Fête en Blanc is a worldwide event where people gather in public spaces for invite-only dinner parties. All guests come dressed in white and bring all of their own food, wine, tables, chairs, and tablecloths. Only a certain amount of tickets are sold per event, and the location is made known to guests within 24 hours of the dinner. Tickets to the Lancaster event sold out in under a minute! Thankfully, my friends and I were able to grab tickets in time! Keep reading for the story behind this spontaneous dinner party and what we would do differently next time!

The history of Fête en Blanc

Fête en Blanc began in Paris in 1988 when François Pasquier invited some of his friends to an elegant outdoor dinner at Bois de Boulogne and asked them all to dress in white so they could find each other! At the recent 25th anniversary of this dinner in Paris, 15,000 people gathered together for this spontaneous dinner! This tradition has now grown to over 70 cities around the world.

Fête en Blanc Lancaster

This was our first time celebrating Fête en Blanc! Lancaster celebrates Fête en Blanc as a way to celebrate summer and continues to grow their presence every year. It has been held at venues such as Musser Park, Excelsior, Clipper Magazine Stadium, and this year it was held at Long’s Park! The celebration was far more then I could have ever expected!

WHAT YOU NEED FOR Fête en Blanc

Fête en Blanc is BYO everything! Tables, chairs, food, wine, tablecloths, and don’t forget the white napkins for the traditional wave before dinner! We were able to rent tables and chairs for this event which made it easier for our large group. I couldn’t imagine trying to hike a table up the Long’s Park hill at the end of the night! Oh, and this goes without saying, but make sure to wear all white! Don’t be the guy wearing khakis to an all-white event (yikes). And bring your dancing shoes!

WHAT WE WILL DO DIFFERENTLY AT OUR NEXT Fête en Blanc

Next time, we definitely will NOT bring as much stuff with us! Although the Pinterest-worthy photos that we took are great to look back on, it wasn’t worth all of the stress at the beginning of the event. Trying to set up a huge charcuterie board on a table already full of flowers, candles, and lemons (why are lemons trending anyways??), was very stressful and took away the beauty of the event. Our table-neighbors brought a pizza and I couldn’t have thought of a better way to celebrate this event. Needless to say, next time I’m ordering a pizza.

We had such an incredible time at Fête en Blanc! I loved seeing so many local friends gather for such a fun event for charity. We can’t wait for the next one!