Here in the South the summer isn't complete until you've hosted or attended a traditional low country seafood boil; the South's equivalent to a New England clambake and the quintessential summer party. Growing up on the southern coast I've attended hundreds of seafood boils, but hosting them is one of my favorite ways to entertain in the summer. Every year I look forward to gathering friends for our annual crawfish boil. I think this year's rustic summer seafood boil was the best!
If you aren't familiar with a southern seafood boil let me give you a quick run down. It involves eating pounds and pounds of crawfish, shrimp, sausage and vegtables on newspaper instead of plates. You end up eating elbow-to-elbow with friends and family. It's the ultimate outdoor bash and y'all are going to want to stick around for all of the beer drinkin', lip smakin' and crawfish crackin' details from this southern summer party.
The beauty of a southern seafood boil is that it's meant to be rustic and simple. There is no need to create over-the-top fancy decorations or even worry about setting the table for that matter. But, like most parties I host, I believe the magic is in the details. I like to set up a focal point so guest know where to go for all the party action. In this case I set-up a small table outdoors under some trees to serve as the main station for drinks and supplies. I covered the table with some of the Kraft Paper, layered it with the newsprint wax liner, then I covered it with the fish net.
I used the burlap garland to make a DIY custom banner for the front of the table. With a little bit of paint and an iron-on vinyl saying "Let's get Cray" I had a quick and easy banner.
I hung the rest of the burlap garland from the trees to serve as my rustic backdrop.
I put a vintage Coca-Cola® crate on the table and filled it with essentials guest would need for the party: napkins, plates and mason jars for drinks. I filled small mini galvanized buckets with lemons so guests could use them to help clean their hands after getting messy from digging in and devouring the seafood.
Guests could help themselves to the colorful and refreshing Summer Melon Sangria or pour a glass of Old Fashioned Ice Tea Punch into their cute little mason jar cups.
While waiting for the delicious seafood to boil, guests could dig in to some Cajun Crackers and Creamy Crawfish Dip.
While you don't typically need utensils for a seafood boil I like to have grab-and-go DIY Utensil Holders with seafood boil essentials like wet wipes and napkins handy. I also included forks so guest could later dig in to the mouth-watering banana pudding dessert.
When it comes to a traditional southern seafood boil all you really need is a big long table; no chairs required. I covered our table with the brown Kraft Paper and newspaper print. I made a simple centerpiece with Mason Jars, fresh flowers and one of the Ocean Sea Life Creatures. I added a few large metal buckets for guests to discard the crawfish tails in.
Now it's time for the best part. The food! But before you dig in you might need to give a quick lesson on how to eat crawfish for your friends who aren't familiar with this southern tradition. Give a brief demonstration on how to tear apart a crawfish, eat its tail and suck out the head juices before everyone digs in.
Mmmm, everything in this jumbo pot turns to gold after soaking in the boil broth. Everyone loves that moment when the steaming crawfish, shrimp, sausage and vegetables are dumped onto the newspaper-topped table. Everybody gathers around the table and starts to dig in and get messy.
We kept the kids entertained with a fun DIY Crawfish Cornhole Game that provided lots of laughs and plenty of competition.
As the sun set on our evening I turned on the candles in our DIY Outdoor Mason Jar Lanterns and everyone sat around chatting, laughing and making sweet summertime memories.
Hosting a summer seafood boil has become a tradition for us. The food is amazing, the company is the best and every year we make extraordinary memories with the people we love. If you are looking for a fun way to celebrate summer this seafood boil party is a must, so what are you waiting for? Let's get crackin!
Make sure you check out the tutorials and DIY projects for all of the projects we created for this summer seafood boil including DIY Burlap Utensil Holders, DIY Mason Jar Lanterns, DIY Crawfish Cornhole Game, Cajun Crackers and Creamy Crawfish Dip and Old Fashioned Ice Tea Punch.
