How to throw your own garden festival
Thought you’d have to wait until next year to get your festival fix? Not any more…
We’ve got everything you need to throw your very own festival this summer. Whether you’re celebrating a birthday, engagement, or just want an excuse to gather your pals round, a garden festival is a fun way to get together. Who needs Glastonbury anyway?!
So, here’s how you can throw a garden festival to remember:
Decorate your garden, boho style
When it comes to decorations, think boho. Boho style celebrates eclectic colours, patterns, and textures… so you can give in to your free spirit and mix and match your decorations! As boho lends itself perfectly to laidback hippy style (which is perfect for festivals), try to match natural and rustic touches with lively splashes of colour.
The Amazonas Rio Hammock (below) is boho in a nutshell. Made with recycled cotton, the decorative macrame details are floaty and fun – and fabulously festival-friendly! And when your guests need to sit down, it’s the perfect spot to catch up, take their wellies off, and relax.
Amazonas Rio Hammock
Make a festival dress code
Wellies, glitter face paint, messy hair, novelty glasses… When you send out your invites, make sure your guests know to rock up in their best festival gear! Think Sienna Miller circa 2005…
Why not go the extra mile and create festival-style lanyards for your guests to wear and take home? It’s the perfect way to hand out your party invites or stash fun party polaroid pictures!
Get the lighting right
Festival lighting is all about setting the right vibe. Drape fun fairy lights around your garden, light some ambient lamps, and you create an instant party atmosphere.
With a gas fire lantern, you can enjoy that festival campfire feel all night long – without smelling like smoke the next day!
Cosi Fires Cosiscoop Fire Lantern
Gather around the campfire
To recreate the festival experience, gather around an authentic wood fire with your guests. With a fire bowl, you can just throw a few logs, set them alight, and stay toasty all night long.
Nothing says ‘festival’ like winding down with a drink after a long day by the fire. With a backdrop of crackling flames, you’ll instantly feel like you’re back at your favourite festival. And the best bit? You won’t need to head back into a cold tent once it’s time to go to bed…
Cook King Bali Fire Bowl
Serve up tasty festival grub
If you’re throwing a festival style party, you’ll need to serve up some festival grub. No, not £9 soggy chips in a box… you can do better than that!
With an outdoor pizza oven, your guests can enjoy an authentic woodfired pizza in minutes. No waiting around, no fuss, and no mess – and if you hand out slices on paper plates or napkins, you won’t need to wash up either!
Ooni Fyra 12 Portable Wood-Fired Outdoor Pizza Oven
Watch your favourite bands on a projector
Okay, so there’s no real replacement for watching your favourite bands on stage. But if your guests are big music lovers, watching music on an outdoor screen is the next best thing. After all, if you’re not at the front row at a festival, you end up watching the screen anyway… right?!
And with an outdoor projector, you watch your favourite bands from the comfort of your own garden – without having to fight for a glimpse. So, connect a projector to your phone or laptop, line up your favourite songs, and hit play. Queue up some live music videos or Glasto footage for that real festival feel!
Philips PicoPix Nano Mobile Projector
Make a fun photo booth area
To give your guests a fun reminder of your garden festival, set up a photo area. With fun props like big glasses, an inflatable guitar and a blow-up microphone, everyone can have a go at being the headline act…
To set up a festival photo area, you could leave some polaroid or disposable cameras near the props and let your guests get snap-happy. Gather some props together, light up the area with fairy lights, and let your guests run riot. And with a lightbox, you can make the photo zone extra obvious!
Create a festival-style chillout zone
Wander around any summer festival and you’ll see people lazing in comfy seats, hanging out in hammocks, or chilling on big bean bags. Because aside from seeing big live bands at night, heading to a festival is all about letting loose and relaxing in the day.
To give your guests a fun spot to cosy up and relax, dot some bean bags around your garden. Extreme Lounging bean bags (below left) are designed for outdoor use – so rain or shine, you and your guests can chill out in style. And if you really want to wow your guests, a hanging chair creates the ultimate cool festival vibe.
Extreme Lounging Pastel B Bed Outdoor Bean Bag
Single Hanging Cacoon in Fuchsia Pink
Get glasto glam with a yurt
For the final pièce de résistance, get your own garden tent. While the yurts are typically reserved for the rich and famous at Glasto, you can enjoy a taste of the yurt life from the comfort of your own home.
The floating teepee bed by TiiPii (below) looks just like a yurt – except you and your pals can lie back, catch the rays, and swing back and forth on it all day. Pssst… Don’t forget to add the rain cover. With UV-resistant and waterproof cover, you can stay cosy, whatever the weather.
Tiipii Hammock Bed in Taupe
Tiipii Hammock Bed Waterproof Rain Cover
Get festival-ready with Cuckooland
If you’re planning your own garden festival, you’ve come to the right place. From our outdoor lighting options to pizza ovens, we’re here to make hosting feel like a breeze. So, head over to our garden range and start planning your mini festival – you’ll forget why you ever bothered with Glasto!
Got a question? Call our friendly advisers on +44 (0) 1305 231231 or send us an email today.
