Your patio or outdoor room may already have lighting installed if you have a solid cover such as colorbond roofing. But if you want a bit more atmosphere than regular overhead lights, you need to think creatively to create mood. Here are a few lighting ideas for your next outdoor party.

Fairy lights

These are old school but classic, and can be used in all sorts of creative ways.

• Run them along every support of your patio – you can get small adhesive clamps that you can stick to the uprights and horizontals, and pass the flex through them so they’re safely held in place.
• Alternatively, wind strings of them around posts and beams – you’ll have even more lights that way, and you can make a pretty feature of the structure.
• Use any trees in the garden to wind lights through as well – the lighting doesn’t all have to be focused on the patio itself.

Candles

• Homeware shops, department stores, and many garden centres stock a range of candle lanterns – from metal ones you can hang, to others on spikes that can be installed in garden beds and pots, to glass ones that can be placed on windowsills, tables and other safe surfaces. These can be dotted around to create the same effect you’d have from lamps inside the house.
• You can also use candle lanterns to light the way to the party area, if you have people coming in via a driveway – run a line of them down the drive to direct people to where you want them to go. Just make sure that candles are placed in safe spots to minimise the chance of accidents.

Lanterns

• Army surplus stores still sell old style hanging lanterns, if you want to go for a quirky retro look. These usually run off lamp oil or kerosene and will burn for quite a few hours before they need to be refilled.

Try to think outside the box a bit when you’re considering lighting for a party. You want to create a special atmosphere so you need to steer clear of your regular lights so it can be special – for those special occasions.