Despite the lockdown

I know, it's terrible that we have to postpone visits to our beloved Greece, Italy, and Spain for a while, but fortunately, nature is treating us to nice weather (at least today) and with a few tips, you can have the foreign experience in your backyard.

1. Hang de slingers op
And I mean that literally. Now I find paper streamers quite ugly and impractical in all weather, but fabric streamers are incredibly cozy. You can also easily make them yourself. Cut triangles out of cheesecloth and sew them onto a rough rope. A child can do the laundry. Of course, you can also buy very beautiful fabric streamers. Hang them on your balcony, in your backyard, on your porch, and it immediately becomes much cozier.

2. Lanterns from HEMA
Order online, so lockdown-proof. You have them in white with gold stripes, with gold dots, or pink with gold and black. Hang them at different heights under your parasol or just in the tree in the park where you sit for a while.

3. Candles, candles, candles
Preferably with a candlestick around them for safety. But small tea lights in their own holders that you hang on different branches in the tree create such a fairy-tale image. Furthermore, I really love a lot of lanterns, preferably in different sizes.

4. Outdoor rug
Buy an outdoor rug, put cushions on it, and finish it off with lanterns, and you have a little Marrakech in your backyard.

5. Make playlists
A French one, an Italian one, an Ibiza sound, and you instantly capture the right feeling.

6. Crushed ice
And definitely a lot of ice blocks. For example, at De IJslijn, you can order all kinds of ice, ice balls, ice blocks in different sizes, or a large block of ice that you can use to make shaved ice. Costs little, but it gives an incredibly vacation feeling.

7. Buy a nice barbecue
With a bit of luck, you have received vacation money, and besides, you are not spending anything now, so who knows, a nice barbecue might still be possible. For endless summer evenings in your own garden.

8. Make photo books
From years when you still went on vacation...

9. Set the table extravagantly
And preferably a bit in the atmosphere of the country you long for. Throw a few lemons on the table, add some mint leaves and lime to your carafe of water. It helps.

10. Buy a tent
And set it up in your backyard.

11. Do the room swap
And go stay in a different room in your house.

12. Send postcards
And just think of the advantages: you have no jet lag, no noisy types in the hotel room next to you, a clean bed. Yes, well, I'm just trying to make the best of it too.

Xxx, May