BEACH DINNER

We wanted to do something special for the one night my cousin, her husband, and their son and my brothers overlapped on the island and decided to plan a little dinner party on the beach. We’ve done family lobster bakes in years past where a catering company will get a permit and cook everything on the beach, which is really special but also quite pricey and we knew we would have just as much fun if we prepped and packed the meal ourselves! I’ll share the info here if anyone’s interested in recreating something similar on island.

beach dinner nantucket julia amory big sky tablecloth on design darling

beach dinner nantucket

williams-sonoma vintage etched stemless wine glasses

pottery barn bamboo flatware williams-sonoma vintage etched stemless glasses julia amory big sky tablecloth

We rented and picked up a table and chairs from Nantucket Tents (one of our favorite wedding vendors!) and I ordered a tablecloth and napkins from Julia Amory. We always order lobster cooked and cracked from Nantucket Seafoods and serve the lobster meat on a platter which makes for easy transport as well. My cousin’s husband is a great cook and prepared a bunch of sides which we transported in tupperware and then transferred to serving pieces once we got to the beach. Then I just snipped some hydrangeas from our front yard, we all piled into the car, and off we went! We set up just past one of the entrances to Fisherman’s Beach where we knew there wouldn’t be a ton of people but honestly no one paid us any attention so I think just about any beach would be fine.

nantucket beach dinner party julia amory big sky tablecloth

pottery barn bamboo flatware williams-sonoma vintage etched stemless glasses and julia amory big sky napkins

nantucket beach dinner party

Our plates are the Farberware trellis pattern, the bamboo flatware is from Pottery Barn, and the etched stemless wine glasses are Williams-Sonoma.

xirena loraine dress nantucket beach dinner party

nantucket beach family photos

janie and jack white linen pull-on pant with navy polo shirt

toddler beach chairs

Family time has felt extra precious this year and it made my heart swell to see Teddy and Hayes play side-by-side all week. My cousin and her husband have moved to Miami for the foreseeable future (crossing my fingers and toes we get them back in CT someday!) but I hope we have some warm weather trips with the boys in our future! P.S. I’m wearing this bow shoulder dress (lots of repeat outfits this summer — #postpartumlife) and the boys are eating in these portable toddler seats.

nantucket beach dinner sunset

nantucket rainbow

nantucket beach dinner julia amory big sky tablecloth

nantucket sunset beach dinner

The most unexpected part of the night was a sudden sun shower right as we started eating. We decided to wait it out and continue our dinner as the sky opened up, holding dinner napkins over the boys as they carried on eating their corn on the cob. It rained for maybe ten minutes (just enough to soak our clothing and table setting, ha!) before giving way to the most gorgeous sunset and a double rainbow (!) over the water. Everyone on the beach was ooh-ing and ahh-ing and even though it wasn’t the picture-perfect evening I’d envisioned, it was a truly magical night I know we’ll be talking about for years to come!

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