To ask about the best BBQ/garden party you’ve been to?

[FizzyPink]

Having two BBQs this weekend for DPs birthday (having to split numbers due to Covid as we can’t have everyone at once)

I’ve sorted all the food, balloons, music etc but now just thinking about any little extras that would make it really special. We were originally meant to be going away so I’ve still got a couple of days off beforehand to do any preparations.

Any suggestions for what has made a really good BBQ or garden party for you?

Honestly, it's been the simple ones with good food, nice drinks and good company. Anything else can be a bit over the top in my opinion. I went to one a while ago with a selection of party games arranged and it all just felt a bit forced and disrupted the good flow of conversation and mingling that was going on.

Oh god no definitely no games! I was thinking more along the lines of maybe doing a welcome cocktail.

Also what do people think is best in regards to food? Just cook it continuously and let people eat as and when it’s ready or cook more in one go? We’ve had a couple of small ones recently and felt DP was a bit chained to the bbq.

Fresh pineapple cooked on the BBQ.

Corn on the cob.

Nice salads

Skewers of veg

Making sure you have a range of condiments.

We pay a teenager to bbq

Loads of great alcohol

Freezer full of ice creams. Sweet table and cups to go pick and mix

People you like

Insist no-one brings a thing, come and drink my Alcohol without feeling the need to leave me with a bottle of plonk

Oh and big plates of nibbles as people arrive as the food can take ages

Fire pit as the sun goes down

Hired bar staff are a good shout, or lots of hugs of premade cocktails and generally all the stuff done before guests arrive. I like PPs suggestion of getting a teenager to run the BBQ

How many ppl can you have along? My dh is a big age shortly and I want to know if we can do something special
..

Thank you for the reminder! We have an outdoor heater but it absolutely guzzles gas so I need to remember to pick up more.

Need to add condiments to the list as well! May need to upgrade our Aldi own brand Mayo to Hellman’s

Love the suggestion of no one bringing a thing. We host friends quite a lot and have so much alcohol that’s been brought as gifts and just isn’t to our tastes!

I’ve bought a couple of those huge plastic drinks dispensers so was thinking of doing fruit water in one and then a cocktail in another. Maybe use up some of that unwanted booze!

Plenty food and drink throughout.
Cocktail book and lots different drinks and mixers ... good talking point and variety for guests.
Music, not too loud, but leave available an iPad/pod for people for pick a song,
One bbq recently host asked people’s birthday and looked up the song that was number 1 the day they were born. That was fun. If you don’t. Mind sharing your age.

I’m not 100% on the current rules @BlackbirdFirst but we’ve got about 12 people coming for each. Our families are large so not actually that many different households mixing

Not hugs! Jugs.

Probably not necessary (and can be expensive!) for small numbers but as pp's have said it's a bit of a trend amongst my friends at the moment to hire a barman and/or chef so that the hosts don't need to worry about that side and can just enjoy themselves. Where we are we're allowed gathering for up to 40 people at the moment.

Worth asking around if you fancy it and know people in those trades, lots have been or are still out of work and are grateful for the chance to earn anything.

@Polnm I'd like to come to one of your Bbqs please!

Last Bbq I went to was a flop. Host couldn't get Bbq to lite (and it wasnt much bigger than a disposal anyways so would have taken forever to cook on!) so we ended up cooking it in the oven 🙄 weather was terrible and generally a bit of a let down all round unfortunately

Buckingham Palace Garden Party was enjoyable although it's unlikely you'll persuade the Queen to attend your DP's barbecue.

Will kids be attending, if warm enough a slip and slide was great fun for them.

We paid a couple of teenagers to serve drinks at a family party. They were friendly and cheerful, glad of the money (£10 per hour each) and they did a great job. They also helped with a bit of tidying up at the end. They were friends of a friend, so it felt less formal / pretentious than hiring professional staff

If the weather is fine and you're carrying on into the evening make sure you have plenty of seating and a few throws or blankets if it gets chilly. It's going dark sooner and solar fairy lights in trees or just strung along walls create a party atmosphere.
As a PP mentioned earlier creating a playlist from people's dates of birth is a good idea. Another one is asking the guests for their two favourite songs, creating a playlist but everyone else has to guess whose song choice it is. I had this once, there were some real eyeopeners and every one enjoyed it!

My teenager is the younger brother of my sons friend. He is training to be a chef now but when he started doing our bbqs he wasn’t

A first aid kit.

Every barbecue at this house has resulted in someone either falling down the garden steps, the house stairs (no downstairs lav), the front step or our steep drive.

Oh, and bog roll. Any party seems to result in enormous use of bog roll.

Bags of ice to keep the beers cool, and lots and lots of Pimms.

Great weather - warm but not too hot. No wind. That's the biggest factor, after the company.

10x more ice then you think

Fire.

Sangria.

Blankets & Rugs.

Kubb (or king chess or whatever it's called).

I love simple things

Really lovely soft lighting - lots of little candles (I'm assuming this is evening!)

Great music

Tbh, the best nights just happen because the company is so good and everything feels amazing. Hard to plan that!

These are great! Our garden is Moroccan themed so we have loads of fairy lights, lanterns, huge floor cushions and blankets. The weather is looking chilly for this weekend so I also wondered about getting a couple of hot water bottles for under the blankets when it gets dark