May is filled with reasons to entertain outdoors, whether you’re hosting a Mother’s Day brunch, a Cinco de Mayo-themed party, an end-of-school event or a Memorial Day picnic. Colorful outdoor accessories and items for porches, patios, decks and yards can add pizazz to garden parties, and they can be considered for Mother’s Day gifts.
Miniature gardens
Create an unexpected centerpiece with a mini garden, which can have a fairy theme or an artsy look. Just like creating a dollhouse, arrange tiny items such as furniture, birdhouses, benches, animals, and structures such as gazebos and houses in a shallow container or planter. Petite items with a bright-colored bohemian theme make up Georgia designer Genevieve Gail Swinford's "Gypsy Garden" collection for Studio M, the home and garden division of Magnet Works. She suggests starting with a structure such as a camper, bridge or archway as a focal point, then adding creatures, and accenting with birdhouses and steppingstones. Soil, stones, pebbles and miniature plants that grow less than an inch annually can fit around the pieces. Swinford's enjoyed seeing mini gardens placed in creative containers such as drawers, a bicycle basket, a guitar case and other reused items. For Mother's Day, you could create a mini garden in a teacup, and Swinford's seen grandmothers and grandkids enjoying the hobby together. "You can be any age," she said. Visit magnetworks.com for store locations; most items retail from $5 to $10, with the camper priced at $32.
Globes and lanterns
Globes and lanterns can add a festive feel whether the party is during the day or at night. Ikea's solar-powered globes, for example, are available in red, yellow and white ($14.99). The Soji solar lanterns come in cheery floral and polka dot prints and even a tin-punched pattern ($19.99, allsopgarden.com for stores).
Seating
Adding accent pillows to existing deck, porch and patio furniture is a simple way to change up a space. For Mother's Day, an outdoor throw pillow with a sweet or sassy saying or a monogram can add a personal touch, or select one with popular patterns such as a chevron or animal print. Pillows can fit all sorts of budgets, from less than $10 to higher-end options from modern furniture and interior design store Cantoni, whose chevron and zebra print pillows range from $99 to $129 (Cantoni.com).
Tabletop
Acrylic glasses and melamine dinner plates and trays can be stylish, shatter-proof options for serving food or drinks. Acrylic tumblers by Mario Luca Giusti, an Italian designer, are practical yet elegant, coming in colors such as fuchsia and orange ($20, Steve McKenzie's). Beverage dispensers come in all colors and styles, including an aqua dispenser from Target ($19.99). To add patriotic decor to a Memorial Day picnic, vintage-looking "table banners" by Tin Parade that hang down the front of the table include a stars and stripes design ($39, tinparade.com).
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