Late Summer Parties

In our continuing blog series, "Summer Entertaining," today we want to focus on late summer parties.

If you haven't given a party this year and are thinking of having one before summer ends, late summer is a good time as the temperature is a little cooler, many people have returned to the city from vacation, and you can have fun with either a "goodbye to summer" gathering or, especially if you live in a cooler climate, you can do a kind of "bridge" event that has some late summer feel but that also give a nice lead-in into fall.

Goodbye to Summer Parties
A "goodbye to summer" gathering can take advantage of great late summer produce and even late summer prices on things like summer linens or patioware or cocktail sets or BBQ grills...But avoid in the decor very light pastels or too much white as these look TOO summery at end of summer.  Better to use a bright color or two in combination with white or a pastel, as this feels summery and "fiesta"-like but is not like the decor for a mid-summer party.

Colors like turquoise, magenta, bright yellow or kelly green...but stick to one or max two accents in these bright colors and your "goodbye to summer" bash will look just right.

Lead-In to Fall Late Summer Parties
For a "bridge" between summer and fall gathering, use deep bright accents combined with a lighter color, such as dark blue with pink or with light green or pale yellow.  Or another idea would be to use white or ivory for the tablecloth or placemats combined with medium to dark-ish flowers or a display of late summer whole produce as a decoration.

What Else?
Serve one mid-summer type and one all-year-round type beverage, alcoholic or not or both, and food that includes tomatoes, at their best in late summer.  When we lived in New York one friend even held an all-tomato party (all the dishes were made with tomatoes) in late August and it was very cool! Tomato gratin, tomato pie, gazpacho (provided by Chef Jesús), tomato and steak sliders...

Enjoy!

Kristina

Fandango Catering and Events
(713) 522-0077
www.fandango-catering.com