How to Host a Chic Garden Party Indoors
Ahead of their grand-scale floral exhibition with Maison St-Germain, Manscapers NY share their tips to throwing a festive garden party in your own home.
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Each year, Maison St-Germain taps an artist to collaborate with them and create an immersive floral installation in celebration of the summer solstice. For this year's grand-scale project, St-Germain teamed up with Brooklyn-based landscape designers Manscapers NY, who are known for their lush garden creations all over the city. They were tasked with transforming the Greenpoint Terminal Warehouse into an efflorescent wonderland, complete with a floating meadow suspended from the ceiling and curtains of living florals. Sound like the ultimate botanic escape? For the first time ever, St-Germain's exhibition will be open to the public from Friday, June 21 through Sunday, June 23rd. Each visitor will get to take home a bouquet of fresh blooms, and everything post-installation will be donated to GreenThumb, a nonprofit that supports community gardens. As Manscapers NY gear up to create their sensorial meadow, we asked them to give BAZAAR.com some of their go-to tips for hosting a whimsical garden party indoors.
Set a Theme
Lean into the décor drama and don’t shy away from a theme. Start by finding an element that can describe your theme and push it. For example, if your theme is tropical jungle, you can create an oversized tropical arrangement at the entrance of the party. It will set the tone when your guests arrive, which will be carried throughout the space. If you find a flower that you love and works with your theme, use 100 of them! Repetition often helps to elevate the theme, and can prevent décor from looking cluttered and mismatched.
Play Up the Details
Getting creative with small details only helps add to the party. It’s such a nice touch to freeze edible florals into your ice trays the night before, especially for colorless drinks. Guests will love it, and it's a great way to decorate your cocktails for any summer soirée.
GourmetSwtBotanicals edible flowers, $14, etsy.com.
Meld the Indoor with the Outdoor
Fashioning floral arrangements, standing plants, and more greenery indoors will help transform your space into a gardenlike setting. If you don't have the space for an indoor garden soirée, you can also recreate that cozy ambiance by bringing your textiles outdoors. Spice up your outdoor space (or even a local park) with some interior elements like plush pillows, brightly-hued throws, and small houseplants. It will help create an inviting vibe guests will appreciate.
Shop It
Terrain reversible lightweight throw, $198, shopterrain.com.
Terrain 'Wild Botanical' outdoor pillow, $108, shopterrain.com.
Choose a Flower Story
When creating floral arrangements, we love to stick with one or two colors and find different varieties within that color family. For example, mix pink peonies with a large bold pink Hibiscus flowers, or a soft white bunch of roses with a billowing white hydrangea. Using a metal toned container with a bit of texture will help elevate the arrangement and balance the monotone color palette.
Afloral antique gold vase, $38, afloral.com.
Focus on the Lighting
Lanterns, candles, or dimmable lights are a must-have, along with candelabras, to really give your party that beautiful summer glow. It will also set the scene for flattering, Instagrammable moments.
West Elm metallic square lanterns, $15—$35, westelm.com.
Go for Small Bites
Whatever type of food you serve, the host should never be stuck behind the grill or in the kitchen when guests arrive or during the party. When hosting, we love to serve smaller bites on beautiful serving trays throughout the space to encourage mingling around the party so the guests (and host) don't get locked into one space.
Crate&Barrel marble tray, $40, crateandbarrel.com.
Keep It Simple
When creating a low maintenance green wall, we suggest using succulents. These little beauties can be found in an array of colors and sizes. They hold water in their fleshy stems and need far less upkeep than any other plant.
Jyukan succulent plant pots, set of 6, $19, amazon.com.
Serve a Signature Cocktail
Depending on the size of your party, it’s always a nice touch to create signature cocktails that fit the theme of your party. We developed a special menu with St-Germain’s Brand Ambassador Earlecia Richelle Gibb serving ‘Summer Solstice’ inspired sips for guests to enjoy. Get inspired from the great cocktail book How To Spritz French Fluently. It's full of unique and simple French Spritz cocktails developed by top bartenders around the world.
How to Spritz French Fluently, $19, amazon.com.
Cover Your Bases
When creating a playlist for summer entertaining, we start by establishing the vibe of the party in general. Keep in mind that the songs shouldn't overpower the space, and instead should add to feel the décor is creating. If there's an indoor vs. outdoor area to the party, have music set up in both areas if possible. We always use waterproof, Bluetooth speakers when entertaining. You never know when a cocktail might be spilled, or when unexpected rain will come.
JBL Pulse 3 waterproof bluetooth speakers, $150, amazon.com.
Visit the Installation
The sensorial meadow installation from St-Germain and Manscapers NY will be open to the public from Friday, June 21 through Sunday, June 23rd at Greenpoint Terminal Warehouse. Guests will receive tokens to redeem complimentary St-Germain Spritz cocktails at local Greenpoint bars anytime during the installation running.
Greenpoint Terminal Warehouse, 73 West Street. Brooklyn, NY 11222
Lauren Sheffield is the Content Strategy Manager at HarpersBAZAAR.com. In addition to keeping Bazaar's Facebook and Twitter feeds updated with the latest stories, she also contributes to food, interior and travel coverage on the site. When she's not in a social media hole, you can find her in search of a new food spot, trying to perfect a cocktail recipe, or booking her next trip.
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