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.
The thing I most need help with is deciding how much food to prepare for the number of guests who are coming. I want to have plenty for everyone, without leftovers in the fridge for a week!
I have given only two parties in my life time and now my son wants to have his wedding reception at my house. HELP
I need the most help with figuring out how to have an outdoor party when the yard is just a yard with a tree. And not very big I may add. No patio or deck
I need help coordinating serving the food. Especially the hot dishes. I like my timing to be perfect, so all the food is at it’s optimum serving temperature. Then I like to enjoy the party with everyone else!
I need a backyard! I am pretty confident that I could do almost anything else that goes along with a summer party.
I need help with table setup and decoration and really awesome centerpieces – whether indoors or outdoors.
I would say lighting, bugs, and seating I have been told by a friend to buy some Listerine and spray it around on the ground and it keeps the bugs away can’t wait to try it.
Since we live in the Desert Soutwest our main concern is the extreme heat! So usually parties need to have a great flow from airconditioned inside to outside if guests want to. Evening parties or those in areas with lots of shade are best.
most likly I can take care of everything on my own, but if it comes to prepare parties bigger than 10 guest I ussually look for help with preparing food and decorating space.
When hosting a summer party, I need the most help watching over my daughters “contributions” to the party set-up. More than anything I want my children involved but sometimes my daughters “good ideas” get a little wild.
We love to entertain, inside and out, back yard or front porch! Biggest challenges are enough comfortable seating and keeping the yard looking half-way decent with two active dogs. Landscaping with some new, sturdy seating and serving surfaces is a future dream
We’re hosting a big family reunion in July and we seem to be pretty lucky having “just” enough places to sit, creating little groupings around the pool. Someday we will upgrade to some better outdoor furniture — but I sure hope it doesn’t attract nest-building wasps the way the our current recliners and chairs do!
Between the drought and subsequent watering restrictions, what was green is now thready weeds and sandy dirt. I wish I could have a better “barefoot friendly” area around the pool beyond the existing concrete deck, which is old and in need of refurbishment, too (and we want to draw attention away from that!).
Yard Crashers would be a good start.
I can never determine which decorations go together to get the total effect I want.
Having bought a new house and not having a deck area..The most help i would need would be the seating making sure my party guest are comfortable and relaxed..And lighting is especially needed…
Maximizing a small patio space and odd shaped yard.
One and a half more hours to enter your e-mail address to win this week’s FREEBIE…Hurry, Hurry, Hurry! Good Luck!
SuperFan Lynn Coggin
Living the Dream!
Deciding what food to serve is my biggest issue. Being a hostess doesn’t come naturally to me but this summer in my new house will be my year to work on it!
We have a small house so when we entertain I like to open our sliding doors making the house and patio feel as one large area. I enjoy creating various intimate seating arrangements. My challenge is decorating each seating area with umique style and ambiance on a tight budget.
Keeping the flies off the food, and the mosquitoes off the people!
My biggest challenge is finding unique ways to display food groupings throughout patio
[...] to everyone who commented on our Summer Party Giveaway over the weekend. This morning we used our ultra high tech random number generator to pick a number [...]
Deciding on a menu that will be refreshing in the heat and comfortable seating.
Bugs, I like to serve snacks & appetizers outside. The best idea is those food covers that are made of mesh. (To put over the food) In Texas you dont see screened in patios, so if there is food outside there will be bugs of some sort. We try to spray the patio area two or three times before the party with a good bug spray but not too close to guest time. Maybe the night before and 3 hours before the first guest arrives.
Plenty of ice!
I think I need the most help in playing hostess. I want to make sure I spend time with everybody and at the same time make sure the food is hot, make sure everybody has the drinks they want and trying to talk & spend time with everybody so nobody feels left out.
This home creation definitely qualifies as unique considering it's floorplan, interior design, and especially the beautiful views. But with over 3,900 sf it does lack certian amenities you would expect in a home this size and value. None of the guest bedrooms, including the guest house have built-in closet space. You will need to store your clothing in the freestanding furnitue cabinets. The only room with a closet, and I do mean "closet" is the master bedroom suite. What a great closet it is.
There are no powder rooms or half-baths for party goers to releive themselves. Short of using the master suite bathroom or that for the guest bedrooms and or guest house, party goes might have to be content with the great outdorrs.
The exposed bathroom in the guest house is less than desireable for those requiring somewhat more privacy. For many guests, except the young at heart, this unique and open design could be somewhat uncomfortable.
Is there a central vacum system in this home? What is the heating system in this home and where is it located? What type of aircondiconditioning system is in this home and where is it located? Is there a tankless hot water heater and if so where is it located?
What type of ceiling insulation is built into this home? With 16 ft ceilings, much of the interior heat will rise to the ceiling. Since the home is built on a concrete slab, what type of cushing is placed under the wood flooring to provide not only an insulation factor but also a comfort factor. Are the window panes triple plane with low e-glass reflective coating?
How does the painted roof wok to reflect the heat rom the sun yet provide lasting protection from water leakage? What is the annual snow fall? What is the annual rain fall?
Is there a home security sytem that can be linked to the local police and fire departments? How close are the local police and fire departments? Apart from my questions and concerns, I do love this homeand the location.
great mood lighting, comfortable furniture and babysitters.. lol thanks
What a beautiful home. The only thing missing was a hot tub to set in and watch the wonderful sunsets!
This would be a dream come true!
i love it all around everything about it nothing not to love…..
My husband is the cook in our family so that is usually taken care of. We also enjoy entertaining outside which is one of the things I love about this house. The outdoor space looks very inviting. I always love help with the cleaning before the party as well as after. If I am hosting a party I like to be able to enjoy my guest's company so I like to leave cleaning to the next day. I will load the dishwasher and run it but the rest can wait.
Getting help cleaning up after the party is what I need help with. Everyone is leaving and leave the rest up to me!
I think the most important thing about hosting/throwing a party is just to have FUN!!! Always have awesome and plenty of food, drinks, etc., and the rest will just fall into place…:) Love to get tips from HGTV all the time, but just have fun!!!
I am a lousy cook so I am afraid to have a pary-LOL I don't want to lose my friends. Smile
Trying to figure out how to organize everything and make sure all of the food is ready and the guest feel welcome and still be able to enjoy the guest. I guess the bottom is how do I get better organized for a party?
The thing I need the most would be a HOME……..
Using the grill and getting everything done at the right temp at the right time.
I wander if Jimmy Buffet, or Garth Brooks would come out for the grand opening my husband and i love their music.
I'm not sure what is the Friday give away because the date at the top of the page says May 29??? anyway I would like to get on the list for a chance to win it because I love party lites
I need help with choosing food that is easily prepared for the occasion and the season..Our weather is erratic therefore I have to choose food that is suitable for either very hot, cool or rainy. I do not have an outdoor kitchen or a lot of extra storage for preparing a lot of food before the event. It's southern tradition to serve barbecue, or anything else you can prepare on a grill, I like to go beyond that. We live in the south eastern part of the country so we have multiple weather patterns.
Finding people to come
Making sure my husband doesn't drink to much, no fun to have Satan show up!
the thing i have most trouble with in summer parties is keeping the outdoors cozy and fun
Deciding which game to play first, volleyball, bocce,cornhole, ladderball,badmitten,croquet,horseshoes.