This week starts our Friday Freebies giveaway. All you have to do is comment on this week’s question with a valid email address before Monday @ Midnight Eastern. We’ll pick a random winner from all of our comments. Its that simple!
All throughout June we’ll be featuring freebies from our friends over at PartyLite. This week we have this awesome Garden Lantern. PartyLite’s classic Garden Lantern is cast aluminum with a verdigris finish. Includes a tall glass votive cup to protect candle flame outdoors. 10 1/2″ H x 7 3/4″ d. $124.95.
For this week’s question, we want to know what’s the one thing you need the most help with when throwing a great summer party? Post a comment below and maybe it’ll be your name we announce on Tuesday morning!
While you’re here, go check out our Top 10 Top Tens List or some of our party tips over in the Entertaining category. And there’s always our awesome coverage of High Point Furniture Market.
Making sure that there is enough room to ‘zoom’ for my husbands wheelchair. Sometimes it can be tight due to the other outdoor chairs. We try to set things up to make it enjoyable for him and our gues.
use onley recyleable goods
Keeping the bees away from the food and the kids! We love bees, but just not at our party. A nice keep away without any harmful substances would do the trick!!
My biggest problem would be getting the deck, yard and house ready to entertain — food is a snap!
How to get everything done on time, the meat on the grill cooked and all the other food items, so everyone is not sitting around waiting for the meat to be cooked.
My new home has 5 feet of backyard. Trying to figure out how to have an outdoor room-type space where guests can get a breath of fresh air is a challenge.
We need help with landscaping. aaaaour yard
We need help with landscaping. We have a beautiful view of
the San Juan Mts in Co. But our yard needs help!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I live in southern Louisiana so of course keeping mosquitos and other bugs away as well as confortable seating is always a problem. I do not have a covered patio so creating seating in different areas of the yard is important to make use of shade and making sure the yard is in top notch condition. Cleaning the house for when the time comes for the party to move inside. I like to have people over but getting everything done is always a problem.
Building the fire, getting the hot dogs and condiments as well as all the things to make smores and most of all great fellowship with family and friends. The most important thing is everyone being together
How to create a space for the party outside on a teeny budget
keeping the mosquitoes away,lots of food,planty of seats,lights.
Keeping my kids away from the grill! They are like moths to the flame….
I have a large Family with lots of Kids, I don’t have a pool, I really need help in planning kid friendly food and activities.
Shade!! Our back yard faces the setting sun which can be brutal and seating for our small deck
Mosquitoes are a real party-pooper for me, too. They love me, my toddler, and most guests. All I can do is to offer Bug Spray to everyone, or do the Yard Guard in advance.
How do you get those last stragglers to leave politely? When it gets into the wee hours of the morning and you are dead dog tired from entertaining all day and you know you still have clean up to do.
You need a nice bar-b-que place to cook on
I get so worried about everything being perfect— the house-the yard- and especially the food. I love to have a theme and everything matching. But mostly I want everyone to have a great time enjoying each other’s company
My yard needs the most help. We have seating and 2 barbecues, but we haven’t gotten around to landscaping our backyard yet.
I am still working on my dream patio. I some lansscaping done, stressing on the word small. I have two chairs that do not even match, and one of those tacky plastic tables for drinks. I would be so grateful to bat the place where I could just worry about skeeters and bugs. I have BIG dreams and I am out there ten hours a day working on it and I have it planned out in my mind perfectly,its just time and money now
I’d definitely have to say assistance with preparing the food is always helpful. Though I have to watch who I ask…the last friend of mine who I asked to watch the grill was found jumping on the trampoline 30 feet away as smoke billowed by the kitchen window. Gotta love friends for who they are!
When we entertain inside, space is not an issue. We have a fairly large porch which has been converted into an entertainment area with bar. The biggest problem is having enough tables for when dinner is served. I haven’t figured out a solution to this yet because the tables need to be removed to create a dance floor. We’ll see.
Relaxing and enjoying the time with my guests. I have a clean house and plenty of good food, but sometimes I get too caught up in preparation to talk with the people I love.
getting the food all prepared and the house all cleaned before the guests arrive. I am always lagging behind and finding myself cooking instead of entertaining.
I have a wonderful, large back yard that is perfect for entertaining. I need help with menues on a tight budget for a large crowd. Also, some ideas to entertain children (3 yrs. to 14 yrs.) (my baby is 39).
I need the most help with the after-party cleanup. I do not own a dishwasher and I have OCD tendencies about my kitchen. So draw your own conclusions.
I need to be better able to judge the amount of food per person to prepare. It is always better to have more, you can always freeze it, buy not enough is a nightmare!
Space planning: I always try to imagine how people will flow through the space and place chairs, food, beverages, etc accordingly. It rarely turns out quite right.
what to do with your pets? we adopted a feril old cat, it’s taken a lot of work to get him to trust our family. yet i’m not sure of how he would react to a large amount of people.
I agree with many others, BUGS! We have rather large horseflies that leave bites the size of dimes on your skin! We’ve tried candles, sprays and torches, nothing works! please help!
I am trying to learning how to use a grill, and don’t know much about how to BBQ. Tried several times to start an old grill, but it wouldn’t stay lit. Am afraid I’ll start a fire or explosion. Working with gas scares me. We had a gas leak in our gas line to our oven years ago and am so fortunate to be alive.
Having enough activities for our neighborhood kids at neighborhood summer gatherings – age range 1 to 13
I think the biggest challenge for me is trying to make it fun for all ages. At our family gatherings the ages range from 1-50+. Even with a great pool we run out of things to do. Some games for all ages would be great.
Last minute landscaping tips!
Keeping guests out of the rain and a place to cook all the food needed
keeping all the pets calm so everything else falls into place.
Since I live alone, I need the most help with setting up the stand-alone canopy. Wouldn’t it be great if someone would create a canopy (large) that can be popped up by one person? All the rest of the party stuff is a breeze for me and the most enjoyable part aside from spending time with my guests.
Lighting..Lighting…Lighting and local fruits and wine!!!
Buy all you can from local sources..
Found the question!!! This year’s challenge to our big family picnic is to get the huge stone patio finished in time. I’m realistic that the deck won’t even get started. Other than those MINOR details, I’d like to serve food that is nutricious and delicious and easy to keep safe and pestfree. Challenge!!!
How do you continue to entertain guests while making sure everyone has what they need?
My main concern is having an alternate plan in case of inclement weather. Being prepared to have enough room in case we would have to make last minute changes to move indoors.
My concerns are keeping the grill’s safely away from the guest especially the children and keeping the salads and other food items cold while they are setting out in the heat.
The one thing I need most help with would be to insure everyone has a great time! Whether it’s the food, pesky insects, inclement weather, etc. I want everyone to enjoy themselves at my summer party.
Outdoor lighting is defnitely key…I love putting candles and tiki torches around our yard. I would want help with putting some twinkle lights around the deck, the patio and around the garden.
Living the Dream!
Bar-B-Que ribs, chicken, hamburgers, etc… AND fresh lemonade.
Getting the yard cleaned up is the biggest thing, I have 2 big dogs and they are messy, also decorating the yard. I like to string lights, have candles burning, and about 20 tiki torches.
Comfortable seating and having a well organized plan to make then party a success. Getting the food cooked so that the meal is ready all at one time.
Seating. I am such a worry wart when it comes to making sure everyone has a comfortable place to sit!
Keeping mosquitoes at bay is always a challenge when entertaining outdoors. If it is not too hot, I like to start a fire in the chimnea and sit in my patio garden with friends and family. It’s our own secluded hide away.
My biggest problem is keeping food at a safe temperature during the summer weather.