Borrow, rent and buy locally for an affordable and sustainable celebration this summer. Founder of online peer-to-peer tent rental platform Tentshare, Rebecca Heaps, shares this fab how-to guide.
Planning to host a garden celebration with friends and family? Level up this year and create a mini-festival at home that’s simple, fun and kind to the planet.
Get organised
Follow these steps and you will soon be partying with friends and family:
Make the decision - then go for it! Once you’ve decided to host your own festival, choose the date and follow these next steps.
Invitations - Get that date locked in with your friends and family. To reduce paper waste, send the invite digitally. There are lots of ways you can design a gorgeous festival invitation by using free creative software such as Canva.
Location - You may have a garden big enough to host your festival, lucky you! If not, there are plenty of open spaces to rent at Borrow My Garden.
Tents - Ask your friends to bring their tents along. If you can’t borrow, then look on the Tentshare platform and rent some tents and gazebos from your local community.
Plates, cutlery and glasses: Buying single-use plates and cutlery is a big waste of our money and resources. Use what you already own, ask friends to bring their own or hire a local party kit.
Sound System: We all have that friend who has decent outdoor music and speaker system, ask them to bring it along. Perhaps you have some musical friends who might like to perform live around the campfire.
Now you’ve done all the preparation, the real fun can begin! You can go to as full-on festival as you like!
Get creative
Name your festie: What are you going to call it? Try using your name or some variation and then add 'fest' on the end - I love ‘Bexfest’. What would yours be?
Create a theme: Maybe you would like to make your festie a bit ‘extra’ (you might as well) and add a theme. Are you going to go fifties fun or nineties rave? Perhaps a ‘wild’ theme or glam?
Festival outfit: The festival mantra for dressing up is ‘Go big or go home!’ Fulfil your inner fantasy and hit the local charity shops to find some show-stopping costumes. Remember to use biodegradable glitter.
Create your dream musical setlist: These days you have entire digital catalogues at your disposal. To mix it up, you could invite friends to create a 20-minute playlist that they get to play as resident DJ!
Get out the colouring pens: Create posters and entry wristbands from scrap paper. Borrow or make your own bespoke bunting to loop around the place and you’ve got the aesthetics covered. Use recycled materials to create the bunting, in the past, we have used old tent material, old foil balloons, and old fabric cut into triangles.
Festival food options
As you’re the host, you will need to think about feeding your festival-goers.
Here's my favourite ideas:
Fakeaway: Cook up a one-pot curry and some chapattis - pop it all on a table and let your friends help themselves.
Potluck: Ask your friends and family to bring along a pre-prepared dish to share.
Bring and Cook: Ask guest to bring their own meat or veggies to cook. You provide the barbecue or campfire for your guests to cook on, along with some nibbles.
Go professional: Book a local business to provide grazing platters, grazing boxes, and street food.
However you decide to design your festival, waking up in the morning and having breakfast together as the sun rises is going to make a truly memorable celebration.
There are lots more tips and tricks over on the Tentshare website.
About Rebecca Heaps
Rebecca founded Tentshare in 2020 after renting out her beloved bell tent at the weekends. Tentshare is an online peer-to-peer tent lending platform aiming to reduce the carbon footprint of tents and campers by facilitating sharing within the local community. This helps tents to be used more regularly and support the local economy.
More information at www.tentshare.co.uk
Instagram: @tent_share
Facebook: www.facebook.com/tentshare.co.uk
