Memorial Day Party Ideas & How I Threw a Viral Backyard BBQ

Back in 2013, I decided to throw the most over-the-top backyard BBQ Memorial Day party — completely on a whim. And then it turned into a full-on outdoor dinner party, the kind that obviously needed to be photographed and shared online.

At the time, I didn’t have a home and living blog yet; but I did have a (now very defunct) little art blog I published with a friend. So as one does after throwing an epic Memorial Day celebration fueled entirely by the spirit of Martha Stewart whom it seems briefly took possession of my body, I posted about it there… and then promptly moved on with my life.

Little did I know, that simple backyard BBQ would end up going viral — and twelve years later, it’s still popping up on Pinterest.

How My Memorial Day Party Went Viral (Without Me Even Knowing About It)

Unbeknownst to me, that memorial day party post went VIRAL on Pinterest. As in, I literally had no idea until a couple of weeks ago when I randomly saw photos of a party I THREW in 2013 pop up in MY PINTEREST FEED and spied the insane number of saves one of the pins had.

Then I saw photos of my memorial day party all over other blogs doing round-ups of memorial day party inspo, bonfire party inspo, “I Do” BBQs inspo, outdoor dinner party inspo, and my favorite “deco champetre” inspo (which is basically french people searching for “rustic country” themed party inspo lol).

So I decided it would be fun to dig through my computer, find the original photos of the party and share them with you again here! (Re-edited without the artsy faux film grain I decided they needed in 2013…)

Backyard BBQ Party Ideas for a Memorial Day Celebration

Let’s just again preface all this with the fact that I threw this memorial day celebration over 12 years ago on a shoestring budget. And, if I threw this same party again today, I’d definitely make different stylistic choices. In 2013 I was still firmly in my “1950s vintage with a pinch of shabby chic decor” era. I had bangs. My hair was RED. Times were DIFFERENT. You get the idea.

That said, I’m still so proud of what I was able to do with almost zero money, a few dollar store supplies and a whole lot of DIY elbow grease. There are so many ideas from this party that I’ve used over and over again in different ways since then and I love that it shows how epic of a party you can throw without spending lots of money.

The Outdoor Dinner Party Tablescape: Simple & Budget-Friendly

I love that in my original post I describe this as “a little something I threw together for a few friends on memorial day”. Like I just casually manifested something that looks like I could have been throwing a full on engagement party or wedding reception in my backyard.

Reclaimed & Thrifted Vases

I knew we were going to need A LOT of vases for this party so I started just grabbing anything I could find in my house and in my friends houses. Empty liquor bottles, jam jars, glass milk bottles, and whatever else I could snag from the thrift store for $1 or less.

Budget Table Cloth + Runner Hack

The table cloth I bought at the Dollar Tree and the runner I made out of cheap butcher paper (that I also got from the Dollar Tree) and cut in half lengthwise.

Candles & Tiki Torches

For this I pretty much just raided our house of every glass candle holder, candle and tea light we owned and it worked out to be just enough. (Sometimes all those left over candles from your wedding do come in very handy.). The Tiki torches I snagged from the Dollar Tree!

Hay Bale Outdoor Dinner Party Seating

In my heart (and the vision I had for this party), I wanted hay bales for table seating. I thought they’d be cute and cheap. When I told Joe my idea, he asked a co-worker with a farm where he could buy some and they offered to just let us borrow a couple of theirs for the party! To make them a bit more comfy to sit on, I thrifted some pillow cases in shades of red, white and blue to lay on top of them.

Using Wildflowers & Grasses As Free Decor

This party was the first time I ever went picking for wildflowers as party decor and I LOVED how it turned out so much that I have kept doing this for all my spring/summer parties ever since. It’s such a great way to spend a quiet afternoon before the chaos of a party.

When you go picking, be sure and grab a variety of wildflowers and grasses. The grasses especially added such a nice contrast to the flowers for this party. I mean how beautiful was this FOR FREE?

DIY Memorial Day Decorations You Can Make For Cheap

In addition to picking wildflowers for this party, we did a lot of DIY prep work to create the ultimate backyard bbq party for our guests. But since we were working on a shoestring budget, we obviously had to get creative with where and how we spent our money.

DIY Backyard BBQ Party Striped Awning

This is probably my favorite DIY from this party because it was so cheap, looked super chic and definitely helped disguise the front of our funky old storage shed. I wish I had taken side view photos!

To make it, I had Joe construct a frame out of 2×2 boards, a couple of 1×4 furrings strips and cheap 1×6 fencing boards. For the awning, I picked up a white king size sheet from the thrift store and painted red stripes on it then I stapled it to the frame. The entire thing cost $10 to make.

DIY Red White & Blue Fabric Garland

While this decor idea definitely leans more shabby chic or cottagecore, I still think it’s a super cute, and incredibly affordable party decoration idea.

To make the DIY fabric garland, I bought about 12 yards total of various clearance fabrics (all with different shades and textures of red, white & blue) and ripped them down into two-inch strips. Then I cut the strips to the length I wanted and knotted them onto a length of twine. (I remember this took me like 6 hours though… so you’ve been warned)

How to Set Up a S’mores Station for Your Memorial Day Party

Case in point of things I’d do different now: That little bar cart with the oh-so-cute smores station on it was originally brass and I PAINTED IT WHITE for this party. Current Kadie still lives with the horror and regret of this decision.

However, the Make-Your-Own S’mores station was super cute and a great idea. To make the fixings a bit more visually aesthetic, I used brown paper bags tied with twine to hold the graham crackers and cover the nutella jar. Then I popped the marshmallows in a small portable grill we own and placed the roasting sticks in a vase.

The “S’mores” sign and the rest of the event sign you’ll see coming up were painted on old fence pickets I found laying around in our shed.

Backyard Party Games and Activities for All Ages

Joe threw together this little bean bag toss game for about $3 out of some scrap MDF board and 2×4’s he had laying around. I just added a splash of red paint and some bean bags I picked up from the Dollar Tree. Then I also sprayed some red paint directly on the grass to create a second bean bag toss game as well.

Speaking of party games, I was determined to do all ALL the old school ones at this good old fashioned backyard BBQ party. So we had a sack race (using coffee bean sacks I thrifted), a three legged race, and even a pie eating contest. For fun, I handed out these little plastic trophies I found at The Dollar Tree and threaded them on some twine so the winners could wear them like a medal.

A Few More Memorial Day Party Decor Detail Shots (Because We Love A Good Detail Shot)

Really this entire party should have been sponsored by Dollar Tree and the Target Dollar Spot because I’m pretty sure (It has been 12 years afterall) that’s where all this other misc decor came from.

The Viral Outdoor Dinner Party Photos: Rustic Country Backyard BBQ Vibes

These are the vintage memorial day party images that went the mega viral on pinterest. But I mean, I can’t say I blame them because the vibes were pretty magical as the sun set.

Final Thoughts On My Viral Outdoor Dinner Party

I’m still giggling over the whole “a little something I threw together” from my original blog post 12 years ago. But also, if Kadie is going to throw party, she goes all in and that hasn’t changed to this day.

And honestly, looking back through these images I’d still be pretty proud to throw this shindig for my friends today… just maybe without having painted that brass bar cart this time…

I hope you enjoyed this trip down memory lane as much as I did and hopefully you got some ideas for your next backyard BBQ party and inspo for budget friendly memorial day party decorations you can DIY!

And now I have to ask, have you run across photos of this party before!? Let me know in the comment section below! I’m now on a hunt to see all the places the photos of this party have ended up over the years!

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