3 tips for organizing your patio for a BBQ party

What better way to spend a warm summer evening with family and friends than at a barbecue? Here's how to organize your patio for a fantastic summer gathering.

• To get started, place a long picnic table or whatever you may have handy for use as a table near one edge of the patio. Use this area to set up a buffet of condiments and side dishes that can be easily reached by your party guests.
• If your patio is small, you can place the table and the barbecue just off to the side of the patio, rather than on the patio.
• Keeping the BBQ grill away from the seating area also helps to improve safety, as well as ensuring that smoke from the grill does not billow towards your guests and cause them to disperse to safer, smoke-free areas.

• It is also important to take into account the comfort of your guests and their ability to be able to move around freely, as well as paying attention to the overall safety of your guests.
• A mistake made by many is cluttering up a patio area with too many chairs.
• To enable guests to move around without hindrance, it is advisable to arrange seating so that it is around the edge of the patio and therefore creates an organized and functional border.
• By doing this, you'll be making full use of all available space while also providing ample seating space.

• There is nothing more frustrating than having guests standing around with empty plates waiting for the BBQ to be lit.
• This frustration can lead to impatience and in this situation many hosts make the mistake of resorting to an accelerant for their BBQ to speed up the cooking process which leads to the increased probability of an accident occurring.
• If you plan on hosting many BBQ parties, invest in a good quality gas BBQ, as they are much safer to use and more practical in terms of cleanliness and manoeuvrability.
• However, if you choose to work with a charcoal BBQ, have it lit and ready well in advance, as they do take some time to prepare for optimum cooking levels.