28 Outdoor Party Hacks

If you’re planning any sort of outdoor party in the near future, there are some great tips in this roundup from One Crazy House. I love the suggestion of creating zones with party essentials like sunscreen/bug spray, drinks, hand washing supplies, and trash cans to keep things neat and organized. I also thought the idea to keep bugs away by covering a lime in cloves had potential. (If you’ve ever done this successfully, let me know)

Click here for the full list of party tips.

Here are some other great ways to serve drinks.

Punch bowl – It’s a little 80’s but get’s the job done.

Inflatable Ice trough – If you are serving individual drinks this is great for keeping them cool

Drink Dispenser with tap – Allows you to make your own drink recipes

Vintage Drink Dispenser – Decorative and saves the environment on the packaging.

Mason jars with straws – Great for on the go smoothies for school too.

Lighted Punch bowl – I have this exact same one and it is lot’s of fun, we use it for different occasions.

The butterfly on this piece — the Owl Butterfly Playmat by Sophie’s Stitches — caught my eye before I even knew what the project was. Now that I’ve give it a closer look I’m still not 100 percent sure what it is meant to be for, but I still love it.

I think it’s maybe to give you a flat surface to roll dice or play cards on, but there are no images of the project in use so I’m just speculating on that. If you know what it is, be sure to let me know!

What it physically is is a worsted weight mat (the sample is worked in cotton) that measures 14 by 24 inches, or 35.5 by 61 cm. The impression I get from the pattern notes and the photos is that you knit the rectangle plain and the butterfly is stitched on after using duplicate stitch, which is provided as a chart.

Of course you could choose to knit some of the colorwork as you go, either using stranded knitting or intarsia techniques, or maybe some of both. It just looks like a lot of duplicate stitch (and it is!) so knowing me if I were making this project I’d probably try to knit some of it instead of stitching it all.

The pattern also suggests that you can knit a second plain mat to sew on the back and cover up all the yarn ends, as well as making the mat thicker and a little more stable. There’s also a photo that shows fabric sewn to the back, which is also a good option if you have some fabric that has a bit of grip.

I like the graphic on this one enough I might just make it as a table pad for our entry way table. You can always make the mat part a different dimension, just make sure you’re centering the image if you do.

You can find this pattern on Ravelry.

[Photo: Sophie’s Stitches]

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