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Home » Dinner party by the lake

in Entertaining and Parties· Outdoor Entertaining· Recipes· Tablescapes

Dinner party by the lake

A FEW WEEKS AGO I WAS ABLE TO PUT TOGETHER
(WITH LOTS OF HELP)
A  BEAUTIFUL SUMMER DINNER PARTY BY THE LAKE FOR OUR RELIEF SOCIETY
For the centerpiece of the evening I used a stand up paddle board placed on an iron base to use as a buffet table. I layered the table with with a collection of table cloths and fabrics for a Bohemian look.
 
For the main centerpiece I used a wooden crate with a wooden bucket filled with sunflowers and vines cut from my yard.
 
Summer party by the lake, paddle board buffet table, How to set up a party by the lake
 

Appetizers served at this lake party

 For the dinner party we actually just served lots of yummy appetizers. We served fresh fruit, crackers and yummy fresh veggies.
 
appetizer buffet table, Stand up paddle board buffet table. Cheese and crackers,

Wrap baskets of fruit with green vines

We served watermelon and grapes with a yummy fruit dip on a metal tray placed in a grass basket with vines wrapped around it to make it feel special for a dinner party by the lake.
 
How to serve watermelon in a galvanzied tray, Summer party by the lake
 
Using my galvanized 3 tiered serveware we filled it with tons of fresh berries and it looked stunning
 
 
 
 

Sunflower Centerpiece for dinner by the lake

I bought one small bouquet of sunflowers and added wild sunflowers and honeysuckle vines to create a flowy look
 
Sunflower centerpiece, Summer lake party
 
 

Cracker and cheese

 We also served delicious cheeses and crackers..a couple of my favorites were Brie and blueberry cheese..sooo yummy!!
 
Brie heese and crackers appetizers, Summer lake party
 
K
 

Ladies by the lake

This is photo of our large group of amazing women who attended 
 
 
Relief Society activity summer soiree by the lake
 
We set up lots and lots of votive candles in rocks around the lake area where we set up our Soiree for a game that we played later.
 
 
Stand up paddle board buffet table, Dinner by the lake, Summer soiree by the lake
 
Stand up paddle board buffet table, summer party by the lake
 
 
Paddle board buffet table DIY, Summer party by the lake,
 
We played “Speed Friend-shipping” where we had the women face each other and they were given a question to talk about for 1 minute and then they move to the next person and the next person until we went through the whole line.
At the end we asked them to look the last person straight in the eye without talking for one minute and let their souls speak to one another and it was very powerful..some women started to weep and others just hugged one another. It was really such a special evening that couldn’t have gone any better.
 
 
Summer soiree by the lake, Relief Society activity by the lake
 
 We brought lots of rugs and pillows from our houses to lay on the on grass to continue our Bohemian theme.
 
 
 
 
speed friendshipping game, Party by the lake, Relief Society activity
 
 

Setting up lights by the lake

 As the sun started to set…the lights began to glow and it was magical! My cute hubby took buckets and filled them with rocks and sand and we took poles and stuck them in the buckets that had hooks on them to hold strings of lights. I used ping pong balls and cut a hole in them and attached them to Christmas lights and it made them look amazing!
 
ping pong ball lights, summer soiree by the lake, dinner by the lake, Lake party
 
ping pong ball lights, summer soiree by the lake, dinner by the lake, Lake party
 
ping pong ball lights, summer soiree by the lake, dinner by the lake, Lake party
 
 
It was such a perfect night…I will miss summer!!

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Comments

  1. Cindy@CountyRoad407 says

    July 20, 2022 at 2:31 pm

    Just popping back in to say I loved this so much I’m featuring it on Farmhouse Friday. Thank you for linking up and I hope you link up again soon. Pinned

    Reply
    • Karins Kottage says

      July 21, 2022 at 9:54 am

      Thank you so much I am so excited!!

      Reply
  2. Cindy@CountyRoad407 says

    July 16, 2022 at 12:48 pm

    Wow, I know everyone was as blown away as I am just looking at it! It all looks aaahhhmazing and scrumptious. Thank you for sharing this with us at Farmhouse Friday. love it!

    Reply
    • Karins Kottage says

      July 16, 2022 at 2:19 pm

      Thank you sooo much! It was such a wonderful night! All the women felt so special and it was so much fun to put together! I need to plan another one soon!

      Hugs,
      Karin

      Reply
  3. Michelle says

    July 15, 2022 at 10:18 am

    Oh my gosh, what a beautiful party! I would love to have attended something like this, everything looks wonderful!
    I just love the speed friend-shipping idea – genius! Popping by from Farmhouse Friday 262 🙂

    Reply
    • Karins Kottage says

      July 15, 2022 at 9:36 pm

      Awww thank you so much! It was a magical night for sure. So happy to have you stopping by to say hi! I really appreciate it. I need to put another lake party together again soon because it was so much fun!

      Hugs,
      Karin

      Reply
  4. Joanne says

    May 26, 2021 at 6:25 am

    What a beautiful party!

    Reply
  5. Patti says

    April 27, 2020 at 2:54 pm

    What a great party! Love the speed friend exercise! I’m so curious…what was the question you had the women answer? Thanks so much!

    Reply
    • admin says

      April 27, 2020 at 3:18 pm

      Hi Patti! Thanks so much for stopping by! To answer your question- Every-time they moved to the next person they were given a new question… things like, where would your dream vacation be?, what was your first date like? Where did you go to school? Just questions to get them talking to one another. It was amazing!

      Reply
  6. Alaura J Parrish says

    April 25, 2020 at 4:10 pm

    I really love everything you did,,, first for the ladies how you showed them how much you appreciated them… and second,,, all the beautiful decorating you did… it was all so lovely, and cozy…. the colors were beautiful… and I am a huge fan of Sunflowers….
    I would never have thought to string lights like that.. and you table,, wow so cool…. I love your view also. Thank you so much for sharing your beautiful out door get together…

    Hugs;
    Alaura

    Reply
    • admin says

      April 25, 2020 at 6:27 pm

      Alaura! Thank you so much for your sweet comments! I really appreciate you taking time to read my post! We really had an absolute amazing time together! So many fun ideas all came together with lots of help from everyone! I think it really allowed the women to bond and enjoy just being outside and relaxing! I think I need to plan another one soon! 🥰
      Sincerely,
      Karin

      Reply
  7. Jayne says

    April 22, 2020 at 3:28 pm

    What a beautiful setting! I love the idea of ‘speed friendshipping’ too, what a fabulous ice-breaker idea – pinned for later!

    Reply
    • admin says

      April 22, 2020 at 5:15 pm

      Thank you so much! The speed friend shipping game turned out so much better than I thought it would. It was a powerful experience for so many! Thank you for pinning it!
      Hugs,
      Karin

      Reply
  8. Brenda Smith says

    June 19, 2018 at 8:18 am

    How did you create the fruit tier platters on the pole? Were they welded or something else. Any help would be greatly appreciated

    Reply
    • admin says

      April 20, 2020 at 7:37 pm

      It is a 3 tier stand that comes that way. I will post a link to one similar.
      Karin

      Reply
  9. Caron's Beach House says

    April 24, 2017 at 11:52 pm

    What a fun post! Looks like a great party – loved the paddle board idea, will have to try that at our next beach party when I am home in the Pacific Northwest.

    Reply
    • admin says

      April 25, 2017 at 3:18 am

      Caron,
      We had so much fun putting this together! It felt like we brought everything out of our houses (mostly mine haha) but it was so worth it! Pillows, rugs, all my galvanized metal serving dishes and my paddle board! It was so much fun!

      Reply

Trackbacks

  1. FARMHOUSE FRIDAY 263 - County Road 407 says:
    July 22, 2022 at 4:54 am

    […] from Karins Kottage shares her fantastic ideas for a dinner party by the lake.  You’ll want to see the […]

    Reply
  2. Dirt Road Adventures - Another Travel Week - The Ponds Farmhouse says:
    July 17, 2022 at 2:53 am

    […] out this fun Dinner Party at Lake by […]

    Reply
  3. A Summer Tablescape to Inspire You - Karins Kottage says:
    July 8, 2022 at 1:57 pm

    […] Bohemian Dinner party by the lake […]

    Reply
  4. Weekend Reflections - Sweet Valley Acres says:
    September 14, 2021 at 9:21 pm

    […] While I was preparing that blog I met up with four very lovely ladies who had such good ideas for outdoor dining so I thought I would feature them here. First Karin of Karins Kottage has such a lovely blog filled with all sorts of ideas. One idea that I loved was that she turned a paddle board into a serving table! Is that not genius? Function and flare. I love it. Below is a photo but click here to see her blog. […]

    Reply
  5. How to host a fabulous outdoor dinner party! - Sweet Valley Acres says:
    August 26, 2021 at 8:47 am

    […] Will the food be placed on the table where everyone is eating? Is the table large enough to accomodate this? If not consider a piece of furniture to serve as the buffet. If you are in the garden, maybe it is a potting bench? If you are in the shed, maybe you have a tool cabinet? Old rustic tables or benches can work too. Or how about a paddle board? For this amazing serving table check out Karins Kottage “Dinner Party by the Lake”. […]

    Reply
  6. How to throw a lake house boho party - Karins Kottage says:
    June 24, 2021 at 10:58 pm

    […] can see more of this lake party and all the food here on my blog. It was such a fabulous night for all these […]

    Reply
  7. Memorial Day BBQ Decorations Food and Printable invitation - Karins Kottage says:
    April 22, 2021 at 10:30 pm

    […] a tiered serving stand and layering in all kinds of berries and grapes makes for a stunning […]

    Reply
  8. Santa Mugs and a Delicious Hot Chocolate recipe - Karins Kottage says:
    November 6, 2020 at 9:38 am

    […] this adorable galvanzied mug holder. I added just a little sprig of holly berries to the top. In my 3 tier galvanized stand (that I use all the time) I used little bowls filled with min chocolate chips, sprinkles, […]

    Reply

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