Garden party ideas for adults

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A garden party is the perfect way to get your loved ones together when the weather’s good. You’ve planned the healthy barbeque food, so now it’s onto the fun and games. Take a look at our garden party ideas for adults games and activities to keep your guests entertained, and you relaxed. Because you’re not going to mind the mess – whether it’s soggy napkins on the table or sausages trampled into the patio, if everyone’s had a blast!

Limbo: how low can you go?

Bending backwards to get under a horizontal pole brings a tropical holiday vibe to proceedings. As everyone will need to be limbered up both physically, and in terms of losing their inhibitions, limbo is a great one for later on in the garden party. Ideas for DIY poles include a broom handle, skipping rope or pool noodle. Whoever gets lowest wins – and yes, it still counts if their drink goes flying on the way down!

Accessible garden party ideas: ring toss

When thinking about adult garden party ideas, it’s a great idea to include games that aren’t too strenuous – your older guests might not feel comfortable bending backwards in limbo, but they’ll love launching rings all over the garden (bonus points if they smash that ugly old gnome?). The classic carnival game of tossing a ring over a wooden stake can be played sitting, as it only involves throwing (the same goes for pétanque, tin can alley and skittles). You just need enough space for the gap between the thrower and target.

The beauty of this game is any number of people can get involved. You just need two players to make it competitive, and when more join in they simply take their turn. Assign higher points to stakes further away, and each person tries with the same number of rings.

While you can buy these sets, you can also make your own – which is thrifty and fun. Use heavy glass bottles for the stakes, or plastic bottles filled with dried rice/gravel to stop them from falling over. As for the rings, you can use paper plates with the middle cut out, or glow stick bracelets, or even a piece of rope made into a ring shape. This is a straightforward game to fit your garden party theme too; simply decorate the bottles with related pictures or coordinating colours. 

Giant games = giant giggles

There are lots of classic games that can be played on a giant scale at a garden party. And they’re so much more fun when they’re supersized. We’re talking: 

• Four in a row
• Dominoes
• Chess
• Draughts
• Noughts and crosses
• Wooden tower building
• Snakes and ladders.

Although it’s possible to make some of them yourself, it’s easy to buy them online too. Most only require two players, so you don’t need lots of willing participants. Games like four in row or towers don’t take up much space, so can be played on a patio or in a small area.

Treasure hunt time

Even adults love a treasure hunt, and you can make it as simple or as complicated as you like. If you’ve got a big garden then you can spread out the clues, but it can work on a small scale too. You can put a written/pictorial clue at each location, and prizes at the very end.

It’s also easy to match the clues to your garden party theme, whether that’s Easter (with bunnies and chicks), spring (with flowers and plants), or summer (with holiday items like swimwear and sunglasses). Chocolate coins or medals are fun prizes whatever the theme.

Garden party ideas for adults sports day games

Lots of traditional sports day games are fun for adults to play again, and if you’ve got plenty of room in your garden, you can set up a racetrack to bring all those nostalgic childhood vibes back. If you’ve got lots of guests, assign them to teams. Races could include:

• Egg and spoon (the more cracked eggs, the merrier!)
• Sack 
• Three-legged 
• Bean bag balancing. 

With these adult garden party ideas, you’ll be the host with the most at your next al fresco get-together.