Your Five Step Guide to Throwing a Fabulous Festival Themed Party in Your Garden (or Indoors!)

Love the idea of a festival but not the mud, queues or questionable toilets? A festival themed party is the perfect way to capture all the magic of your favourite summer events — without ever leaving home.

From live music and street food to bold fashion and colourful décor, festival parties are all about great vibes, shared experiences and dancing with your favourite people. Best of all, you don’t need acres of open land or a five-day forecast of sunshine to pull it off. With a little creativity, you can transform your garden — or even an indoor space — into a festival-style celebration that feels relaxed, fun and effortlessly cool.

Whether you’re planning a birthday bash, hen party or summer get-together, this five step guide covers everything you need to know. From getting guests excited and building the perfect playlist to styling your space, serving festival-inspired food and nailing that boho look, we’ll show you how to throw a festival themed party that rivals the real thing.

Crack out the face glitter and some wellies and get ready to throw the ultimate festival themed party!

From fancy websites to teaser videos and line-up announcements, many festivals employ clever marketing tools to hype up their event and get attendees excited. Why not do the same for your festival themed party?

While you may not have the budget (or the time!) to create a slick marketing campaign, we reckon you can create a similar effect with the simple and purse-friendly ideas below.

Send Ticket Invitations – Set your festival themed event apart from your average summer barbeque by sending out festival themed tickets, like these ones, in advance. It will set expectations for your gathering and encourage guests to get into the festival spirit from the get-go.

Give Your Festival a Name – Rather than simply giving a time and a place when inviting guests, why not invent a name too? This will add authenticity to your theme and amuse your guests. If we were throwing a festival party, we’d totally call it Func-chella or Functionbury!

Set a Dress Code – When inviting guests, be sure to set a festival-themed dress code. You don’t need to be too specific, in fact we think checking out everyone’s unique interpretation of the theme is all part of the fun! Encouraging guests to get into the party spirit before they even arrive with festival fancy dress is a great way to ensure the party starts on a high.

Share a Taste of Things to Come – If you’re hiring one of our party, roaming or folk bands, you could always share a teaser video of the band performing!

Naturally, we think the music is the key ingredient when it comes to pulling together the ultimate festival themed party.

We’ve rounded-up a selection of the very best summer party hits that you can play yourself through a smart phone and some Bluetooth speakers or hire a DJ to expertly mix them.

For many, a festival simply isn’t complete without live music, if that sounds like you, a party band, roaming band or folk band is the way to go.

1. Just a Cloud Away – Pharrell Williams
2. Cold Heart PNAU Remix – Elton John, Dua Lipa, PNAU
3. Sunroof – Nicky Youre, dazy
4. Watermelon Sugar – Harry Styles
5. Where Did You Go? (feat. MNEK) – Jax Jones, MNEK
6. Summer – Calvin Harris
7. I Took a Pill in Ibiza Seeb Remix – Mike Posner, Seeb
8. Sweet Lovin’ Radio Edit – Sigala, Bryn Christopher
9. Sunshine Radio Edit – TIEKS, Dan Harkna
10. What You Know – Two Door Cinema Club
11. Kids – MGMT
12. We Found Love – Rihanna, Calvin Harris
13. Best Day of My Life – American Authors
14. Fast Car – Jonas Blue, Dakota
15. Shotgun – George Ezra
16. Dancing in the Moonlight – Toploader
17. Walking on a Dream – Empire of the Sun
18. Cake by the Ocean – DNCE
19. Levels – Avicii
20. Black Magic – Jonasu
21. Afraid to Feel – LF SYSTEM
22. As It Was – Harry Styles
23. I’m Good (Blue) – David Guetta, Bebe Rexha
24. Get Lucky – Daft Punk
25. I Ain’t Worried – OneRepublic
26. BED – Joel Corry, RAYE, David Guetta
27. Blinding Lights – The Weeknd
28. Rain on Me – Lady Gaga, Ariana Grande
29. Break My Soul – Beyoncé
30. Losing It – FISHER

From signage to bunting and flags, there are plenty of cheap and easy ways to transform your garden or indoor space into the festival venue of your dreams!

Check out our favourite festival themed party decoration ideas and get inspired.

Be Your Own Doorman – If you’ve sent out physical invitations, why not stand at the door and collect them? You could even invest in some festival style wristbands and ask each guest to put them on as they enter!

Sign the Way – Put up a sign in your front garden or window to let guests know they’re in the right place. You could get creative and make your own with an A3 size piece of card or board and some colourful paints or buy a pre-printed banner like this one.

Inject Some Colour – Festivals are vibrant and colourful events and so it’s essential that you incorporate plenty of colour into your décor. From bunting to banners and flags like these ones, it’s easy to add vibrant points of interest to your garden or indoor festival themed party.

Play With Lighting – As the night draws in, why not bring out some disco lights? Lighting can be particularly impactful indoors, but it totally works for outdoor events once the sun has gone down, too. To add an interactive element, why not dish out glow sticks? These can be fashioned into bracelets, glasses or simply waved around and will add a splash of colour across the party space.

Pitch a Tent – While a festival party held at home may mean foregoing a night under the stars, you can still incorporate a tent or gazebo. Large tents can house buffet tables, a DJ booth or a dance floor and add another element to the party. Why not fill a smaller tent with colourful cushions and fairy lights for a cool chill-out space for guests to hang out and chat in? It’s the perfect place to rest dancing feet and tuck into some festival food.

Festivals are synonymous with bold and expressive fashion choices, and we think your festival themed party should be no exception.

Before you hit the shops, take a look through your wardrobe. There are probably plenty of pieces that you can adapt and accessorise with some of the following ideas for instant boho party vibes.

Choose Colour and Pattern – floral dresses, Hawaiian shirts, vibrant tops and bright cover-ups all make for the perfect base for your festival outfit. Select these items from your wardrobe and have a trying on session to nail down your look.

Look to Celebs for Inspiration – from influencers to musicians and models, celebs often treat festivals as one giant catwalk. Check out Coachella or Glastonbury fashion looks online to get some outfit ideas from seasoned festival fashionistas.

Add Glitter – Apply some face glitter to ramp up the glamour and set up a glitter station for guests to use when they arrive. All you need is some Vaseline or glitter gel, some pots of coloured glitters and a small mirror so guests can apply their own glitter designs. We think this idea works particularly well for festival themed hen parties.

Don’t Forget Sunnies and Head Gear – A pair of sunglasses with a funky shape or coloured lenses will add a stylish and whimsical touch to your look in an instant. Hats, flower crowns and patterned headscarves are all great for adding easy festival style, too.

If in Doubt, Go for Comfort – wellies have long been a festival fashion staple, and it just so happens they’re comfy and practical too. Trainers are another great pick for style and practicality. Consider a light weight rain jackets too – it’ll keep the British weather at bay without being too restrictive. 

No festival is complete without a hearty food offering. When considering your catering, look to popular festivals for inspiration. Most festivals include a range of street food options, and we think hiring a street food truck for the day will be a huge hit with guests.

If space or budget don’t allow for a truck, don’t fear! There are plenty of ways to create a street food inspired spread yourself.

Grab a Pizza the Action – Whether you hire a pizza van, invest in a pizza oven for your back garden or simply cook up a selection from your local supermarket, this crowd-pleasing favourite is a guaranteed hit that’s easy to serve and eat as you dance!

Create a Burrito Bar – Cook up rice, vegetables and meat and add some sauces and salads and encourage guests to create their own burritos. Not only will party goers get to choose exactly what they want, they’ll also have fun putting together their creations.

Fire Up the BBQ – Nothing says summer like a BBQ, so fire up the coals and throw on some burgers at your outdoor festival! Burgers, hot dogs and kebabs are all easy to eat while mingling and dancing, making them party friendly.

Bring Out the Buffet – Party nibbles including sandwiches, sausage rolls and crudités make for a cost-effective and easy way to cater for your festival party guests, whether you’re hosting indoors or outdoors. Buy some colourful party plates and napkins to inject some vibrancy into your buffet table. You could even fill small vases and old jam jars with colourful blooms and dot them around the dishes to add an extra splash of colour.

Hire a Mixologist – Don’t fancy playing barmaid all night long? Hire a mobile bar or mixologist and have them serve up summer themed cocktails! You can request perennial favourites such as Pimms or Mojitos or ask your mixologist to create a custom cocktail for your event. If you’re hosting a festival themed birthday party, why not work with your mixologist to create a signature cocktail just for you?

Set Up Mini Drinks Stations – If you don’t have the space or budget to hire a mobile bar, fill cool boxes or even mini paddling pools with ice and add bottles of wine, beer and soft drinks. Scatter a few of these mini drinks stations throughout your party space and make sure cups are nearby so that guests can simply help themselves.

With the music playing, the lights glowing and friends dancing under the stars (or fairy lights), a festival themed party is all about creating moments that feel carefree, joyful and a little bit magical. Whether you’re hosting in your garden or bringing festival vibes indoors, these ideas will help you capture that unmistakable atmosphere where great music, good food and even better company take centre stage. So send out those tickets, turn up the volume and get ready to host a festival your guests will be talking about long after the last song plays.