Great Ideas for a Backyard BBQ

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Holding a backyard barbecue is one of the most Australian things you can do, and many families will hold them every weekend throughout the summer months. However if your barbecues haven?t been as exciting of late, change things up a bit and embrace a few new ideas. The following ideas will all help make your next backyard barbecue a whole lot more fun for everyone involved.

Make it potluck

It is always great having a crowd of your friends or family over for a backyard barbecue, but as the number of guests grows, putting it on can become quite expensive, so consider making your next barbecue a potluck. While your guests will likely bring along drinks or contributions to the grill anyway, try to organise who is bringing what. If you know for sure that salads are taken care of, you can focus on desserts, or if the meat is covered you can turn your attention to the vegetarian food options.

Regardless, by making your barbecue an official potluck, you will have far more help building that huge feast, and you?ll also get to enjoy the cooking talents of a few other people.

Have an area of your home and a designated person to take care of the kids

Most backyard barbecues will have a heap of kids running around, and while they are usually pretty good at keeping themselves entertained, get one of your adults to make sure they have just as much fun as everyone else, as well as stay safe. Having food and drinks the kids will like is important, as is having a few decent games to play. A week or two before your event, recruit a willing adult volunteer ? or even one of your teenage kids ? to head up this part of your event plan. You could even designate part of your house or yard ? such as the patio, back veranda or boatshed ? to be the kids? zone for your event.

Have a theme

To make your next backyard barbecue an event to remember, pick a theme and ask everyone to come dressed accordingly, but make sure it isn?t something that is going to be overly difficult to do. Colour themes are easy, as are themes that allow people to get creative, so pick yours carefully and you?ll be blown away by some of the outfits. You will be able to have some fun with the decorations at your place in preparation for the event, and may even be able to incorporate a fun food or drink item to suit the theme.

Hire a musician

No backyard barbecue is complete without some good music, but rather than spend half your time playing DJ yourself, relax and bring in someone else to take care of the music for you. Hiring a local band, DJ or solo musician to provide the music at your barbecue will be a fantastic touch to your event, and may also provide a great opportunity to give an up-and-coming young musician a rare chance at a live performance.

Source: http://www.installaveranda.com.au/blog/2012/08/22/great-ideas-for-a-backyard-bbq/