Our Annual Memorial Day BBQ

I hope everyone had a fun & safe holiday weekend. Sex and the City 2 was so funny & I highly recommend seeing the movie with your girlfriends. My friends & I got dinner beforehand, and all enjoyed the movie with many laughs. :) It was a great way to start off the long weekend. Plus, my husband & I took off today so we had a 4-day weekend! Yesterday we had our 2nd annual Memorial Day BBQ so I spent most of my weekend cleaning the house and shopping for the party. The cleaning was needed anyway, but there's nothing like people coming over to really motivate you to clean every inch of your home. I even washed the windows! 

I also love entertaining so it was fun shopping for all the plastic ware, etc. My husband & I have done a few parties in which we use our everyday dinnerware, but for a holiday BBQ, such as yesterday's, we decided to make the clean-up easier on ourselves and buy paper plates, and save our good serving plates for dinner parties. Of course, everything matched and I received many compliments! I used paper plates with a hint of green and blue, plastic bowls & serving plates from Walmart ($1 each)- all green, plastic cups in green & turquoise, clear plastic cutlery. I used my tray stand (the Jonathan Adler look-alike from a recent post) to hold napkins (white paper ones), and cups to hold the plastic cutlery, separated for convenience. 

I set up our bar with mixers (flavored water, club soda, sodas), green plastic cups, a silver tray to hold the wine opener, a small bowl with bottle stoppers & wine charms, my Crate & Barrel turquoise bowls to hold lemons & limes, and green paper napkins, of course. :) Our bar extends & becomes a buffet- perfect for parties, such as these.  

Outside, we set up our bar table & chairs by the grill, and our round (new) table with 6 chairs on the larger section of our stone patio. The table & chairs were a recent, and very generous, gift from my in-laws. The red umbrella I purchased separately from our local farmer's market, and yes they sell umbrellas for cheap! The bronze cement base was $17, and the umbrella $27, for a total of $44. Can't beat that price!! I chose red to add color to our backyard. The yard was also freshly cut by my husband that morning, and our flowers were blooming. :) Our guests were split between outside under both umbrellas, playing horseshoes, and inside in the air conditioning.

"Another great party," as my friend told me today. Not only did I receive compliments on the tablescapes and all of the accessories, but also the food, which is always a plus!

Below are a few outdoor & indoor pictures:

 A little wet from watering:

 LOVE this hibiscus plant!

 Our peony plant started to bloom!

 Side of our garage:

 Tray Stand with cutlery & napkins (on a zebra place mat):

 I purchased the above clear & black plastic cups from TJ Maxx for $1.99 each:

 Pictures, Ipod docking station, fresh flowers from my Mom's garden, & my new safari lamp, which used to be in mother in-law's house. I replaced the lampshade ($10, Walmart) and filled in a few cracks with a black Sharpie marker.

 Our bar!

The tin containers were included in the purchase, and are perfect to hold cocktail napkins, corks (we've kept all from opened bottles in our new house), other bar accessories.

 Dining Room table (extended):

Green bowls (Walmart)

Small clear bowls- perfect for condiments (Bed, Bath, & Beyond), used with small white condiment spoons (Crate & Barrel), & silver napkin holder (Crate & Barrel). We also used this beverage container from Bed, Bath, & Beyond to hold sangria. Yummy!

Both our dining room table & bar were purchased at American Signature. This was our 2nd purchase for our home (a 52" flat screen was my husband's 1st purchase, of course).

Hope you enjoyed your Memorial Day weekend!