Whether you are celebrating an engagement, birthday, graduation, or just taking advantage of the season’s warm weather, a cookout is the perfect choice for a summer party. From formal outdoor fetes to casual barbecues, hosting an awesome summer cookout is a matter of creative planning, detailed preparation and thoughtful consideration. Follow these five tips to host a cookout your guests will remember all summer long.

1. Prepare Your Party Space

Just as you wouldn’t have friends over to a house party without doing the dishes or vacuuming the rugs, take care to clean and organize your garden or patio before you host a cookout. Mow the lawn, wash down the pavement and stairs, weed flower beds and clean the grill and furniture. Be sure to store tools and toys for safety and neatness. If hosting the cookout at a public space, arrive early to make sure that the picnic tables are clean and the is area is free of broken glass and trash. Bring a broom and plenty of trash bags to clean up before and after the party.

2. Plan the Perfect Menu

Decide what type of food you will serve at your cookout. You can choose to provide all the meat and main courses while your guests bring side dishes or drinks. Choose a theme, such as Mexican food, and assign a side dish, dessert or appetizer to each guest. Another option is a “grill your own” gathering where each guest brings their own meat to grill while you provide everything else. The fun and delicious options are many, but the important thing is to inform your guests ahead of time so that you don’t end up with fifteen versions of potato salad. It is also important to consider dietary restrictions and preferences. Provide a few gluten-free, nut-free and vegan options to ensure that everyone will enjoy the meal.

3. Pay Attention to Ambiance

Even the most informal summer cookout will be more enjoyable if a little thought goes into the party atmosphere. Arrange tables and chairs into conversation areas. Create food and drink stations at different locations around the yard so that your guests don’t all crowd around one area. Use small chalkboards or colorful note cards to label unfamiliar dishes or to designate non-alcoholic drinks and items containing nuts. String lights in the trees and along fences for a little sparkle in the evening, and use citronella candles for atmosphere as well as to repel bugs. Don’t forget the music!

4. Consider Your Guests’ Comfort

Make the cookout enjoyable for all your guests by taking everyone’s comfort needs into consideration. Be sure to provide plenty of areas of shade and comfortable seating. Parents will appreciate a “kids’ table,” complete with water-squirting toys, sidewalk chalk, bubbles and crafts. Designate a table for first aid supplies, sunscreen and hand sanitizer. Toilets should be clean and easily accessible to everyone.

5. Don’t Forget “Plan B”

Unfortunately, you can’t always count on summer weather for a summer cookout. If you’re prepared with a back-up plan a little foul weather might slow the party down, but shouldn’t stop it altogether. Be prepared to quickly cover and store food and supplies in the event of a surprise rain shower. Make sure you have access to a sheltered spot where the festivities can continue until the sun comes out again.

Shawn Evans writes for ER UK (www.equityrelease.net – click here to visit) covering a wide range of retirement and household topics.

Fitting Your Kitchen

Fitting Your Kitchen Tools
All kitchens are different and so it is very difficult to pinpoint a group of tools that everyone who is fitting a kitchen will need. Here is a breakdown of the top 10 tools that are most likely to be used when fitting a kitchen.
Kitchen fitting tool number 1: Hammer
Whether you have bought a readymade assembly kitchen, or you have built your cabinets and worktops from scratch, the humble hammer is definitely a tool you will need to hammer in various nails and pegs into your worktops.
 Kitchen fitting tool number 2:  Handheld Electric Screwdriver
Almost every part of the your kitchen wall units will require some form of screwing to hold them together, attach them to the wall and also to affix doors and handles to draws and cabinets.  Cabinets have quite a few hard to reach areas, and you will find yourself reaching in, around and behind them in hard to reach places.
 Kitchen fitting tool number 3: Drill
Often when fitting a kitchen you will find the need to make holes, widen holes or loosen holes to fit screws and other parts to the kitchen.
 Kitchen fitting tool number 4: Jigsaw
A jigsaw is a type of saw that is used to trim cabinets and other softer, non stone worktop materials, and are designed to cut straight lines in wood.  They come with a variety of settings to help you cut to a finish that you need. Pick a jigsaw that ad a variable speed limit to give you options to cut metals, and woods.  Jigsaws are available from UK tool hire shops.

 
Kitchen fitting tool number 5: Handsaw
You will need a handsaw to trim off any excess materials in tight locations such as bits of wood that jut out.
Kitchen fitting tool number 6: Grinder
If you are fitting granite or stone worktops into your kitchen, you will need a grinder to smooth edges or to adjust the fit of granite or marble.
Kitchen fitting tool number 7: Hole Saw
If you cabinets need to have pipes or wires fitted through them, to make space for plumbing or a washing machine, you will need a hole saw to cut holes into the backs and sides of cabinet walls. The hole saw cutter comes with a standard wood saw often in different sizes and is used for cutting holes that are bigger than what can be achieved with a drill bit. All you need to do is apply some pressure to the area you need a hole in, and the hole saw will drill the hole for you.
Kitchen fitting tool number 8: Crow bar and Crow hammer
These will make pulling of existing shelves and cabinets significantly easier.
Kitchen fitting tool number 9: Tile cutter
A decent tile cutter is a must if you are planning to apply tiles to your kitchen walls. Renting a good tile cutter will save wasted tiles and look nicer.
Kitchen fitting tool number 10: Safety Equipment
Goggles and gloves.

Author Bio:

Ben is a DIY enthusiast who writes for multiple tool hire companies, offering everything from drill hire to scaffold tower hire

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No Alarm Chili

Even though summer is quickly approaching, don’t discount all of your favorite warm-weather meals, especially if they are quick and easy like this one. Chili is one of my all-time favorite go-tos when thinking of a quick weeknight meal to satisfy my entire family. Although chili is usually served in the cold seasons to cure the winter blues, this recipe is too good to overlook. Because this recipe is fast there is no need to worry about your house heating up as it tends to when cooking traditional chili recipes for hours. So set aside 15 minutes this summer and try this delicious chili.