5 Simple Steps To Hosting A Swedish Midsummer

Tomorrow is Midsummer's Eve, one of the most important dates in the Swedish calendar and second only to Jul (Christmas). Up and down the country, our Nordic friends are flocking to Systembolaget (the state-owned off-licence) to pick up beer and schnapps before it closes for the holidays. Midsummer celebrations usually take place in the countryside so tomorrow the city streets will be deserted. Sadly, this year dancing like 'frogs' (long story) around a maypole on the village green won't be on the agenda. But this won't stop the revelry! Inte alls! Famous for experiencing all four seasons in one day, nothing yet nothing gets in the way of raising a glass (or two) to the summer solstice! Devoted to eating, drinking, dancing and other assorted pagan rituals, Swedish midsummer has been around since the 1500s. Why not channel the swedes and hold your own midsummer celebration? As with all things Scandinavian, its super simple and doesn't require a lot of effort. Here are some tips to get you started:

1. Midsommarkrans (Midsummer crown):  In my humble opinion, the most beautiful floral crowns  are handmade with whatever you have to hand from nearby meadows or hedgerows. Above, Elsa Billgren is in the process of creating a daisy crown on the island Gotland - and below are a few snaps of my daughters and I gathering wildflowers last year near our summer cottage. Wilted, bent and some very far from perfect, but oh so pretty all the same! Here's a simple tutorial on how to create a floral crown. 

 2. Set a simple table: the midsummer table is rustic and understated. Think wildflowers, candles for when the revelry continues well into the early hours and a spot for everyone - young and old and even furry friends - at the table.

It wouldn't be midsummer in Sweden without a down pour - so anoraks are a must! But if the weather really is THAT bad, it might be time to reluctantly move the festivities indoors, in which case, it's all about bringing the summer in! 

3: The drinks: Think refreshing ice cold water infused with elderflower, cucumber and lemon, Swedish craft beers and of course, a 'nubbe' of akvavit - taken with a nubbevisa (akvavit song). 

4. The midsummer feast! Dine on sill (pickled herring), boiled new potatoes with dill and a variety of salmon before tucking into some deliciously sweet, juicy summer strawberries (FYI the recipe for the layered strawberry cake can be found over at Honestly Yum). 

5. Single? According to Swedish tradition, pluck seven types of flowers and place them under your pillow. You'll dream of your future husband or wife! 

Wishing you a 'glad midsummer'!

See you Monday!

Niki

Photography:
1. Emily Slotte 2. Elsa Billgren 3-5 My Scandinavian Home 6, Nåde studio, 7&8 Homespo, 9 Abby Mitchell Events, 10 Wedding Chicks  11 & 12 - Honestly Yum.

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A short and pretty guide to celebrating Midsummer, Swedish style

Tomorrow is one of my favourite celebrations of the year - midsummer. Here's my round-up of beautiful inspiration for celebrating midsummer the Swedish way. 

Damernas Värld

Miss wallflower

Honestly YUM

Bea's cookbook

A Bryan Photo

And for a little know how:

How to make a ethereal midsummer crown, and a beautifully simple floral wreath for your home.

And the feast. Oh the feast! This post by Honestly YUM is the perfect inspiration to create your own midsummer banquet. A midsummer berry cake. Or why not keep it simple - I love the idea of threading wildstrawberries onto straw (as seen above). 

Your midsummer cocktail: Aquavit, sherry and elderflower liqueur.  And decorating ice cubes.

Single? Swedish folklore says that if you pick seven different sorts of flowers and put them under your pillow on midsummer night, you'll dream of your future love!

 'Glad midsommar!' May the flowers in your hair be fresh, and your maypole dancing stay strong!

See you Tuesday! 

*for those of you in the southern hemisphere,  I guess it's happy winter solstice! - any excuse to celebrate, right....? Skål! 

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Glad Midsommar! - And a Pretty Summer Table Setting

This Friday marks Midsummer's Eve, the most significant day in the Swedish calendar. The celebrations begin with the crafting of floral headdresses, followed by dancing around the Maypole, and culminate in a gathering with fun garden games. I've always cherished Swedish Midsummer's Eve – a joyful celebration of light and nature spent with loved ones, accompanied by plenty of Aquavit and singing! Emma Johansson's charming photographs, where even the glasses wear flower crowns, beautifully capture the spirit of the day.

If you'd like to join the festivities, here are some past posts for inspiration: 

A short and pretty guide to celebrating midsummer

6 simple foraged flower displays for Midsummer

5 simple steps to hosting midsummer

A mini guide for celebrating midsummer

Single? Don't forget to pick seven different wildflowers and lay them under your pillow on Midsummer's Eve. Swedish legend has it that you'll dream of the person you are going to marry! 

Glad midsommar! 

Niki

PS I'll be taking a short break over Midsummer - back on Monday! 

Photography: Emma Johansson, shared with kind permission

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5 Ways to Celebrate Midsummer Like a Swede

Elle Decoration France

Midsummer is arguably the most celebrated day in the Swedish calendar - and my all time favourite! As with all Swedish festivities, the Swedes gather the day before on Midsommarafton (Midsummer Eve) for a beautifully rustic affair involving wild flowers, in-seasonal goodies and dancing around a maypole - no matter the weather! Even if you're not in residing in this Nordic land, why not channel the Swedes - wear flowers in your hair, eat, drink and be merry this weekend?! Here's my guide to five Midsummer musts!

1. Create a midsommarkrans - a crown made from wild flowers (or cheat a little and pick up some beautiful fresh blooms from your local florist!). There's a handy step by step guide in my Lagom book and online here!   

Anna Kubel

2. Dine alfresco - no matter the weather (in fact, midsummer weather in Sweden is known for being rainy and blowing a gale - but that never stops the revellry!).

Our Food Stories

3. Tuck into sill o potatis - pickled herring and new potatoes are a midsummer staple - but you could go wild and create an entire Swedish smågårsbord. Extra points if you down your fork once in a while and sing a ditty en masse!

Honestly Yum

4. Eat the largest, juiciest strawberries you can find -  alone, with fresh cream,  in a pie or even dipped in chocolate. As long as they're red and dotty, you're totally on point!

Julicious

5. Drink something on the strong side - preferably homemade Akvavit (schnapps). My father-in-law makes a mean Akvavit, but I still like mine tempered down a little with wild elderflower syrup (that'll be the Brit at the table then...!).

An then the evening is yours to sing, dance and chat under the midnight sun!

Oh and I don't suppose you have a Maypole handy? If you do, it's customary to hop round it like a frog. Yep. Refer to point number 5.

And finally, Swedish tradition dictates that if a single woman gathers seven different types of flowers and places them under her pillow on midsummer day, she'll dream of the man she's going to marry! Well worth a shot, don't you think? It might just be that tall, blonde Swede sitting opposite you at the midsummer table!

Glad Misommar allihoppa! Skål!

Niki

Due to the Swedish holiday I'll be back on Monday, I hope you have a great weekend!

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6 Simple Foraged Floral Displays For Midsummer's Eve

Tomorrow it's one of my favourite days in the Swedish calendar: Midsummer. As with all big Swedish events, they celebrate the day before on 'midsommarafton' (midsummer's eve). Even if we've enjoyed sunshine for weeks on end, there's an inside joke that the temperature will plummet and the grey clouds will roll in just as the final flower is pinned to the maypole. But boy is it a pretty affair. Forget lavish displays and complicated recipes, the event is a perfectly understated party with pretty flowers plucked from nearby meadows and everyone bringing something to the table. And this year it looks like the weather gods are actually on our side too! Up and down the country this time tomorrow, our Nordic friends will be making floral crowns, dancing around maypoles, and eating pickled herrings, potatoes and strawberries, washed down with Schnapps (along with a ditty or two!), in perfect sunshine! Hurrah! In case you'd like to pay tribute to this beautiful day in your own country, here's a little floral inspiration to get you started! 

Forget lavish bouquets, midsummer is all about foraging for wild flowers and creating simple displays with the help of jam jars or simple glass vases. The picture below is from one of Frolic's private foraged flowers workshops. 

You might recognise the table setting below from Frida Edlund's beautiful Swedish country home which I featured a few weeks back (it's also available for short term holiday lets - how wonderful is that?! The recipe for the potato-pea salad with honey-mustard dressing can be found here. 

I hope this has given you a few pretty ideas!

See also 5 ways to celebrate midsummer like a Swede and a short and pretty guide to celebrating midsummer, Swedish style.

Wishing you all a wonderful Midsummer! See you Monday!

Niki

Photos: 1&6 Our Food Stories / Frida Edlund 2 Annie Gozard 3 Frolic  4 The Meledeos 5 Magnolia Rouge

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Happy Midsummer! - and a mini guide on how to create your own

Friends and family in Sweden will be staying up to celebrate midsummer's eve today (here's a little pic of my crew on the same day last year). Sadly I'm thousands of miles away (on a photo shoot in Upstate New York), but that won't stop me from creating a small midsummer celebration of my own -  and raising a glass or two! I've put together a quick guide to creating your own midsummer's eve below...wild flowers at the ready!

Photo: Local Milk - check out all the other images in this beautiful series here

Why not throw a mini party this evening to celebrate the longest day of the year (in some parts of the world!).

Pick wildflowers and create your own midsummer crown (and a wreath for your door).

Serve a selection of pickled herrings in pretty jars and serve with new potatoes, boiled eggs and fresh dill. Enjoy with cool beer and ice cold schnapps (you'll need to warm up your singing voice!).

Bake a delicious cake decorated with hundreds of sweet strawberries.

Set up thousands of pretty light bulbs over the outdoor table.

Invite as many friends as you like - and if you don't have enough chairs, how about rugs instead?!I also love all these outdoor party ideas.

And dance the night away under the midnight sun!

Wishing you all a very happy midsummer's eve! Skål!

PS Feel free to add your own midsummer tips in the comment section below...

PPS I'll be back in action here on Tuesday since I have a bit of a tight schedule until then. I hope you have a wonderful weekend! 

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A Perfect Swedish Summer Cottage For Midsummer's Eve!

It's the start of a new week - but not just any week. Here in Sweden, we're gearing up for arguably the biggest event of the year - Midsummer! On Thursday evening the city streets will slowly become deserted as folk flock to the countryside to spend 'midsommarsafton' (midsummer's eve) with family and friends on Friday. 

It felt apt to share this quintessential Swedish cottage on the island of Gotland to mark the occasion. You might just recognise it, it used to belong to Emma Sundh (previously featured here with a different layout and furnishings!). The pretty red and white cottage is every inch the archetypal Swedish summer cottage - and it has a large garden that's perfect for dancing around a maypole with flowers in your hair! 

Step inside to discover rooms painted in earthy tones to mirror the surrounding nature, simple decor, touches of floral wallpaper and the most beautiful masonry oven! 

So idyllic! And such a pretty cottage, don't you think? I'd be perfectly happy to spend my summer months here. It helps that Gotland is the most amazing island. Located in the Baltic Sea, the nature is verdant and wild, with rugged shores and sandy beaches, as well as wildflowers growing in the hedgerows. Small ateliers and farm shops are dotted along the roadside, and a cool eatery is never far away. If you'd like to visit, you can read more about the island in this travel guide I wrote a while back. 

Most importantly, it has so much space to dance around like a frog on midsummer (read more about hosting a Swedish midsummer celebration here). 

Step inside more beautiful summer cottages on Gotland today here: 

A rustic summer cottage with a pool

Elsa's inspiring summer cottage

A beautiful limestone barn

A converted school house

Speaking of summer cottages, Landfolk and swedish magazine Hus & hem are currenty seeking Sweden's loveliest summer cottage. You can see the shortlist (some of which you'll recognise from past blog posts) - and vote for your favourite here. 

Have a great start to the week! 

Niki

Photography courtesy of Länsförsäkringar Fastighetsförmedling (currently for sale). 

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A Beautiful Midsummer's Eve Table

On Friday it's time for one of the biggest celebrations in Sweden - Midsummer's Eve. It's an event so entrenched in the Swedish culture that it's considered as important as Christmas. It's become my favourite celebration of the year. Put simply, it's magical. Think crowns weaved from wildflowers, dancing around a maypole and playing silly games. Tables are laden with a spread of pickled herrings, new potatoes, quiches, boiled eggs, sour cream, dill, salmon, strawberries, and crisp bread, washed down with beer and schnapps. It's a day spent outdoors no matter the weather (thankfully it looks like the sun will be shining on Friday!) and a time for friends and families to come together and chat and sing and dance under the midnight sun. 

Why not join the celebrations from afar? Here's a beautiful Midsummer tablescape by Linnea on the Swedish island of Gotland (who's beautiful home I featured recently) to inspire you! 

So pretty! 

Looking to join in the celebrations? Here are 5 simple steps for hosting a Swedish midsummer. 

Single? Swedish tradition says if you pluck 7 different wild flowers and lay them under your pillow on Midsummers Eve, you'll dream of your true love! 

Glad midsommar! 

Niki

PS since I will be busy doing preparations for the big day on Friday, there'll be no post tomorrow. I look forward to blogging again on Monday. Vi ses!

Photography: @leintosinspiration - shared with kind permission.

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