Over the glorious long Bank Holiday weekend of King Charles's coronation which is due to take place from the 6-8 May, people will be coming together around the UK to celebrate, whether it's with a private garden party or a full street party where the entire community can join in the fun. There's a long tradition of street parties to draw on, from the joyful festivities that marked the end of World War II, to the gatherings that have marked royal weddings and jubilees over the course of the last century – including for the recent Platinum Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II. The coronation ceremony itself will take place at Westminster Abbey, and see King Charles officially crowned alongside The Queen Consort. Once proceedings have finished on television (unless you're one of the lucky ones attending in person) then a street party is the perfect way to continue the festivities and mark this once-in-a-generation occasion.
How to organise a street party
The long Bank Holiday weekend is of course the time to do it. You can hold a street party anywhere–a driveway, a car park or on the street itself. If you are thinking of doing the latter and you want to close your road, you will need to get in touch with your local council, and you can find more information about what you'll need to do here on the gov.uk website. If you are closing the road, you will probably need to get liability insurance as well, which doesn't cost very much (up to £50), but your council will tell you whether this is the case. For lots more information about the nuts and bolts, visit streetparty.org.uk.
As you start the organisation, you'll want help from your neighbours for planning, decorating and providing food and drink, so it's best to get in touch with everyone on your street as early as possible. Getting people to donate the eatables is the best way forward–if you're selling alcohol, for example, you'll need a license, and this just seems like a complication too far. As well as food, drink and decoration, think about planning some activities to keep children entertained, and perhaps some games for adults too, such as a quiz. There are plenty of resources at streetparty.org.uk to help you get going. Background music is essential for a celebratory mood; one of Spotify's family party playlists can make a reliable standby. A bit of heartwarming patriotism probably wouldn't go amiss at a coronation party: a blast of ‘Land of Hope and Glory’ is sure to get the crowd out of their seats if you're that way inclined, or why not go for coronation anthem ‘Zadok the Priest’ for that extra bit of grandeur?
The physical set-up of a coronation street party is another thing to consider. Tables and chairs are a necessity, unless you're going down the picnic route; you can either hire these or just ask your neighbours to bring them out from their own houses. Any kitchen tables or chairs that can stand a bit of wear and tear will do. Given the notoriously unreliable nature of the British weather, you may also want to consider shelter such as marquees or gazebos, and possibly a plan for an indoor space in the last eventuality. Once the eating component of the day is out of the way, you can always clear the tables and chairs from the street and use the space to play cricket, Splat the Rat or Cornhole for the remainder of the afternoon.
How to decorate
Union Jack bunting is of course the key element of street party decoration, and a must-have among the plethora of coronation décor and memorabilia already out there. If you put together a community fund for decoration, it's easy enough to buy your bunting, whether you opt for traditional Union Jacks or something more specific to the occasion (you can find good examples of both at flagandflagpoles.co.uk), or something a little more unusual. If you want something that truly represents the spirit of your own street, why not host a bunting-making party in advance of the long weekend? Everyone can bring scraps of fabric, and you can join in stapling them to some strong rope or string. There's plenty of scope to decorate each piece of bunting too: consider adding sequins, embroidering them, or writing messages on them. If you're looking for a unified, harmonious aesthetic to your Jubilee party, this approach may not be for you, but it does sound rather fun. You can hang your bunting from trees and lampposts, and don't be afraid to go big on the quantity – an inadequate amount of bunting is not festive.
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In addition to bunting, you will want some flags to wave (flagsandflagpoles.co.uk is the place to be), and then some suitable table decorations: tablecloths, napkins and plates and cups at a minimum. If you think the party is going to go on into the evening (although bear in mind this may annoy some of your fellow residences), consider adding some solar lights or string lights to the scene. And frankly, what's a party without a hat? We love the paper crown templates mentioned above, and decorating them is also an excellent activity for everyone to do at the party itself.
Getting everyone involved in the crafting element of the party is always a good idea; you can stage a competition that children or adults can participate in, crafting, say, model corgis or cardboard crowns, that are then judged at the event. A seaside-style cut-out of the King where people can insert their own faces and have their photo taken would always be a winner. Also consider a dressing-up element: everyone comes as their favourite member of the royal family, for example. If you're a particularly well-organised neighbourhood, you could even put together a pageant, as one neighbourhood in Essex did on the occasion of the Queen's 1953 coronation, re-creating the procession in miniature and crowning their own ‘Coronation Queen’.
What to serve
Keep it simple with the dishes; the last thing you want at a coronation street party is stressed neighbours trying to make complicated recipes that may or may not work out. The easiest approach is to organise a pot-luck, with everyone bringing what they feel they can contribute, whether that's sandwiches, cakes, or drinks. If you want a more organised event, decide on a simple menu and allocate everything out. If you have put together a central budget, you can use this for drinks, and ask for volunteers to make the food. We recommend some classic English dishes: tea sandwiches with Coronation chicken (of course) or the traditional cucumber or smoked salmon and cream cheese. Victoria sponge cake is another must, and scones with jam and clotted cream. The usual afternoon tea dishes are perennial crowd-pleasers, so it's a helpful theme to stick with.
As an alternative, consider hosting a communal barbecue, in which every household brings their own barbecue out to the front of the house and cooks their own food, and then everyone sits down and eats it together. There's the advantage that everyone can wander around and comment on other people's barbecuing techniques (a national pastime if ever we saw one), and the glorious smell of charred sausages can fill the air. Add in some simple drinks like elderflower cordial and English sparkling wine, and we'd say you have a recipe for a very festive day.
