How to Host A Lavish Lakeside Affair

Spring and Summer are Wonderful Seasons to Showcase Your New Lake Home

They say the only thing better than owning a lake home is having a FRIEND who owns a lake home (who are we kidding, there’s NOTHING BETTER than owning a lake home!) With the sun shining and temperatures heating up in Georgia, if you are the proud owner of a luxury lake home by Green RiverBuilders, get ready for an onslaught of requests from friends to pay you a visit. You could spend all your precious weekends hosting friends and family members or – if me time and down time are important to you – plan one major shoreline shindig and invite the whole gang. Here are just a few helpful tips for hosting a lavish lakeside affair.

Pick a Date – and Stick to It

One of the toughest elements to picking a date that fits with everyone’s schedules is that you CAN’T pick a date that fits everyone’s schedules. Pick a date that works for you and your family, and maybe a few key members of your extended family and friend group and stick to it. Once you do that, everything else will begin to fall into place. For the ones that can’t make it on your chosen date, you can plan a more casual get-together later in the season.

Choose a Theme that’s a Reflection of Your Distinctive Personality

If you’re a foodie and fashionista, you may want to pull together a more formal affair – likely in the evening. But be sure to communicate that to your guests, so everyone dresses accordingly and knows they’re in for something special. You could host a mystery-themed dinner party, a “Housewives of Lake Oconee”-inspired gathering, high-end housewarming party or movie premiere event – complete with the red carpet. If you’re more laid-back, you might just want to plan a spring- or summer-themed picnic during the day or a summer camp-inspired event – complete with competitive yard games and loads of sunshine.

Nautical Noshing - Set Your Menu

For a more formal“five-course-dinner” affair, unless you pride yourself on your culinary skills, you may want to enlist the help of a great local caterer. For a casual gathering, you can fire up the grill for hot dogs, hamburgers and BBQ chicken breasts or you can go with a crowd-pleasing low country boil, complete with garlic bread and salad. Be sure to lay out lots of finger foods your guests can nibble on throughout the day. By planning part of your meal outdoors and part of your meal indoors – like a buffet spread out on your kitchen island to takeout to picnic tables out on the lawn – you’ll have an opportunity to showcase your kitchen and outdoor living spaces in your new luxury lake home.

Take Advantage of the Scenic Setting

While your guests are there to see you, they’d also love to see – and experience – the lake. Who needs balloon arches and streamers when you can use every opportunity possible to highlight the scenic setting that enhances your lake home. Plan lawn games overlooking the water, take the kids to the shoreline to skip stones and dip their toes in the water, plan an alfresco meal so your guests can watch the sun or stars sparkle on the lake’s surface, and – if you have a boat – take your guests on boat rides around the lake as part of the day or evening’s festivities. End your event with a BANG! by setting off fireworks to the oohs and ahhs of your guests.

Find Creative Ways to Show Off Your New Home

From guided tours of the rooms of your new luxury lake house to activities planned in key rooms – like summer blockbuster movies on a loop in the home theater or friendly ping pong competitions in the game room, have a plan for your guests to feel like they’ve truly experienced your home – inside and out.

Commemorate the Occasion with Some Swag

From koozies to t-shirts, you can raise the bar on a memorable event by having keepsakes made to commemorate your summertime picnic, game-watching party or 4th of July party. Don’t get so busy that you forget to take a lot of photos that you can share with your guests via email or social media, so they’ll never forget their fun day at the lake.

Make Sure Everyone Knows Their Roles

The key to a seamless event is for everyone in the family to know their role – who is collecting jackets and bags(and where do they go), who is manning the grill, who is serving as guide on tours of the house, who is piloting the boat, who is bartender (even better –set up a self-service bar!) and more. Have a plan in place and your lakeside party will go off without a hitch.

Sounds like fun, doesn’t it? If you have yet to pull the trigger on your dream of owning a luxury lake home and hosting parties like the ones described above, Green River Builders would love to help you make that dream a reality. We are currently building on Lake Oconee in Georgia and Lake Keowee inSouth Carolina. Visit our website at www.GreenRiverBuilder.comto learn more about us, explore our galleries and communities, and discover the Green RiverBuilder difference. Then give us a call at 770-790-1096 to discuss your vision. We look forward to hearing from you soon!

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