Everybody loves music festivals. Young and old, hip or square, the best festivals have an almost magical ability to bring people together.The great thing about organising your summer party with a festival vibe is that there will be something for everyone: music and craft beer for the grownups, face painting and games for the little ones.
The only tricky thing about organising a summer party with a festival vibe is that it can require quite a lot of planning. But fear not: here at Ultimate Events we’ve put together hundreds of festivals and can handle everything you need to make even the biggest summer party a success.
Today, we’ll take you through the steps of planning a festival vibe summer party. So let’s get started.
Location
One of the most important ways of creating a festival vibe is to choose your location carefully. The trick here is to suit the size of your location to the number of guests you are expecting and provide a number of different areas for them, ranging from packed-out stage areas to almost-empty chill out spaces.
To achieve a festival vibe, it’s best to think rural, but not too rural. An empty field gives you a blank canvas to create your festival from scratch, but providing absolutely everything your guests need can add a lot of work to your festival planning.
We’ve found that the grounds of large country houses, or pubs with huge beer gardens, make the perfect venues for festival-themed summer parties. This gives you the space you need to get really creative, whilst also providing the basics you’ll need for a successful party.
Food and Drink
The next thing to think about is the food you are going to serve to your guests. For a festival-themed party, the best option here is to book a range of street-food vans. Ideally, you should aim to provide as wide a range of foods as possible, so all of your guests can find something that suits them.
You also need to think about what your guests will want throughout your festival. You want your guests to dance late into the night, of course, so late-night snacks are a necessity.
When it comes to drinks, it can be tempting to over-complicate things, so keep it simple. Since your guests will (hopefully!) be spending all day under gorgeous summer sunshine, they will want cold, refreshing beverages rather than fussy cocktails.
You should also make sure that your guests have somewhere to sit and eat, or to relax with a drink. This is one area in which you can really get creative: circus-style tents provide welcome shelter from the sun or rain, or you can go for the ultimate in rural chic by providing hay bales to sit on.
Music
Perhaps the most important element of a music festival is the music. Unless you are a DJ yourself, though, picking acts to perform can be tricky. Theming your event around a particular style of music can be a good approach, but make sure that your choice is not too niche: jazz is a good choice, death metal maybe not!
It is also a good idea to book DJs alongside bands, because hopefully your guests will want to continue dancing long after the headline acts have finished.
Alongside your headline acts, you should also provide space for your guests to show off their skills. An open-mic stage is a great way of getting everyone involved in your festival, and even those with limited musical talent might appreciate the opportunity to do a little stand-up comedy or a chance to show off their juggling skills.
If all this sounds intimidating, don’t worry. Choosing music for your festival is one area in which a little expert advice can really help and here at Ultimate Events we’ve helped to book acts for dozens of music festivals. Whether you want folk singers or techno DJs, we can find the perfect music for your event.
Decorations
Every great festival has a particular visual style and your party should be no different. A good starting point when thinking about decorations is to come up with an overall theme for your festival and this will also help you to plan your music and food.
There are a couple of key elements to think about in decorating your festival. The first is to provide covered areas, for which you can hire some yurts or marquees. This is only the beginning, though, because once they are set up you can fill them with decorations to add a touch of magic. Think balloons, flags and flowers.
Lighting is also key. Once the sun goes down, bad lighting will really ruin the vibe of your festival. Make sure that you have low-key lighting, perhaps provided by lanterns or fairy lights, in order to create a chilled-out atmosphere for people to chat long into the night.
Stage lighting is also important and here you can really get creative. It depends on the vibe you want to create, but DJ shows really benefit from laser shows, strobe, or UV lighting.
All this lighting will require electricity, of course, so you should also book a portable generator.
Activities
Alongside delicious food, beautiful decorations and killer music, your festival is going to need some activities. Even the best of us can sometimes grow tired of dancing, so you need to provide things to do and places to explore.
Games are key, giving your guests an opportunity to exercise their competitive spirit. These can include circus-themed props, a slackline, or even inflatable arenas for sumo wrestling! For large events, you can even provide guests with the chance to learn new skills with the help of an expert instructor.
Photo booths are also really popular, especially those that come with props for guests to pose with. Not only do photo booths keep your guests entertained, but the photos they take will ensure that they remember your party long after it is over.
Last but definitely not least, if there are children at your party you will need to provide activities to keep them entertained. Face painting is a popular choice, but you need not stop there: hula hoops, bubble machines, or professional entertainers will keep children smiling all day long and allow their parents a chance to relax and enjoy your party.
The Perfect Summer Festival
The trick to organising a summer party with a festival vibe is variety. In order to make your party a success, you will need to ensure that everyone can find what is right for them. One of the biggest attractions of festivals is the freedom that they provide, allowing guests to wander around, try out different activities, drinks and styles of music and find something new.
This means that organising a summer party with a festival vibe can be a little more challenging than your average summer party. Providing something for everyone can be tricky, especially if you don’t plan parties that often.
The best advice is therefore to ask the experts. At Ultimate Events we can provide you with all the support, suggestions and advice you need to plan to ultimate summer festival, so give us a call today!