Tips for Outdoor Grilling Parties

Summer is a fantastic time for hosting guests. Everyone can enjoy a delicious grilled meal and have fun playing games in the yard. Outside cooking and entertainment means your house and kitchen are less likely to get dirty so you will have less clean up after the party is over. Many summer holidays have a BBQ tradition such as the 4th of July. If you plan on hosting a BBQ this summer here are some tips for outdoor grilling.

Grilling for Guests

Although it is typically simple to cook a dinner on the grill for a family, it becomes more complicated when you are cooking for a crowd. It may be

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difficult to fit all of the meat on the grill. Consider borrowing or renting a second grill so you have more surface area to cook on. It can also be difficult to make sure you have everything fully cooked at once.

You may want to select foods, like hot dogs, that are precooked and heat up quickly. This will also eliminate the need to determine how well cooked guests prefer their meat done. Another option is to pre-cook food on the grill before guests arrive. Then store the food in aluminum pans and when the guests arrive reheat the food on the grill. This will allow you to spend time enjoying your guests instead of spending the entire party grilling.

Consider making a burger and hot dog condiment station. It’s so simple, you’d wonder why you haven’t done this before!

Drinks and Sides

Let your guests know which drinks and sides you plan on serving before they arrive. This will allow them to decide if they would like to bring their preferred drink or side with them. If you would like people to contribute food items suggest specific categories such as a side dish or dessert. If you tell different guests to bring different categories you should end up with a nice spread of food instead of everyone bringing brownies.

Check out these great Food & Drink Ideas on Pinterest.

Seating

It is likely you won’t have enough seating to accommodate all of your guests. That is OK. Set up as many seats on your deck as you can. For additional seating, consider putting blankets on the lawn so some can eat picnic style. Also, allow people to sit on the stairs of your deck. And if you know you won’t have enough seating area, ask them to BYOC – Bring Your Own Chair.

Cleaning Prior to the Cookout

Many people like to have their home sparkly clean before their guests arrive. If you are hosting a BBQ it is not as important to clean the interior of your home because guests will spend the majority of their time on your deck and in your yard. Focus on the outside instead.

Cut the grass a day or so in advance of the party.
Grab a bottle of DeckMAX Deck Cleaner and use it to clean up your deck the day before.
Clean the grill the morning of the event.
Clean your bathroom(s) the day of the party, as well.