Tips For Successful Outdoor Entertaining

You know that the best time for entertaining friends and family is the summer. Outdoor entertaining is the best for less fuss and mess and the relaxed atmosphere is always a plus.

Enjoy summer and enjoy a great get-together with simple tips for successful outdoor entertaining.

Everyone likes to feel special and you can do just that by creating personal seating cards for all of your outdoor guests. Purchase cardstock at any local hobby store and use your printer or write each persons name on a card. Fold each card in half with names out and place one at every seat. You can make them more designer chic and unique by adding other personal embellishments of your choosing.

With almost all outdoor entertaining there will be some unwanted guests in the form of pesky bugs. Keep your outdoor area pest-free with several citronella candles. Place the citronella candles at strategic areas. Your guests will love the ambiance of candle lighting while enjoying a bug free party. Citronella candles come in a variety of shapes, sizes and different, decorative holders. You can group regular candles in different areas of the outdoors with the citronella candles to create candle light for your entire party lighting solutions.

For even more lighting you can add strands of outdoor lights. Drape the lights all around your outdoor area and throughout any trees, plants or shrubs, even overhead. Exterior light strands and rope lighting have become very popular as well as affordable. These lights can be purchased at most home stores.

Music is always a welcome addition to any outdoor gathering. Play it low as just a background enhancement. You don't want guests to have to talk over the music or have the neighbours complaining.

Keep plenty of ice on hand for drinks and for dishes that need to be kept chilled. Put a large serving dish full of ice out and sit the smaller dish with food on top of the ice. This keeps food cooler for longer.

A white, washable tablecloth will show off all of your decorative accessories. Using different shaped baskets and raffia mats to serve from and on will keep the natural, outdoor feel of your party alive.

Put plenty of eating utensils out for guests. Baskets will work for this too. Fill the basket with plenty of utensils at the serving area or place a basket on each table. You can also set out the napkins and condiments in baskets as well.

Keeping a box handy with your outdoor entertaining in mind is a simple solution. This box can hold all of your grill accessories and your outdoor dishes. Plastic dinnerware and glasses can be chosen to match any décor or theme and are much more personal than paper. This cuts down on garbage and keeps you from damaging the good china from chipping and breaking. Just wash and store for next time.

Just follow some or all of these simple tips for successful outdoor entertaining. You'll spend minutes planning a fabulous, outdoor party that your guests will remember for a long time to come.

Roxy is a avid home enthusiast who loves to enjoy the outdoors and the relaxing mood of her water features & pumps. Roxy works for ukwaterfeatures.com, who specialise in finding the best solar powered fountain as well as alan tichmarsh water features in the UK. For more information, please visit the UK water features.

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