Hospitality challenge

Scott and I agreed to host an all church celebration in our backyard.  When we learned over 100 people (including kids) had RSVP'd 'yes' we decided to embrace our hospitality challenge.  Honestly, we were nervous for a few minutes, but had no time to worry... we had a yard to work on!  We had fun weeding, planting and mulching.  Even our neighbor's kids helped out.   


Peyton gives a hand to Caleb and Lauen

Karalyn plants some flowers

Caleb waters the flowers

The day before the party I received my Real Simple magazine in the mail (July 2012).  The cover boasted, "The Best of Summer" and included a feature on 'Laid-Back Entertaining' called "Keep Calm and Party On".  The article is about how to throw a summer party that is good, fast and cheap. Apparently these are the 3 qualities that make up the world of event planning, but according to a big event producer (named Jeremy) you can only promise clients 2 of these and not
all 3. 

Well, maybe a backyard church BBQ doesn't fall under the 'big event' category, but we certainly pulled off all 3 for a big crowd!  (And so did the Real Simple staff.)  The saying is true, many hands do make light work.  When hosting a casual party, it's okay to ask guests to bring something.  In fact, I have found that people love to share a favorite salad, dessert or some family famous dip.  You provide the setting and then go from there to enlist others help.  For our event, our church friends brought the side dishes.  Oh, and their own lawn chairs!  The church provided hot dogs, hamburgers, drinks and paper products.  Drinks were water bottles, soda cans and juice boxes packed in big containers filled with ice.  We didn't have to deal with cups.  From the article I used the idea of having a fan available in case it was too hot and I had bug spray, sun screen and band aides on the table, just in case.  I put out table games and of course there were yard games!  Music was playing, but not blasting.  The bathroom was stocked with toilet paper and paper towels for drying hands.  I made a few checks to wipe down the sink etc..  Garbage cans were labeled and emptied periodically.  We had some canopy's up to provide shade and protection in case of rain.  The rain did come, just as we started eating, but it didn't spoil our fun.  It was nice seeing people huddled together.  Being prepared paid off.

Omar and Jeremy... our grill masters!

lots of kids, big and small!!

 Inside the magazine there was a picture of a crowded beach party and underneath was the caption, "One cannot have too large a party."  My thought is... if you are going to go to the effort to get ready for friends, might as well make it a crowd.  Scott and I were honored to have our yard full of church family and friends.  Thanks to everyone who made the event possible, especially Omar who did all the shopping and organizing.  It was good, fast and inexpensive and most of all FUN.

So, are you up for a hospitality challenge?  How about hosting a block party or just a neighborhood bash?  Real Simple would say, don't forget the pinata, I would say, don't forget to ask for help ;-)  You'll be glad you did and ready to host another party... I know I am.