Small Event Decorating Ideas

This week was a big one here at the farm. We have two sold-out events for the first time. Sunday was our winter farm tour and we hosted a group of teachers for a networking afternoon last Tuesday. I was so happy to have the dairy space to use now (even though it’s not finished) I decided I should decorate the dairy with some rustic charm for the events. This can be difficult to do in a big open space, especially if you don’t want to spend a lot of money. A number of the ‘crafty’ things I’ve seen people do at their events over the years actually lowered the cosy charm into cheap and tacky. It’s a fine line to make it look good. Here are the event decorating ideas I incorporated to make our farm open day simple, welcoming, and fun for all. You could easily add other structures and elements to personalise and decorate. I’ll include a few ideas I love in this post.

Event Decorating Idea #1

Food Set Up (Who’d have thought?!)

Whether you cook the food yourself or provide food that’s been prepared by others, food and drink are essential to a successful event. The type of food at your event will depend on the mood or theme you are trying to create. For our open days and tours, we want a country vibe so it’s always old school baking with scones, jam, and cream like my nan used to make. I pile the tray to the top and it’s always empty at the end of the event. The food actually becomes part of the decor.

Bearing this in mind I tried to make the food look as appealing as I could using tiered cake stands. Wicker trays added that rustic element I had in mind for my theme. Because I like to include that homemade touch in my event decorating, I made White Chocolate Shortbread. Our last tour group had a lot of children, so I made chocolate cupcakes and piled these on the cake stand.

Our next small event could include wine, mulled cider, or even a coffee van. It all depends on the event, the duration, and who is attending. But where and how these things are situated will make up part of the decor for the event.

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Deocrating With Bunting

You have no idea how much I love bunting and garlands. I use them right throughout the year. A party of any kind is an excuse for me to hang a swag somewhere. For our event decorating, I reused some of the paper bunting I’d made from old book pages and added some new letters to say ‘Green Gate Farm.’ I hung this over the buffet table but it would have looked just as cute along the front entrance or over the fence.

Bunting and garlands can be made from just about anything that fits your theme: plants, paper, fabric, lights, photos. A garland looks pretty but can be a talking point when made of photos. Strings of fairy lights add charm and ambiance. Think about including bunting the next time you’re decorating for a party.

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Places to Stand, Sit and Lean

Again, depending on your event, you might want everyone seated or everyone standing. We obviously host small groups who tour the farm as part of the farm event. This means we don’t need seating. However, because people are eating and mingling before and after the tour I like to have chairs or hay bales for them to sit on. Many farms have rustic bar setups with wine barrels for people to gather around. A firepit is one thing we will be incorporating into our events. Everyone loves to gather around a fire! It’s a very farm-y thing to do.

Lighting

Lighting is essential to event decorating. Even in the daytime, a string of lights that are not turned on give the hint this party is going to go on forever. For our farm event, I brought the naked bulb lights down from my office and hung them from the eating and entryway to make a focal point. The day was a bit dark so they were functional too. Any lights you can hang are great. I love fairy lights, lanterns, string lights and chandeliers. If it’s a formal event, include candles in votives (for safety).

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Include Personal Touches

This will really make your event stand out. For our events, I had cute photos of the animals made into artwork. I intend to use them as decor for the dairy so they will do double duty. If you want to download copies for your walls you can find them in the Green Gate Farm Shop.

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