Food gets people there. The setup keeps them happy.
Feed Them
Play the hits. Burgers, dogs, corn, watermelon, potato salad and pasta salad are cookout classics for a reason. If kids are involved, skipping burgers and hot dogs is how you start a tiny backyard uprising.
Add a Grill Hero
Level things up with ribs, chicken thighs, drumsticks, steak tips or anything properly slathered in sauce.
Bring in the Cape
Fresh fish in foil, grilled shrimp, oysters or grilled Clams casino for instant razzle-dazzle. Bonus points if you dug the clams yourself.
Seat Them
Beach chairs, camping chairs, folding chairs, picnic benches — gather as many as you can ahead of time.
Try to keep a few flat, stable surfaces nearby for drinks, plates and the one guy who insists on setting his entire life down next to him.
BYOC Works Too
Encouraging guests to BYOC — bring your own chair — is absolutely fair game, especially for bigger backyard hangs.
Get Creative
Bust out a few blankets and secure them with heavy stones so they don’t turn into Cape Cod kites.
Those 5-gallon buckets in the garage? Drape them with beach towels and place them in a semi-circle for bonus seating in a pinch.
Cool Them Down
More ice than you think. And then even more. Keep one cooler loaded with waters, sodas, juice boxes, and kid drinks so everyone’s not digging past beer cans just to find the water.
Split the Coolers
If you have more than one cooler, use them. One for the all-ages drinks, one for the grown-up stuff. Cleaner, easier, less rummaging.
Stock the Grown-Up Side
Use a separate cooler for local craft brews, seltzers, canned cocktails and summer wines.
Bonus points for a drink dispenser with a spigot and a fresh summer mocktail that stands on its own, but plays nice with a spirit.