One of the best things about owning a gorgeous fiberglass swimming pool is showing it off to your family and friends. During the summer months, this means inviting everyone over for fun-filled days of food, games, and splashing around with your favorite people.
If you’re a new pool owner gearing up for your first event of the season, you’ve come to the right place. In this step-by-step guide to throwing the ultimate backyard pool party, we’re sharing everything you need to know about how to host an unforgettable bash this summer. As long as you follow these pool party tips, you’re in for an amazing time!
Choose a Pool Party Theme
The first step in planning a great pool party is selecting a theme. Once you have a theme in mind, you can make sure that the various elements of your party – from the food to the music to the decorations – work cohesively to bring your theme to life.
If you’re throwing a party to celebrate a holiday like the Fourth of July, it’s fairly easy to come up with a theme. (Ahem, America!) For a birthday or family reunion, you’ll need to challenge yourself a bit to come up with something you love. Popular pool party themes include tropical luau, coastal beach bash, and Mexican-inspired fiesta.
Make the Perfect Playlist
You can’t have a pool party without music! Once you’ve got a theme in mind, you can get to work at creating the perfect playlist. Apps like Spotify have huge selections of premade playlists that you can choose from if you want to make things easier.
For example, if you’re throwing a tropical-themed party you can enter “tropical” into the Spotify search bar and come up with tons of beachy playlists that are bursting with on-theme island vibes. A little background music goes a long way in creating a fun atmosphere for your guests and reinforcing the pool party theme you chose.
Set the Mood with Lighting and Decorations
The quickest way to turn any dull backyard into a party paradise? Decorations, of course! Head to your local party store (or head online to Amazon) to pick up all the items you need to throw the ultimate pool party. This includes items like tablecloths and centerpieces for the snack tables, decorative accents that fit into your theme, plastic cutlery and dishware, balloons, pool floats, and party banners.
If you plan on continuing the party after the sun goes down, you’re going to need some ambient lighting. Not everyone has backyard lighting installed, but that certainly doesn’t mean you can’t still create a well-lit environment. You can produce a beautiful evening glow with lanterns, fire pits, tiki torches, candles, and floating pool lights.
Create a Pool Party Menu
Unless you want your guests to starve, you’re going to need to plan a menu. Sure, you could just order a bunch of pizzas, but throwing the ultimate backyard pool party is not about taking the lazy route. Everyone has their own dietary preferences, so it’s always best to have several options for your guests to choose from.
On your party menu, you’ll want to include refreshing treats to quench thirst, light bites to munch on, entrees, side dishes to pair with them, and drinks. If you opt for a fiesta theme, you could serve up quesadillas or a taco bar with margaritas, chips with salsa, and fresh fruit or popsicles. Now that’s a perfect pool party menu!
Prepare Pool Party Games
Regardless of whether your guests are a competitive bunch, everyone loves games at a party. You don’t have to blow your party budget on anything too fancy, but it’s important to offer your party-goers some fun things to do. You can set up card games at poolside tables, install a pool volleyball net, or toss pool noodles into the water.
For a super fun and totally free option, you could even scribble down your own charade cards and toss them into a bowl for a wild game of charades. If you can come up with a game that fits into your theme—even better! You could host a hula hooping competition at a tropical-themed party or whip out a candy-filled piñata at a fiesta-themed party.
Bonus: Create a Specialty Cocktail
If you’re looking for an adult-friendly way to make your pool party even more epic, you can never go wrong with a specialty cocktail. All you have to do is type your party theme into a search bar with “cocktail” after it and browse the list until you find your favorite.
Prepare a few pitchers (think: 2-3 cocktails per guest) of your chosen cocktail and store them in the fridge until party time. When your loved ones begin to arrive, set up the pitchers on a bar cart or snack table alongside an ice bucket and cups. Perfection!
Prioritize Pool Maintenance
Before you can even consider hosting a pool party, you need to make sure that your swimming pool is clean and safe to swim in. Proper pool maintenance is not only the key to its longevity, but the key to throwing awesome pool parties all season long.
In the days and weeks leading up to your party, take the necessary steps to ensure that your beautiful pool is ready for its debut. This means skimming the debris, testing the water, balancing the chemicals, brushing the pool surfaces, and putting your automatic pool cleaner to good use. If this sounds like a lot of work, our team would love to help.
Contact us today to learn more about our customizable pool maintenance services!
