How To Throw A right Royal Street Party

The first mass street parties took place as ‘Children’s Peace Teas’ in 1919, to celebrate the signing of the
Versailles Treaty after WW1 - where communities came together to give their
youngsters a treat after years of wartime struggle.

Holding your own royal street party is a great way to involve everyone in your area and bring the community together. Here’s how to make sure your street party runs smoothly and is fun for everyone taking part.

Contact the council
Before you get too carried away, your first stop is to talk to your local council’s events or communities team about your street party. Do this as early as you can. They’ll be able to help you with any road closures or licences you might need.

Form a committee
Organising your street party will be so much easier if you get other people to help you. Enlist some willing neighbours and make sure everyone has a job to do, whether it’s getting hold of tables and chairs to line the streets, taking on a recipe for the feast, doing a communal online shop for the party essentials organising music and games, or being responsible for sending out invitations.

Invite everyone
It’s important to make everyone on your street feel included, so make sure you put an invitation through everyone’s door as early as possible.

Roll out the decorations
You could decorate yourselves in red, white and blue clothes, and use bunting or Union Jack flags around the party area. These simple homemade Royal Party Decorations are great for families to try if they want to bring their own crafts to the table on the big day, and bright, fun picnic food can form part of the display too.

Dish out the catering
If you want to make it a homemade bash, ask neighbours each to bring sweet and savoury dishes for everyone to share. As an alternative, you could ask for a contribution from each family or guest and pool your cash to pre-order sandwich platters, cakes and bakes and other party food. You could have a go at some of our fit-for-the-royals recipes too. Just remember to keep food covered and out of the sun. If anyone has any allergies, it’s always best to make sure nobody brings anything containing nuts or other risky ingredients.

Gather round for games
An oldie but a goodie, take advantage of the closed roads and have an egg and spoon race up the street, or keep the royal theme going with a game of Pin the Tail on the Corgi. For bigger parties, ask people if you can use their gardens - and have a treasure hunt for  sweetie or chocolate Crown Jewels.

Arrange some music
You only need a music licence if ‘amplified’ music is one of the main purposes of the event - like an outdoor concert or festival. Ask around to see if anyone has a speaker system you can use to play Royal-themed songs, a little classical music or just some party tunes for the kids to dance around to.

Have a clean-up plan
Put a plan in place and make sure you have a group of people to help get your street back to normal after the party. Give everyone a few bin bags, and an area of the street they can be responsible for. If you’ve used paper plates and cups – which will save on washing up – remember to pop them in the recycling bin.

Treat the street to our delicious royal street party recipes >>