Summer Patio Outdoor Beverage Cart

Take your summer patio up a notch with a fun outdoor beverage cart.  They’re easy to put together and make entertaining a breeze. Perfect for summer BBQs, laid back gatherings, or just a relaxing afternoon in the sun!

Summer Entertaining

Summer is my favorite time to entertain!  I love the more laid back atmosphere and hanging outside on the patio with our guests as the BBQ is going.  Today, I’m back for a second week of The Outdoor Extravaganza with some of my favorite blogging friends. We’re all sharing our favorite outdoor decorating ideas and summer entertaining tips, so get ready for some summer party planning!  You can find all of the ideas at the end of the post, so be sure to check them out!

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Creating an Outdoor Beverage Cart

Today I’m going to be sharing our little outdoor beverage cart.  It’s one of my favorite parts of our backyard patio and the perfect addition to any summer party!  Outdoor beverage stations can be anything from a simple table where you set up a few drinks for your guests to grab, to something more elaborate and styled.  Whatever you choose, they’re always fun to put together and allow your guests to grab a refreshing drink whenever they would like. When planning out your outdoor drink station, there are a few things to keep in mind…

Find your style.

Beverage carts come in a variety of different styles from modern, to industrial, to elegant.  Choose the materials based on how and where you want to use your cart.  If you’re planning on leaving it out all summer long in the sunshine you’ll need something more weather resistant than a cart that you’ll be using mostly indoors and just bringing out for parties. You can also look at just using a small table or side table from inside your home or repurpose old furniture into an outside piece.

Pick a shady spot.

Pay attention to where the sun hits at various times of the day and choose a spot that will be relatively out of the sun during party time.  If you’re looking to set something up more permanently, you can always place it under a multi-position umbrella or other sunshade to keep the sun off it during various times of the day.

Choose a convenient location.

Where you position your beverage station will depend on what you’re using it for.  If you’re often out playing yard games, you might want it more away from the house so people can grab a drink in the middle of a game.  On the other hand, if you’re going to be busy entertaining, you might want it close to the patio door so you can easily replenish items if needed.  Think of where your family or guests tend to gather the most, and position it as close to this area as possible.  If your needs always seem to change, look for a portable cart option instead of something that’s more fixed in place.

What to put in an outdoor beverage cart.

I love styling our beverage station for different parties {and even just our daily, regular use!}.  We’re usually pretty low-key with nothing too fancy, but it’s still fun to put a few minutes into making it look cute.

Drinks

The most important thing in a drink bar, of course, is the drinks!  Look for cute beverage dispensers, large drink pitchers, vintage carafes, or bottled and canned drinks to offer up your drink options. If you’re hosting a big party, you might also want to add a cooler {or large bucket} of ice to add extra bottled or canned drinks. I always like to have water out along with a couple of other varieties of drinks.  I picked up this water dispenser from Home Sense and I love it.  One side of the insert can be filled with water and frozen to keep the water cold and the other side can be used for infused fruit.  Even when I don’t have guests, I still often set this up for myself!

You can also come up with a fun “signature” drink to serve at your gatherings like this lemonade bar with homemade flavored syrups.  I just used a couple of galvanized metal tables {that I actually pulled from inside our house} to hold a big dispenser of lemonade and some smaller bottles of the homemade syrups.  It was a fun way to customize our drinks!

Glasses

If you’re serving more than bottled and can drinks, you’ll obviously need some glasses.  We pretty much always stick to plastic or melamine cups on the patio.  We always have kids around and we don’t want to be worried about broken glass anywhere.  I like these stemless wine glasses as they look pretty and function well for a variety of beverages.  If you’ve got a lot of people, you may want to go with some disposable cup options, but we try to stay with non-disposables as much as possible.

Ice

In order to keep things cool and refreshing, you’ll likely need to have some ice on hand.  A cute ice bucket works well for a smaller crowd, but you’ll likely need a cooler if you’re hosting a big party.  Keep bottled drinks in the fridge as long as possible before the party starts {or even put them in the freezer for a short period for some extra chilling}.

Accessories

The fun part for me is putting it together with all of the little accesories and decorative touches. Towels, napkins, drink openers, coasters, plates, etc. all add both function and style to your outdoor beverage cart.  Pull everything together with a common theme or color palette.  The towel set that I found at Ikea was perfect for this as it came with a variety of different patterns and cost less than $5 for five towels!

We also have this outdoor organizer that I built a couple of years ago as one of the DIY projects for my book, The Home Decluttering Diet.  It holds some of our extra BBQ supplies and outdoor dishware, but can be used for additional storage for the drink cart when needed.

I hope this has given you some inspiration for creating your own outdoor drink cart.  Just remember that it doesn’t have to be fancy or complicated.  One of the main purposes of the drink cart is to make it easier for entertaining so you can just enjoy that summer vibe with your guests.  Time to get party planning! 🙂

You can also grab this free summer printable to add that extra touch to your beverage station or outdoor space.   Happy Summer my friends!! xoxo

More Outdoor Entertaining and Decorating Ideas

Don’t go yet!  I still have a ton of outdoor entertaining and decorating ideas to show you!  Be sure to check out some of the fabulous posts from my talented blogging friends.

Satori Design for Living | Craftberry Bush | Finding Silver Pennies | So Much Better with Age

Zevy Joy | Amber Tysl | Postcards from the Ridge | The Happy Housie

Casa Watkins Living | City Farmhouse | Clean and Scentsible | Vinyet Etc.

Maison de Pax | A Pretty Life | Life on Virginia Street | On Sutton Place | The DIY Mommy

Summer Tablescape Ideas

How to Create your own Backyard Oasis

Frozen Strawberry Slush