Living in New Jersey, we only get a few months of true summer weather. I am a summer girl through and through and love being outside as much as I can during these summer months. While I like to spend my days at the beach or riding around on my beach cruiser, I like to spend the later afternoons and evenings hanging in a backyard. Personally, I love sitting outside after the sun has gone down on a hot, humid summer night. I am always cold so if I don’t need a sweater or blanket it’s perfect for me! You can sit in the backyard in comfy shorts and a tank while sipping wine or even make it your own date night and throw on something nice while you enjoy wine and some snacks.
Now that we have our own house and we’ve renovated our backyard to be a better ‘hang out’ spot. I love being able to entertain and have people come over to sit around the fire or on our deck. While the backyard still mainly gets used by only my husband and myself, I still wanted to prep it for any type of summer entertaining- a few friends, a big party, etc! Once you get in the swing of preparing your backyard each summer, you’ll be able to enjoy more gatherings and more days in your own space! Afterall, you live there so you can enjoy it!
Furniture
Every backyard is different so backyard and patio furniture isn’t a one size fits all. Deciding on the furniture you want is all dependent on the size of your yard, your patio or deck space, and what you picture yourself regularly using.
There are some great larger outdoor sectionals or couch set ups but since they take up a lot of space, it’s best if you have a larger area to put them. We personally do not have the space for that type of furniture (or the ability to store that out of season) so we went with a set that had two chairs, one loveseat, and a rectangular coffee table. This set allows us to set up the furniture in different ways without being overly bulky for our deck.
Landscaping
Landscaping can be years in the making and it takes lots of patience. When we renovated our backyard, we had new landscaping installed to help fill in the areas and bring a little life to the backyard. I am not good with flowers and plants. I repeat, I am NOT good with flowers and plants. We had flowers and plants installed that I knew would thrive wihout me paying any attention to them and that often gets more shade than sun. Thankfully, they have bloomed and continued to grow…minus the hostas that Quigley keeps destroying from ripping the leaves off of and the one hydrangea he sprinted over breaking some of the branches right out of the ground. The hydrangeas will hopefully continue to grow over the years and fill in to be beautiful bushes all along the fence and around the firepit area.
Decorative Pieces
In my opinion, decorative touches is what makes a space feel more complete and inviting. It does storm and rain often here so I had to keep that in mind when choosing decorative pieces. I personally will never have a rug on our deck…it will just get water logged and super dirty from all of the Oak Trees and rain we have. If you live in say, Southern California where weather really isn’t a factor, you may choose completely different accesories and decorative touches because your weather is just always perfect!
The easiest, most inviting type of decoration you can add to your backyard? Bistro lights! We got our from Amazon but you can literally find them anywhere.
Flowers in planters are another piece of decoration that you can easily change up every year! As opposed to landscaping which can take years to fill, annual flowers flourish quickly and just for one season. You can experiment with different colors every summer or find flowers that work best and thrive in your backyard. Again, I am not good with flowers and plants so being able to find flowers that continually bloom and look beautiful (even if you forget about them) can add so many heart eyes to your backyard.
It took me a while to find planters that I really liked but I finally found ones that work well at Home Depot. They look like natural wood planters but they are actually composite! I like how they looked in store and now I love them even more now that the flowers in them are growing beautifully.
I loved a lot of items from Magnolia’s summer release this year but had to contain myself! I purchased their new Faye lanterns and just purchased battery powered candles to put in them to give added soft lighting for the evenings near the steps on our deck.
Depending on how much furniture and seating you have, getting a few outdoor throw pillows are always a great idea! We just have two and may get some single seat cushions for our fire pit seating wall! Anything to make you and your guests feel comfy and cozy. Target has some great choices! Oh, and here’s a tip- always bring your cushions and pillows inside after you’re done using them. Never leave them outside when not in use! This will extend the life of the items and keep them as clean as possible.
Entertaining Items
A lot of the items such a glassware, dinnerware, and serving items can all be used throughout the year but you can choose some special items that make using them feel extra summery!
The cane glasses we have scream summertime and margaritas to me! They are perfect for a girls night or date night and yes, very Instagramable! Another type of glassware I love for the summer are light colored glasses. I have light teal/blue glasses that can obviously be used anytime of the year but they are another glass that has a fun, summer look to them that can also be perfect for margaritas. Can you tell I love margaritas? We were given fun beach themed stemless acrylic wine glasses that are also great for summertime entertaining without worrying if they will break. I love any cool looking wine or cocktail glass so if you’re having a small gathering, that would be a fun time to use them!
Salads are a great summer staple so having a good, dedicated salad bowl and salad tongs are a must! We actually don’t have a dedicated salad bowl just yet but we use a glass pyrex bowl that has a top so it can be closed if there is anything leftover. The tongs we have (and love) are actually from the Animal Kingdom Lodge in Disney World! They are from true African crafters so it makes them extra special and I just love the detailing on them.
Another item you may easily over look is actual entertainment. We LOVE music so we always have something on. It would be so awesome to have outdoor bluetooth speakers mounted to the house, but we don’t so we use the Milwaukee jobsite radio which is a great bluetooth speaker that my husband got. It’s not the prettiest to look at but it has really good sound and uses a rechargable battery so it doesn’t need to be plugged in- I usually like to hide it so it doesn’t stick out too much!
We have also brought out a TV for some outdoor movie nights which is somehow so exciting and fun every single time. If you have the room for a projector and project screen, totally go for it! It won’t go to waste. We make popcorn, get candy, and watch a movie under the stars with some drinks. It can’t be beat!
If you have a fire pit, wood burning or gas, sitting by the fire and making some classic s’mores is also another simple form of entertainment for all ages.
Shop our outdoor furniture, decor pieces, and my denim shorts!
Do you have any summertime entertaining must haves? All recommendations are welcome! Remember to save this post to help you prep your backyard for your next summer get together!
