwork.

Simply cover the door with a long panel of craft paper and adhere with double-stick tape. Then paint on your flag! If you dare to get messy, then let the kids get involved. You could even use scrunched up tissue paper for the stars for a cool 3D effect.

Make a Yard Flag

This is one for the kids, but Mom’s be warned it will get messy! Use an old piece of plywood (whatever size you want your flag to be, but remember you will need to hang it, so you won’t want it too heavy). Then have the kids dip their hands in either red, white or blue paint. Direct the kids to use their handprints to create the stars and stripes of the flag as in the image below. Allow to dry and then you can add chain and eyehooks to hang from your front porch or tree in your front yard.

Voila, your home is fully Americanized and ready to greet all your Labor day guests. The great thing about these decorations? You can save them and reuse them again next year for your July 4th or Memorial Day celebrations!

For more holiday ideas on Stagetecture, click here.

As Labor Day weekend is just knocking at your door, most of the people have become busy planning barbecue party or weekend camping. Others may have been concentrating on decorating their home and yards with blue, white, and red and cooking up feasts. Check out some food and fun ideas for your Labor Day party:

Image via: Backyard City

[ad#co-1]

1. Celebrate with a Cook Out

Labor Day party is a good occasion to say a proper goodbye to the bounty of fresh vegetables and fruits of the summer season. Throw on the grill whatever you can – juicy berries, sweet corn, sun-kissed tomatoes, and summertime favorites like ribs, steaks, lobster, or anything else.

Bratwurst – The German heritage food is an all-time hit and tastes even more delicious when hot off the grill. Bratwursts, fresh buns, various toppings, and ketchup will make a killer combination. You can spice up the dish by serving it with pickles, savory mustard sauce, and caramelized onions.

Fruits & Vegetable – Grilled fruits and vegetable will make great Labor Day menu items. You can use them for making salads, desserts, and drinks too. For example, you can use the most popular tropical fruits banana to make a tasty salad item. Prepare this item by mixing up mashed bananas, chopped cherries, drained pineapple, sour cream, lemon juice, sugar, and whipped topping.

Try the Red Berry Sangria Recipe on Stagetecture, here.

Image via: Foodily 

2. Fun Activities

A Labor Day party will remain incomplete without some gaming activities for both adults and kids. Letting the kids to choose their own games will be most fun and less stressful. However, organized group activities will not be a bad idea too.

Games – Games are a very good way to create a festive mood. Any type of games like horseshoes, badminton, scrabble puzzle, softball, volleyball, making bubbles, or just playing with balls will allow everyone to have great summertime fun.

Camping & Hiking – Camping trips and day hikes are popular Labor Day activities. Pile the necessary stuffs into a few cars and take your guests to the desired place. Everyone should bring their own food and drinks in such trips. However, each of the hikers can bring a separate item and share with others.

Image via: Rocky Mountain Blue

3. Arts & Crafts – You can ask every guest to show off his/her hobbies. They can display whatever they are good at – dancing, singing, rapping, acting, mimicking, miming, etc. You can also arrange for small competitions like a drawing competition in which the best drawing will be rewarded. The Labor Day is often considered as the last chance to say goodbye to the long and lazy days of summer by partying out or making any outdoor activity. Make your last minute summer memories fun and pleasurable so that you can wind up the season with a smile on your face.

For more Labor Day holiday ideas on Stagetecture, click here.

Worried about hosting a last minute summer party? Well, it’s a normal feeling to experience such pressure. Hosting a party isn’t something that you can easily throw and have fun right away. There has to be a plan and a little preparation. But even with a short notice, you can definitely have a summer party that will be worth reminiscing in the future.

With so much expectations and so little time, everything has to work accordingly. There’s no room for error. This should be the mindset of every individual involved in the preparation. It takes wonderful ideas to achieve the desired output.

Image via: Living. MSN

[ad#co-1]

Speaking of ideas, here are some easy ideas for a last minute summer party that you can implement:

Have a breezy table setting

A wonderful table setting will definitely make an impression to your guest. It will give your venue the looks that will dictate the general mood of the party. Since it’s a summer party, you can show off a neutral color scheme of greenery on your table. Cut ferns and other leafy green in your garden as a table centerpiece. Pair it up with white linen for your tablecloth. It’s a wonderful combination for a summer theme party.

Image via: 100 Layer Cake

Serve summer-inspired dips and salads

There are quite a number of summer-inspired recipes that you can choose from. These should be a wonderful addition to your table. Summer dips like the chilled dip with blanched asparagus spears, baby zucchini, sliced cauliflower florets and sugar snap peas. You can also have the Shrimp Salad-Stuffed Endive recipe for appetizer.

Don’t forget the refreshments

There no better way to fight the summer heat than having chilling bottles of refreshments. Set up a wine table on the side and have the bottles dip in an icy cool container. Pile up wine glasses and have them ready for serving.

Image via: Bedroom Design Tips

With these easy and wonderful ideas, you can be confident that your summer party will be a success even in a short notice.

For more summer ideas on Stagetecture, click here.

]]> https://stagetecture.com/easy-ideas-for-a-last-minute-summer-party/feed/ 1 51060 https://stagetecture.com/happy-4th-of-july-recipes-fireworks-home-celebrations/ https://stagetecture.com/happy-4th-of-july-recipes-fireworks-home-celebrations/#respond Thu, 04 Jul 2013 09:34:13 +0000 https://stagetecture.com/?p=50925 Entry #2616, July 4, 2013

Happy 4th of July! Happy Birthday to the United States – 237th to be exact. Stagetecture has all of the fun crafts, recipes, decor, and entertaining needs you need. Celebrate the 4th at your favorite fireworks destination.

Have fun with family and enjoy all that the 4th represents.

Enjoy!

For all 4th of July ideas on Stagetecture, click here.

Today we continue Stagetecture’s feature ‘Olioboard Inspiration‘. Last week you enjoyed – ‘ThePerfect Campout for Father’s Day’ from Tonya Stone Philips and this week I bring you Xiomara Zayas with a outdoor Summer kitchen anyone would enjoy! She’s a member of the Facebook Olioboard Fan Room and I asked her to recreate an outdoor entertaining space that would be perfect for the weekends and makes you want to lounge by the pool and sip some lemonade.

If you’re interested in being featured see details here: How to be featured on Stagetecture’s Olioboard Inspiration‘ series.

[ad#co-1]

Spending time with family and friends in a perfect place “Your own backyard” for the summer, with the freshness of the environment and cooking your favorite dishes in the grill, it’s priceless. Wouldn’t it be amazing to create this perfect place no matter how simple or elaborate, small or big, an outdoor kitchen that you want and compliments your lifestyle.

Creating the perfect summer backyard

Every outdoor living space is unique; simply start by analyzing the size of your patio, porch or deck before beginning the design process, and always remembering that safety comes first, especially if there are kids. You want your design and materials to meet the safety criteria. They should be long lasting like stainless steel, natural stone, ceramic, bricks, concrete, and other materials that are specialized for outdoor living areas such as “polymer outdoor cabinets”.

You want to provide an energetic atmosphere, cozy, beautiful and relaxing, a perfect grill, small refrigerator, sink and some storage to keep the necessary items to avoid the traffic in an out of the house. You have many choices of fabulous furniture permanents and waterproof. Keep in mind you can create it yourself and make it unique. I personally love to use those favorite pieces of furniture and items that I can easily relocate.

Summer Colors

Colors of an open air space “Mother Nature” There’s nothing more beautiful than to enjoy and be delighted in the colors that the Master of design created for us, you can continue with the “natural color scheme” or simply add accent that inspires you by adding decorative accessories. Enhancing your backyard by creating your outdoor kitchen to enjoy and have fun with your loved ones, that’s all that matters. Happy summer!!!!

My name is Xiomara Zayas, I’m currently pursuing an interior design degree, in love with life, and my passion and mayor inspiration is the beauty of nature. I discovered olio board by “accident” when I was subscribing to a magazine. I create boards in my spare time and that’s more than fun to me. Follow me on Olioboard, and on Facebook.

A summer holiday barbecue is a great way to spend time outdoors with your family and friends. Now that it is the summer seasons. Many people in your neighborhood might want to throw a barbecue. Who can blame them? Barbecues are an excellent way for families to bond and friends to catch up on events they have missed in each other’s lives. Since so many people are throwing BBQs during the summer.

Image via: Alexan Events

You probably want yours to stand out and remain a memory long after summer has passed. Here are a few tips for you to use:

Pick A Theme

BBQs are an outdoor activity, so it is easy to be tempted to go with a nature theme. However, there are many ways to make sure your BBQ looks different. You may try such themes as Hawaii luau theme, nautical theme or even a beach barbeque theme. Once you have decided on a theme, send invitations to your friends. Try to include the theme on the invitation cards so they have a fair idea what to expect.

Via: Punchbowl

[ad#co-1]

Decorations

Since BBQs are outdoor events, the key to a successful decoration is being minimalist. You do not want to have too many items lying about anyway. A few ‘Tiki statues’ here and there or ‘citronella candles’ to provide some ambience against the background will do the trick. Citronella candles are also a great way to keep the area free of insects and bugs if you are having a BBQ at night.

Image via: Giggles Galore En More

BBQ Food

Before you begin grilling, label your food containers so that each guest knows what is in each one. You can also label the meat as rare, medium, and well done. That way, your guests can pick what they want from the labeled trays for themselves without you having to point out for them. Snacks should be handy while your guests wait for the meat to finish grilling.

Image via: Country Living

A successful barbeque is all about simplicity and austerity. The great outdoors and nature will provide most of the décor. You should only add a few touches here and there to let the environment stand out subtly. Do not be afraid to try out your own creative ideas as long as you stick to these basic tips, your summer BBQ will be a huge success and your neighbors will talk about it for months to come. Have fun.

For more summer holiday ideas and recipes, click here.