Would you love to invite people to your home but feel like you lack space? Summer is the perfect time to host a summer BBQ in the backyard. Today I’m going to expel some of the fears of hosting and give you some tips on how to bring people together yet this summer.
What if my home is small
Believe me, I have spent many years in small homes that felt too cozy and tight when people started filing in. Jason and I began our marriage in a 900 sq ft home and we have always used summer to host larger parties outdoors. If you have a patio space, a park across the street, or a large backyard, your space for hosting instantly increases in size.
What should I feed them if they come
The second fear I often hear is, ” What should I feed the people when they come”? Well, let me give you the freedom to serve them…..whatever you want to. 🙂 It’s your party, if you want to serve food prepared at your local restaurant, grocery store or bakery, that’s just great… or even easier, make it a traditional potluck. I love to be in my kitchen so for me the more I can make from scratch the happier I am. But I’m strange like that.
Who should I invite
After you’ve gotten past the primary fears of adequate space and what should we eat, the next thing to think about is who you want to invite. Maybe you want to get to know your neighbors, invite the new couple at church or bring in some friends you already know and do life with. If you can plan ahead this is best but occasionally last minute gatherings can work out even better.
Handling Rejection
Just remember this, if you invite someone and it doesn’t work for them or you feel like they may not be into hanging in your yard with you, don’t give up, maybe this season is not great for them. Or maybe they legitimately have other plans! Try not to take a no as a rejection of who you are. There are thousands of people all around you who would love to be invited in, find them, serve them, and love them. Take a chance, step into the water, and look around to see who could use a friend. You may be surprised at all the places you can find community. Recently, I invited someone to spend a day with us and she told me she was just praying the night before that God would bring her a friend. You could be someone’s answer to prayer.
Ideas for your Summer BBQ
Last weekend I wanted to have some friends in and tried to keep it as simple and casual as possible, So our menu was a traditional cookout. Hamburgers with all things summer, mac and cheese, corn on the cob, potato salad, watermelon, and homemade ice cream.
- Hamburgers and Hotdogs
- Mac and Cheese
- Corn on the Cob
- Potato Salad
- Watermelon
- Homemade Ice Cream
Details of a simple Burger Bar
For this bar, I used all the essentials for our burger and a few less common additions to the mix.
- lettuce
- tomato
- french fried onions
- fig jam
- cherry jam
- pesto
- ketchup
- mustard
- pickles
- relish
- swiss cheese
- colby cheese
Grandma’s Potato Salad
Potato Salad was at almost every summer potluck and backyard bbq when I was a little girl. My Grandma’s recipe is listed below.
Grandma's Potato Salad
Creamy and Sweet Potato Salad
Ingredients
- 12-15 Russet Potatoes/baked
- 1 1/2 Cup Celery/Diced
- 10 Eggs
- 1 tbsp mininced dried onion
- Salad dressing
- 3 cup miracle whip
- 6tbsp mustard
- 1/4 Cup Vinegar
- 2 1/2 Cup Sugar
- 3 tsp salt
- 1/2 cup milk
Instructions
- boil eggs
- bake potatoes at 400 for 1 hour
- dice celery
- prepare salad dressing
- shred cooled potatoes
- dice hard boiled eggs
- combine potatoes, eggs, celery and minced onion in bowl.
- pour salad dressing over potato mixture, stir well
- let set over night in refrigerator for best flavor
Beautiful Endings to your summer bbq
To End the evening I just used a wooden board and created an easy to please Ice Cream topping bar.
- Carmel Topping
- Hot Fudge Topping
- Chocolate Covered Pretzels
- Salty Pretzels
- Butter Wafer Cookies
- Mini peanut butter cups
- Praline Pieces
- Ice Cream Cones
- Mini Chewy Sweet Tarts
Homemade Ice Cream always brings me back to childhood and this recipe is the one my mom and dad would make every summer for as long as I can remember. Last summer was the last I would taste my mom’s ice cream but this year Jason has picked up the mantel and made this creamy heaven in a dish several times. My mom and dad always used a White Mountain Ice Cream Freezer and now we use it too.
Vanilla Ice Cream
Creamy Homemade ice cream
Ingredients
- 6 cups milk
- 3 1/2 cups sugar
- 6large eggs
- 4 heaping tbsp flour
- 3 cups heavy whipping cream
- 2 Tbsp Vanilla
Instructions
- bring to boil milk and sugar
- blend in blender eggs and flour
- after milk and sugar come to boil, add egg mixture stirring constantly until first bubbles appear around the edge of the kettle.
- remove from heat and add 2 tbsp vanilla
- cool the pudding mixture(can be made a day ahead)
- when ready to freeze, pour cooled pudding into 1 1/2 gallon freezer can. add 1 1/2 pint whipping cream and enough milk to fill the container 2/3 full.
- This takes about 30-45 minutes to freeze.
- We use an electric White Mountain Freezer
If you want to save any of these recipes to your Pinterest board, just hover on the photo, and the red save button should pop up so you can save it to your boards.
Other Recipes Linked here
For Corn on the Cob, I use this recipe from my shrimp boil
Finally
Thank you so much for coming by today. I love when you let me know you’ve been here. You can find me every day on my Instagram account @jennywrendesign
Remember to soak up every ounce of summer magic and fill your backyard with laughter and food a few more times before the cold comes to visit.
Until next time,
Rose
I loved to eat at your Mother’s table and I am sure she is so proud of you!
AWWW That is seriously the sweetest thing! Thank you Joyce!
I want to to thank you for this good read!! I certainly loved every little bit of it. I have you bookmarked to look at new things you postÖ