It’s Saturday night!!
IMatt and I love to entertain and decided we wanted to do one BIG party this summer. Something to celebrate our new porch, the long summer days and the best food of the year.
We invited lots of our friends and neighbors and spent the day getting things ready. From shrimp and ice runs to kegerator relocations to picking up 1,000 fallen limbs from the yard to making salads, we were ready!
We donned our red, white and blue…
Set the table..
Turned on the tunes
Tested the keg
And the sparkling water keg!
Prepped the veg
Sniffed the flowers…
And then it was showtime!
We did several salads and our company brought over some amazing dishes as well -
The main event of the night was the low country boil – a mix of corn, potatoes, shrimp and kielbasa
Matt used his beer brewing equipment to cook the meal – meaning he could drain the water from the bottom and then we just dumped it all out on newspaper!
I felt a little bit overwhelmed tonight – so many people to talk to! I managed a salad plate, several glasses of sparkling water and a dinner plate with a few of each of our boil pieces.
The dessert table was incredible – a mix of Great Harvest and homemade sweets from friends
I think I had one of everything non-GH! So delicious!
We never lit the sparklers, but I know of a holiday coming up where they will be appreciated!
{ 63 comments… read them below or add one }
Looks so festive and fun!
Looks like it was a total blast! So bummed I had to work
How fun! You two are such fabulous hosts. I hope to be invited to the next party
Holy food! I hope you saved me some corn!
Looks like an incredible night. How fun! I love hosting, too, but it definitely can be overwhelming – always so much to do and so many people to talk to! I’m sure all of your guests appreciated your efforts and had a wonderful time
Ohh sweet is that a keggle? Did Matt DIY it?
I’ve always wanted to do one of those! But beig married to a vegetarian….
There are lots of “faux” meats out there, I am sure you can find some fake kielbasa sausages somewhere!
Being a party host is hard- you have to mingle with lots of people!
And it was a success! You really delivered on the food porn. I can say with full confidence that everything was do seriously delicious that I don’t care that I was immobilized for a solid half hour. So. worth it. PS tell Matt he’s a talented brewer. #truth (you should sell that stuff)
The baby that Karen is holding is too cute for words! It’s making my womb scream for a baby right now!
Your party looked amazing. And the food…oh the food. How I wish I weren’t allergic to shrimps…not that I really ever liked lobster or shrimp when I could eat them (a few too many and I always wanted to throw up, which was probably my body telling me I’m allergic), but I would like to experience a low-country boil just once in my life. Sean’s parents are having a BBQ on Monday, a post-Canada Day celebration and I cannot wait!
Cutest party! I love the volume of veg – who isn’t craving summer fruits and veggies right now!? Not sure if the newspaper was the best idea with the cheaptoxicink and whatnot but I’m left totally inspired! Very festive
Summer parties are the best. Such a great assortment of food. Looks like you threw a great party.
You guys certainly know how to throw a party! Looks like a blast!
How fun is this – I’m so glad you found time to get a few bites.
WHat a beautiful night! I’d be all over that dessert table. ummm YUMM.
what a great looking spread and the whole thing went off without a hitch it looks like and a good time was had by all!
love the invite, too!
Wow what a blast! Those desserts look too yum!
The party looks like so much fun! The pic of Karen holding the baby is so cute – I can definitely picture her with a KERF baby
Sounds like you had a success porch party and hope you all a good night afterwards. Did you get a lot of help cleaning up? I hope you didn’t have to that alone…
Yes, major props to Karen for doing tons of the clean up!
What an awesome looking party!!! Everything looks great, especially the low country boil. Congrats on a successful fun gathering. Entertaining is a lot harder than it looks!
That looks like a great party, Kath! I hope you all had fun!
Looks like such a fun evening! The salads look incredible. What a great idea to use the beer making equipment to do the boil!
Hey, I didn’t get my invite, just kidding
It looked like an amazing party. I am impressed with how organized and festive everything looked in your picture. Makes me wish someone in my neighborhood would host a party like that. The veggies looked so delicious. Thanks for sharing the amazing pictures. =)
You guys sure know how to host a party!
The food looks fantastic – especially that low country boil. I’ve never tried that before!
Y’all are so festive and just FUN! I love all of your themed parties and get-togethers. Inspires me to host more with our friends! Glad it was a fun night. I think I say this every time but I truly love your porch. It’s beautiful. It will be so nice to sit there with your little guy and rock him, play, hang out, etc!
I want to do a country boil for our party on the 4th but am a little nervous. When you boil all the ingredients together, do you use just water? Does everything go in all at once? How did you avoid overlooking the corn?
Looks amazing!
There’s a recipe for it on my Recipage – it’s basically water with some seasonings and stuff – lemon, Old Bay, Zataran’s
Hi Kath — You must feel so relieved that the recent devastating storms in your region didn’t hit your house with a big party planned! And speaking of the storms — are you able to share any information about how those of us not from the area might be able to support recovery efforts with donations? It sounds like lots of people are still without power and the damage was pretty severe.
I know, very scary. We were lucky in many ways. I haven’t seen any specific donation initiatives for this storm, but I’m sure the Red Cross would always appreciate support.
Party looks wonderful!
Oh and I love the invitation!
That looks like one great all-American party!! Happy (early) 4th of July to you and your fam!
You looked so pretty, and I love your patriotic-inspired outfit! I’ve never thought to make a low country boil, but it looks delicious. I love the invitation, and it seems as though everyone had a wonderful time. Great job on your party planning!
Looks like a big success! And the boil looks amazing!
Yall always throw the best parties!! The sparkling water keg is a fun touch
Thanks! It was so much fun. Your porch, the food, and beer were all wonderful. You did a great job. I hope you were able to get off your feet and slept wel!
You had a feast of yummy, healthy foods! I am sure that everyone indulged in the wonderful array of scrumptious-ness
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How fun! All the food looks absolutely wonderful!
Looks like fun. A friend and I were just talking about a low country boil. So fun.
That keg boiler is bloody sweet!
I cannot help but think you must have had a ton of leftovers…or maybe not. Everything looks so good. Look like you had a great time and I love the table decor.
I love throwing parties! I always thought, when I’m a grown-up, I’m hosting dinner parties all the time. I still haven’t done anything in my apartment, though, and I’ve been here a year! maybe a brunch… it’s easy to get overwhelmed getting everything together and making sure it’s all running smoothly. but still so much fun. your boil looks excellent!
I am actually finding it hard to look at these photos because they’re making me so jealous. EVERYTHING looks so delicious!!!! Love the porch-warming party idea, too!
Where, oh where, did you get that tablecloth? I love it!
It’s just flag fabric!
Smart! Heading to the fabric store now! Thanks
Your table is gorgeous! I am co-hosting a 4th of July party and I am currently looking up fun recipe and decoration ideas.
It must have been a gorgeous night!
I was just wondering if you put the cooked ingredients of your low boil directly onto the newspaper: hot water+ink and paper chemicals doesn’t sound very safe!
Eh, I’m not worried about it – they didn’t bleed out onto the food or anything. I probably wouldn’t want to eat my dinner every night on newspaper though
People do this all the time were I’m from in Crawfish season. Sometimes folks buy cheap disposable paper or plastic table cloths but if ink is worrying you…not sure that’s much better! Newspaper every night, probs not awesome, newspaper at a boil, probs ok.
That is how we do crawfish boils here as well, on newspaper. I don’t think it has ever occured to me that there’s an alternative? All the crawfish boils I go to always dump it all out on newspaper.
Looks like a fun party!
That looks awesome! I know that here in the Carolinas folks use shrimp and call it a Low Country Boil. In Mississippi and Louisiana we use crawfish and call it a Crawfish Boil. I love just having it dumped out on the table while everyone gathers around and enjoys. This post makes me wish I had a big backyard for a party like this.
LOVE those striped espadrille flats! where are they from?
Old Navy I believe
Oh wow, that dessert table looks amazing. I’m wanting cake now!
Beautiful! This post looks like it could be in Martha Stewart mag!
Somehow, you have the ability to make me miss living in South Carolina at least once a week!
Glad that your party went well, everything looks delightfully festive! Kudos to your friends and neighbors for bringing healthful fruit and veggie dishes.
Looks like a delicious party!
As much as I love the apartment in which I live now, the one thing I look forward to having in my next place will be more space for entertaining – including some space (any space!) for outdoor entertaining. =)
Oh wow, that looks like a blast!
Love the sparkling water keg! Where do you get one of those??
We made it! The keg you can buy online and at homebrew shops