10 Keys To Hosting A Summer Backyard Party In The South

Y’all read the title of this and you immediately thought of 3 things:

1. flies.
2. mosquitoes.
3. heat.

Well, we had all three last Friday evening with our annual ‘Welcome Summer’ party!  Although, having had our yard sprayed recently for mosquitoes {I desperately want them all to DIE!! especially since I am pregnant!}, we still had a few.  And the flies.  THE FLIES.  Pesky little varmints they are!

Addressing the three “issues” above, first, here are my 10 keys, tidbits, for hosting a great summer backyard party…in the south:

1. Use those collapsible mesh food tents – like these from World Market that I have!  They also make useful fly swatters while people are actually fixing their plates! 🙂
2. Buy bug repellent and tell people you have it.   Poor R ended up with three bites on his forehead of all stinking places!!!
3. We purchased a mister fan, but it didn’t arrive in time, so Andrew put up a misting hose along one corner of our home.  Thankfully, that wild storm that blew through here Friday afternoon {and it was wild!} took care of most of the heat, and left us with mid-80’s temps instead of the sweltering 97 we were slated for.   I asked a few people if we needed to turn the mister on, and they all said it was fine…so we didn’t even have to use it!  We also had lots of shade under the massive oak tree in our backyard and had a couple of areas set up for people to sit under said tree.
4.  KIDS.  We had 21 kids RSVP’d on our guest list…the adults were nearly outnumbered!   Kidding…we would never let that happen!  But to entertain all these kids, we had a bounce house {with a slide}, and a smaller one that we own set up next to it, for the littles.  We also had the two swings in full use {my heart was filled with joy to see kids swirling around on the one Andrew just put up for us!}, a hammock, and of course yard toys like R’s grill set.
   
5. We also had corn hole set up for the big people – and it was in constant use.  I think a bag or two may have been swiped a few times from a little person seeking attention, but all in all, the bigs had as much fun as the littles!
6. For the adults, it was BYOB.  Bring Your Own Beverage of choosing…That way, we didn’t have to please every people group, AND as many of you have done before, we weren’t left with 15 bottles of red wine that no one drank! We provided ice, cups, fun umbrella straws {which only my friend Najla used…}, sodas, bottled water and CapriSun Roaring Waters for the youngins!
7. FOOD: We served Little Pigs’ barbeque, hot dogs, potato salad, coleslaw, cantaloupe and a large bowl of mixed berries and grapes.  Along with more bread than anyone could ever eat {Andrew, I love you!} – so if you need a roll or a hot dog bun for the next 2 weeks, let me know…we have lots of bread/buns left over!!!
8. For dessert I thought about tubs of ice cream or little single-serve sundaes, but opted for the Popsicles instead – fruit flavored and fudge!  Most of the adults chose fudge…silly kids.
9. Everything was disposable, save some of my serving dishes, and we kept a trashcan outside so people could easily find it.  My father-in-law got tasked a few times to dump and reload {what a great guy!}.
10. Lights!!!  For when it gets dark outside.  Our party was scheduled to end by 9:30 p.m. so that we could all get some rest…and it was dark by then anyway.  We had lights up from last year and then I bought some fun “paper” lanterns in pink and orange that I hung from a couple of trees {I sure wish someone had a photo of me tossing my ball of twine up in the air hoping to score a branch at 6 a.m. Friday morning!}, and another area, along with stringing these lovelies {see photo below-below} under the inside of the umbrella I just got from World Market!

That’s it!  Really…we go for the fun and relaxed sort of party/get-togethers and this one definitely was.  I heard several dads say that it was the most fun family party they’d been to – which made me really thankful and appreciative for the blessing of our home and the people we have in our lives!!