Life of the Party
Rebecca Gardner calls on her love of entertaining in planning over-the-top events for Houses & Parties
By M. Linda Lee
Ask Rebecca Gardner what makes a party memorable, and she’ll tell you: “Waking up the next morning with a headache saying, ‘I had a screaming blast!’” As founder and creative director of Houses & Parties, a full-service event and interior design collective in Savannah and New York City, Gardner knows a thing or two about how to stage a fabulous fête.
The Fairy Godmother, Rebecca Gardner, and a bit of her bippity-boppity-boo.
“Parties were the love language of both sides of my family,” she says. From the age of five, she reveled in designing and planning her own birthday parties in south Texas, with themes like the “pink and green baby piglet barbecue picnic bubble fest.”
While one can only guess what that entailed, the same elements of outrageous fun distinguish the myriad events she now organizes and executes. This might manifest itself in a 36-foot weeping willow tree made from asparagus ferns that overhangs a bar, so guests have to make their way through dangling branches to get a drink. Or a 1950s-style sock hop where a soda jerk rides his popsicle cart on a bicycle across the dance floor.
After graduating from the University of Mississippi, Gardner enrolled at Savannah College of Art and Design, intending to become an interior designer. But her party-planning side hustle took off, inspiring her to launch Houses & Parties in 2011. Her e-commerce shop followed in 2020, a product of the pandemic, when social events were scarce.
While Gardner always adheres to a traditional structure when planning an event, within that structure she creates “jolts of surprise.” She embraces caprice by changing the cadence of a party periodically to catch people off-guard, perhaps by having a marching band lead wedding guests into dinner, or presenting dessert at home with lottery tickets.
“[A party] is a gift and an act of generosity,” she believes. “As a hostess, you have great power to choose how someone is going to feel.” Whether Gardner’s throwing an intimate couples’ dinner or a reception for 500, the winning formula remains the same: a mix of different types of people, a warm welcome, a strong drink, flattering lighting, thoughtful introductions, and elements of surprise and humor (i.e., serving ice-cream sandwiches in the paper on a silver tray).
“I like playing the Fairy Godmother, like in Cinderella,” the consummate entertainer confides. “I have a lot of bippity-boppity-boo to share and that brings me great joy.” The trick to making a party look effortless? “It’s a show, it’s theater—it’s magic.”
Photography by Adam Kuehl; this story appears in our Fall 2024 issue.
A few of Rebecca’s favorite things
“One of my favorite things is Tablecloth with a Twist. You set the table with it, and after dinner, you whip it off the table and put it on the floor for a game of tangling limbs.” $598
“I love our party crackers (previous page). They’re made with hand-marbled paper, tied with dip-dyed silk ribbons, and have hysterical ice-breaking parlor games inside them.” Set of 6, $98
“Big pink Buttons of Truth bear various labels like Lush, Vegan, Gossip, Dilettante. Give one to each of your guests as they walk in the door. You’re not really labeling them—you’re giving them an ice-breaker to start a conversation.” Set of 10, $48
Buttons of Truth
“We sell beautiful nickel-plated or brass table lamps with mix-and-match lampshades done in hand-pleated silk dupioni. They’re like little dancing girls with hats going down the table, and they’re wonderful because they cast a flattering glow.” Lamp bases, $148 Silk shades start at $168
“Our signature candle, Inside Mother’s Leiber, is nostalgic and Southern. It has a musky, powdery smell and comes in what looks like a hat box, wrapped in marbled paper and topped with a pink tassel.” $98