Outdoor Entertaining Tips

from Outdoor Heating Guide

Holding a party outside is a great way to spend a balmy summer evening with friends and family. However, outdoor parties do have some special challenges that you should consider before getting underway. Here are some outdoor entertaining tips to help you hold successful parties every time.

Have a Plan to Deal with Insects

Many a great party has been spoiled by uninvited guests – including creepy crawlies like ants, flies, and mosquitoes. 

Spray for insects long before your guests arrive and use real citronella candles to keep bugs away.

Cover any food that you have lying out to keep insects away, and provide bottles of bug spray for guests to use when necessary.

Think About Food Safety

Outdoor barbeques and picnics are a lot of fun, but they can quickly turn bad if good food safety habits are not practiced. 

• To ensure that you don’t accidentally make your guests sick, avoid foods with ingredients that spoil easily, such as mayonnaise and eggs. 

• Keep sensitive foods in coolers until they are ready to be served, and return them to the coolers immediately. 


 

• Finally, make sure that you think ahead and bring separate cutting boards and serving plates to use with cooked and uncooked foods.

Remember the Wind Factor

Gusts of wind can turn a poorly-planned outdoor party into chaos. To make sure that wind doesn’t wreak havoc with your outdoor party, give guests plate holders to keep paper plates from flying away. 

Use garbage cans with lids to prevent trash from escaping.  Put out rolls of paper towels or use cloth napkins instead of paper.

Your guests will feel more relaxed and comfortable if they don’t have to worry about their food flying away, and you’ll be able to concentrate on your friends instead of hunting down stray trash.

Plan for adequate seating

There would be nothing worse than inviting a host of people to your next outdoor event and there is no where for them to sit.  People hate standing for too long so ensure you have enough seating for everyone including any kids that happen to turn up. Most people are happy to sit on anything as long as it is clean and relatively comfortable so be creative….just make sure that it is safe.

Whether you are using outdoor fireplaces, chiminea or fire pits, remember to get it started in good time, to give it enough time to heat up - nothing worse than having to wait until breakfast for your evening meal!

And finally, just enjoy the occasion. There is no point hosting a party if it is going to stress you out. Just relax and have fun!