Creative Ideas For An Amazing Nature-Themed Dinner Party

Nature has taken the world of décor and interior design by storm. Bringing the outdoors in has been a major trend for a few years on the run now. Everything from using the materials the outdoor gives us for decorating and furnishing, like stone and wood, to introducing more sunlight, and using prints and colours inspired by the outdoors.

Major décor styles like Scandinavian minimalism have come to the forefront of interior design fashion. As has Hygge, a way of living that focuses very much on living a life in sync with nature and the elements in order to be happy. Both Scandinavian minimalism and Hygge focus around natural light and around a design style in harmony with the outdoors.

Perhaps you want to go one step further though and hold an event that completely encompasses the outdoors as a theme. Dinner parties can be stale and boring with the same nice plates and fancy napkin table settings. Bringing a theme ‘to the table’ means having the chance to play with some real creativity, and to add some incredible visual ‘WOW’ to your event. Using nature as a theme is a great idea because it is cost-effective, beautiful and totally on-trend.

Unsure how to create a beautiful nature-themed dinner party? Follow these tips for a soiree Mother Nature herself would be proud of:

Go Visually Veggie

Vegetables have an aesthetic that is pleasing to the eye, especially if they are arranged beautifully and the colours are considered. Some cute ideas could be:

• Popping different coloured tomatoes in a tall vase

• Displaying bunches of rainbow chard like flowers

• Hanging fruit on the vine out of decorative bowls

• Scattering squash and pumpkins along the table

• Using fruit like apples with ‘flags’ in as place-holders

• Combine any fruit or vegetable with candles for a ‘light and life’ display

• Scoop out veggies like pineapples, squash and apples for fun dip and crudité holders

This vegetable table decoration Youtube video has some more fun ideas or if you want to be a little more creative, this art carving fruit and vegetables Youtube video has some more challenging projects to try.

Go Totally Tropical

At any time of the year, displays reminding us of warm, relaxing climates are welcome. Go totally tropical with your display with rich fuschia pinks, bright oranges and pretty foliage. You could even dot some pineapples or coconuts in there if you wanted. This hanging basket display on Pinterest would make for a really memorable dinner party table display.

Woodland Inspired

Focusing the party on a particular setting will ensure a rich base of ideas and inspiration for your table decorations. Woodland is ferns, bluebells, acorns, pine cones, moss, bark and anything else that makes you think of the woods. Go and collect some fallen treasures and scatter them across the middle of the table. Consider using a bold colour to add visual interest, like bright red berries. Make it bling with a bit of glitter, or metallic coloured sprays over different elements of your display. Spraying pine cones is a really nice rainy day afternoon project to prepare for the big event.

Green, Brown & White

Green, brown and white is a really good colour format to base a table display on. The three colours work beautifully together so, if you are new to table decoration this is an ideal format to follow. For example, some ivy and fern wrapped around chunky white candles amongst wicker stars, or even carved log candle holders. Any plain and natural napkins, wooden cutlery or recycled disposable plates will look gorgeous on the green, brown and white table if you’re offering a buffet over a sit down dinner.

Water Filled Vases

A great way to bring a different visual angle to flowers, leaves, berries and other natural decorations is to create ‘underwater displays’. Getting decorative tall vases or fishbowls and filling them with water creates a great basis for a display. Some simple holly and berries with some floating candles on top looks gorgeous and creates a really pretty ambience once the main lights are off.

Yellow & green

Yellow and green creates a really fresh and modern look to a table display. Lemons with fern, bright yellow gerbera with tons of foliage, sticks of yellow blossom with mossed vases – there are plenty of combinations to play with that look beautiful. This DIY lemon centrepiece tutorial is a really great step by step to follow for this look, just switch the flowers for green foliage.

Various media reports over the last decade have suggested the formal dinner party is dead, and it may be that the stuffy, prawn cocktail laden, ‘best crockery’ type events are done and dusted. However, that doesn’t mean events and parties should be. With a nature-inspired display, and plenty of creativity and texture providing a refreshing base for your social event, you’re going to have a wonderful gathering that is guaranteed to make memories and inspire quality time together.