These Are Aerin Lauder’s Favorite Summer Entertaining Tips

Summertime is style icon Aerin Lauder’s favorite time to entertain, especially when it involves the outdoors. Whether it’s at her place in Palm Beach, her house in the Hamptons, or her home in Spain, she always makes sure her guests feel welcome and as comfortable as possible by incorporating little unexpected twists.

Here, she shares her favorite summer entertaining tips, from her favorite dish to serve to her favorite music to play.

Make Your Guests Comfortable

Outdoor entertaining in the summer is my favorite. I like for all of my guests to feel as comfortable as possible, which is one of the reasons why I like to keep the table simple and elegant. I typically incorporate an element of surprise into each place setting, such as writing each guest’s name on a seashell. I love putting bowls of home-made potato chips on the table, along with an abundance of flowers.

Display Your Favorite Flower

Speaking of flowers, I always have flowers on the table, which tends to be an element that guests remember. There’s nothing like the smell of fresh flowers. My favorites are hydrangeas, zinnias, and rose of Sharon.

Always Use a Color Scheme

I always love a blue and white color scheme for entertaining, but even more so during the summer. Incorporating touches of green and yellow also add a pop of color, which is a big part of my most recent collection with Williams Sonoma.

Some of my favorite pieces from the collection that I will be using this summer are the Scalloped Green Dinner Plates, Wicker Hurricanes and Scalloped Towels. I love to add wicker accessories. I think that the mixing of textures adds a casual elegance.

Make a Custom Playlist

Any time I entertain, I like to use a Spotify playlist that my sons create for me. Summer is also a great time to play Gipsy Kings, which reminds me of old-fashioned European summers.

Learn more about Aerin’s full summer collection here: