Cherries: Yummy Enough to Inspire a Party
Cherries are a delicious and popular fruit. If you’ve ever been cherry picking, you know how satisfying it is to climb down from a ladder with a fistful of fresh cherries. This fruit’s rich flavour and easy snackability make it a universal favourite. There’s also something playful about cherries, which makes it easy to throw a cherry themed party! Their bright bold colour pop offers a cheerful sight in what may otherwise be a blander view. So if you love cherries, this is definitely the party for you. Let’s dig into some fun ways to celebrate the criminally delicious cherry.
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How to Throw a Cherry Themed Party
1. Create a Very Cherry Scene
Cherries as a decorative theme come in at least a few different styles. One is very sweet, cute, and playful. Another is savagely ripe and sexy. Another is some combination of the two – a very retro, Americana vibe where cherries mingled with rock ‘n’ roll. Since cherries really took off as a decorative motif in the mid-Twentieth century, they’re often considered a retro symbol in fashion and décor. You’ll find a combination of these styles among these fun cherry decorations listed below:
- Disco cherry print wall art
- Bowl of cherries retro wall art
- Paper honeycomb cherry
- Felt cherry garland
- Crochet cherry garland
- Wooden cherry banner
- Mirror cherries wall art
- Plush cherry-print pink blanket to throw over couch
- Retro cherry cartoon throw pillow
- Plastic cherry cups with paper straws
- Red paper plates
- Cherries serving plate
2. Prepare Cherry-Based Food and Beverages
A cherry party is, naturally, all about the food! Décor is important for sure, but delicious cherry treats are where it’s at. Whether you provide all refreshments or whether you request that guests bring a cherry dish potluck-style, your menu will be the primary way you engage your guests in the cherry theme – through their sense of taste!
The most important food to serve is, obviously, a big bowl of cherries. It is equally important to provide some sort of receptacle for cherry pits. A small bowl will do. Despite being considered a sexy fruit/symbol, actually eating cherries is not sexy – it is messy and it stains fingers. But that’s a-okay, so make sure your guests feel welcome to put their cherry pits and stems somewhere obvious (such as in a smaller bowl near the big cherry bowl) so they don’t have to shuffle over to the often-hidden trash bin every time they eat a cherry (or stuff them into stained pockets).
To be clear, cherry tomatoes are not the same thing as cherries. If cherry tomatoes try to crash your cherry themed party menu, bounce them out.
Party food doesn’t have to be anything special – easy party snacks will do. If you embrace the Americana decorative theme, you can keep it simple and heat up frozen corndogs (and/or veggie corndogs) and other such easy greasy American fare that flourished during the midcentury before everyone became aware of dietary concerns. Definitely include cherry treats such as pie or other staples. For drinks, serve ice cold cherry cola, cherry juice, or any other cherry-infused refreshment.
Food (fancier fare):
- Tangy cherry chicken
- Cherry cola jalapeño meatballs
- Baguette stuffed with brie and cherries
- Peach caprese salad with balsamic cherries
- Peach, cherry, and halloumi salad
Sweet treats:
- Cherry pie
- Cherry cobbler
- Cherry cola cupcakes
- Russian cherry teacakes
- Cherry cola chocolate cake
- Cherry ice cream float
Hydrating drinks:
Cocktails:
- Cherry martini
- Cherry sour cocktails
- Blended cherry mojitos
- Cherry vanilla vodka cola cocktail
- Cherry pie in the sky cocktail
- Cherry cola whiskey cocktail
- Dark cherry cream soda
- Cherry Cola Kalimotxo
- Cherry moon
3. Plan a Playful Playlist
Any music that’s quirky and fun works for a cherry party! Bubblegum pop seems fitting because of its playful (and sometimes sexual) vibe. But you could just as easily embrace midcentury Americana and play swing, rockabilly, doo-wop, or any other danceable retro genre. Indie pop/rock offers its own plethora of sounds including those that happily indulge a retro cherry vibe.
There is an endless list of cherry songs you could play. The Runaways’ Cherry Bomb is probably the most notable one. Savage Garden’s I Want You is another popular hit. The Beach Boys’ Cherry Cherry Coupe is a fun oldie. There are also cherry bands, such as Eagle-Eye Cherry and Cherry Poppin’ Daddies. Between a slew of retro tunes and funky pop, you have plenty of music to play at your cherry party. Take some time to pick out your favourites and have the playlist ready for party day!
4. Add Sinfully Delicious Scents
We covered the sights, flavors, and tunes of a cherry themed party. Now for the scents! If amazing cherry baked goods aren’t enough to lure your guests with irresistible aromas (looking at you, cherry pie), light any of these delightful cherry-scented candles to seal the deal:
- Cherry candle in cherry-print glass jar
- Wild cherry dessert candle
- ‘Very Cherry’ candle
- Cherry Bakewell candle
5. Establish Guest Participation
Guest participation involves how you’d like your guests to participate or contribute to your party. Maybe you invite everyone to bring a cherry dish or drink to share, potluck style! Maybe you make it BYOB. One fun idea is to encourage guests to wear red, especially anything with cherries. Whatever you choose, be sure to communicate any participation requests when you initially invite them.
Checklist of Items You Need
Now that we’ve covered what you’ll need to do for a cherry themed party, here is a list of all the tangible items you may need to acquire for it:
- Cherry themed party decorations
- Cherry-based food and beverages
- Fun music playlist
- Cherry scented candles
- Red/cherry outfit
Preparation Checklist for Your Cherry Themed Party
Most of these steps for party preparation apply to any type of party you host. So while we covered cherry-specific details and ideas above, below are basic party planning guidelines to neatly order each step of the process (you can find more thorough details in the Best Party Practices posts):
1. First, confirm that people can come on any chosen date
- Choose party date/time, and preferably alternative date(s) as well. Where I live, cherries are in season in May, but your local cherries may not be available until as late as July. It makes the most sense to host this party during your local cherry season so you can have a ready supply of fresh cherries to serve and cook with, but I’ve also seen cherries in the grocery during other seasons, randomly, so you may luck out. Still, don’t let the time of year stop you from throwing this party any time! Even if you host it in the middle of winter and fresh cherries are nowhere to be seen, you can still find things like cherry cola, jarred cherries, frozen cherries, or dried cherries to make plenty of delicious treats.
- Choose guest list and establish minimum number of guests you’d like (to make it worth your effort)
- Six weeks out, confirm guests’ interest in the party and availability on chosen party date(s). The only details you’ll need to share at this time include what type of party it will be (cherry-themed); any requested participation (i.e. potluck, etc.); party date and general time of day (i.e. afternoon, etc.); and where (your address, or other location if applicable)
- This first step is just to get people to confirm that, barring unforeseen circumstances, they are able and willing to attend and will save the date to do so. If your preferred minimum number of guests confirm interest and availability, have them secure the calendar date for your awesome cherry party!
2. Then, proceed with the fun planning
Once you have your cherry party date established, you first need to get out your calendar and map out when you plan to do every step of preparation. This means you schedule time for each preparation activity that you’ll need to do leading up to the party:
- First, sit down and schedule time on your calendar for each step of party prep as listed below
- Create invitations with all the details and send them out 4 weeks before the party
- Order any party supplies and decorations 3 weeks out (so they arrive in time to set up)
- Shop for any party supplies/decorations you don’t order online, as well as non-perishable food/drinks
- Acquire perishable food/drinks early enough in advance to prepare in time
- Set up decorations
- Prepare food/drinks (depending on how long things keep)
3. Day of Party
It’s very important to get as much party prep done far enough in advance that you have some time to yourself to relax come party day, especially if you’ve been busy. So be sure to plan your day-of-party preparations early enough to have that time and space to yourself as well. Within those amply planned/set-aside time slots, you can expect to do these preparations during the day of your party:
- Complete any last-minute food/drink prep that are too fresh to do any earlier
- Set up any quick/easy last-minute supplies and decorations (if not up already)
- Prepare cherry ambience (music, candles)
- Get dressed in the boldest cherry red colours you own
- Once everything’s ready, take the time to do any preferred self-care activities that get you in a good head space if you aren’t already. This is in your own and everybody else’s best interest (they’ll pick up on your contagiously good vibe)! You want to be a relaxed, energized, and happy host 😊
All Set to Host a Fabulous Cherry Themed Party
Every part of the party planning process is meant to be enjoyable – from planning the menu to putting up decorations. The way to be a good host is to put thought and care into party preparation while also keeping a flexible approach that allows grace for unexpected surprises. Ultimately, the goal is for you and your guests to have a great time – even if that looks different than you envisioned. So enjoy the process and cheers to cherries!