Family Patio Ideas: 5 Essentials to Create a Family-Friendly Back Patio for the Summer

Decor | June 22, 2021

Family Patio Ideas for summer featured by top AL home blogger, She Gave It A Go | Family Patio Ideas by popular Alabama life and style blog, She Gave It A Go: image of a patio with a black metal fire pit, wooden chairs, potted topiary plants, and a hanging rattan chair.

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With our new back patio built, I am sharing the five essentials when it comes to creating a family-friendly patio for the Summer. Scroll down to check them out!

[This post on the best family patio ideas for summer contains affiliate links. Several of the items featured and linked in this post were all provided by Zulily; all opinions and reviews are my own.]

Family Patio Ideas:

5 Essentials to Create a Family-Friendly Back Patio for the Summer

Fire pit Adirondack Chairs

We recently revamped our overgrown and unused backyard area to patio space that is ready just in time for summer. This back patio is one we are planning to spend a lot of time on, and have discovered some essentials for family patio ideas. I cannot wait to share those with you in this post today.

Ample Patio Seating Options

We have a large family of six, so ample seating is important. And, in general, you don’t want to skimp on enough seating for your family plus others to come and enjoy. Part of our back patio was designed with flat stone so that there was an option of sitting on the wall. This has quickly become my youngest daughter’s favorite spot.

We knew that we wanted an area to enjoy s’mores and time around a fire, so we chose these Adirondack chairs. They are lightweight and can be easily folded and moved around if need be. I highly recommend these chairs that can be moved or folded easily so you can change the layout for special events or even making room for games like cornhole.

Quick tip: Zulily has amazing flash deals on items, and at times, some items are not available. If that is the case when you are reading this post, simply “heart” the item (in this case, the Walker Edison Adirondack chairs see here) once on their site, and Zulily will alert you via email when they’re back available!

Our whimsical touch was these two swing egg chairs from Zulily too! My husband was skeptical but as soon as they arrived, we both knew that these would be so fun for our teenagers and their friends. Surely enough, they are being used by all of us. I love swinging in these egg chairs, and they are very cozy.

Planters and Plants

I was determined to make this space as easy to maintain as possible. I mean, having tons of plants to water and keep up with daily was not realistic. Assess your lifestyle and whether or not you want to have faux or real plants on your back patio.

Ours is a compromise haha! I found some amazing boxwood ball topiaries to place around the patio plus a few live plants that are not as demanding as some plants to keep up with. But, don’t skip on this essential. These truly are a key to your family patio this summer.

Firepit

Yes, it does get very hot here in Alabama in the summer, but at night I wanted the option of having s’mores! Plus, fall will be on the way and we’ll enjoy having a firepit all through the cooler months too.

A firepit brings your family and friends together. It’s a place to talk, hang out, and enjoy snacking. This firepit we found is a perfect size. And, this firepit came with a cover as well as other pieces that are important when considering what firepit to place on your patio.

Patio Lighting Ideas

String lights are next up on our list but we’ve had other outdoor spaces that had string lights. Can we all agree they are the best?! When I drive by restaurants with outdoor dining and string lights above these spaces, that it’s just so warm and inviting.

We are ordering this light pole kit and these string lights (they’re shatterproof which is so important). There are plenty of tutorials on DIY light poles too if you want to skip the kit and do your own. Just type DIY light poles on Pinterest to get started.

One tip we’ve learned! Don’t go crazy with too many lights; we tried to pack too many strings into a smaller space and it had the opposite effect. Map out where you plan to string them, and which pattern you plan to implement (i.e., canopy, triangle, around the perimeter). It doesn’t take a ton of lights to create a lovely, glowing feeling on your family patio.

Pillows and Cushions

Pillows and cushions first and foremost serve to add comfort, but they also add a soft element to your back patio. I added these pillows, and the chairs instantly felt cozier. Pillows look and feel great even in outdoor spaces.

I love how you can change up pillows and cushions seasonally too. Consider spraying your pillows and cushions with this Scotchgard protective spray against natural elements.

I hope you and your family feel inspired to create your own family-friendly patio for the summer and months ahead. What are your favorite family patio ideas from this post?

If you enjoyed this post, I recommend checking these out too:

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This week I’m joining some of my talented blogging friends for the Summer Seasonal Simplicity Series: Outdoor Spaces Tours! Be sure to check out all of the beautiful inspiration by visiting the links under the images below.