How to Prepare Your Backyard for Summer Entertainment

Fourth of July is the perfect time to gather with friends and family for some wholesome outdoor fun on a hot summer day. But backyard BBQ cookouts, 4th of July or not, are perhaps one of the most charming summer activities with so many cool ways to make it a fun time for all. The dog days of summer are chock full of opportunities for outdoor entertaining, and there’s no shortage of ways to maximize the fun, comfort, and ambiance needed for them. 

Backyard Entertainment Ideas 

Fortunately, most of the DIY hacks you can use to make your summer of backyard fun better are also simple, affordable, and accessible to all. 

Backyard Picnic Bench

First things first, a good cookout host needs a fuss-free place for all their guests to sit comfortably. You could hall out your indoor dining table and some chairs, but that’ll get tiresome after a few backyard parties. Instead, consider treating yourself and your guests with a DIY picnic table. Nothing says intimate and homey quite like a purpose-built picnic table you built yourself. All you need to make your picnic bench is a couple of free days, some cedar wood, a hand saw, construction adhesive, and some four-inch deck screws. This project is quite easy, so don’t sweat it if you aren’t a master carpenter.   

The Most Practical Outdoor Furniture for Family Fun

DIY Firepit

There’s nothing like a roaring fire on a chilly summer night. Whether you’re camping in the woods or just lounging in your backyard, an outdoor firepit is a nice luxury.  After all, everybody likes to bask in the warmth of a hot glowing fire, take in the pleasant aroma of pine or maple, and hear the crackle as wood burns.  

Firepit Design Ideas for a Range of Fun Activities

An outdoor fire pit has a way of creating an aura of serenity and relaxation. It helps us to feel closer to the natural world, which is important since we can often feel isolated from nature. Firepits don’t only keep us warm though. They also add that distinctive roasted flavor to some of your favorite meats, vegetables, and the biggest crowd-pleaser — marshmallows. Fire pits fill our outdoor activities with charm and are an easy way to increase the versatility and value of a backyard. It’s easy to make one yourself with some fire bricks and you can even buy a portable one at any big box store.  

Outdoor Kitchen 

Building an outdoor kitchen will hugely increase how much you can cook, and will also make your cookouts much more convenient and comfortable. An outdoor kitchen takes some of the facilities of the home out into the great outdoors. There are many different custom outdoor kitchen designs to choose from in today’s market. These cater to every possible preference and requirement you may have, so you won’t be wanting for choice. 

Outdoor Kitchen Essentials That Make for Relaxing Cookouts

And if the premise of a luxurious BBQ party isn’t enticing enough, you can also add a wood-fired brick oven to your outdoor kitchen. These ovens can take some time to figure out, but once you do, you can churn out mouth-watering pizzas and hearty loaves of bread like nobody’s business. And once your neighbors find out how good your wood-fired pizzas are, you’ll instantly become one of the most popular hosts in the neighborhood. 

Fiery Grill Design Ideas to Heat Up Your Next BBQ

Towel Ladder By The Pool

An inground swimming pool is another universal crowd-pleaser when it comes to backyard parties. Everyone likes aquatic-based fun, especially when the burning sun is out in force. But what about all those beach towels that end up strewn all over the place? Surely there must be a way to keep all these errant towels in order in style? If you’ve asked this same question, you’ll be happy to know that the towel ladder is the simple yet smart solution you’ve been looking for. A towel ladder is unlikely to cost you more than $15 to build, and yet it adds a lot of practicality to the space you choose to use it in. 

Pool Additions That Add Some Extra Convenience and Comfort

A Game For Everyone 

As you may know, cornhole tournaments are one of the iconic pastimes of American suburbia. A beginner will find the game to seem simple at first, but cornhole quickly reveals itself to be a game that is both challenging and addictive. As such, it is a perfect addition to any backyard. Indeed, making a cornhole board is a whole lot easier than mastering the cornhole game itself, but that doesn’t stop people from coming back to play again and again. In just two hours you can easily build two cornhole boards and make some cornhole bags, and then you’ll be set for hours of outdoor fun.

Best DIY Outdoor Games That are Fun for the Whole Family

Comfort Outdoors

While summer is a great time to let the kids run wild, your adult guests will want a comfy place to lounge. Seating comes at a premium at a lot of backyard events, but you can head off this problem by planning ahead. Even something as simple as a few poolside lounge chairs with padding can be a welcome addition that most guests will appreciate greatly. 

Essential Outdoor Furniture to Make Your Neighbors Jealous

DIY Outdoor Movie Night

Once the sun has set and the chilly night starts rolling in it’s a good idea to have a way for everyone to wind down and relax. What better way to do this while still enjoying the great outdoors than a DIY outdoor movie theater? Simply hang up a white sheet and point a projector at it, and you’ll have some summer entertainment that lasts for hours on end!

How to Make Your Own Home Movie Theater

This idea is a win-win for everyone involved: the kids can enjoy their favorite movie in a cool new way, and the adults can take a break from chaperoning their energetic tykes. 

Brighten Things Up 

Your backyard party doesn’t have to end when it gets dark. In fact, all outdoor living spaces need some lighting to set the mood for when it finally gets cool enough to enjoy the outdoors on really hot days. Some creative lighting solutions can keep things bright. Experiment with backyard lighting by making use of a bunch of different lighting solutions: lanterns (electric and/or kerosene), string lights, LED light strips, and last year’s Christmas lights are all fair game.  

Outdoor Lighting Designs and Layouts for a Moody Atmosphere

Once your lights are in place the backyard party will become both bright and enchanting, allowing plenty of opportunities for backyard recreation.  

Tips and Tricks 

A successful backyard party host pays attention to the little details as well as the bigger ones. Just a few little things can make the difference between a party that’s stale and repetitive and one that’s poppin’. 

Have a Menu

This is a lovely embellishment to any dinner party. A menu adds a tinge of elegance to your backyard gathering too. No need to have your guests shouting over each other to ask you what there is to eat. Instead, just make a small menu and place a few copies in your table setting. 

Grills and Other Outdoor Cooking Essentials 101

If you want to go the extra mile you can even make separate menus — one for kids and one for adults. This makes things easier for you and also adds a dash of sophistication to a bbq party. 

Keep The Critters At Bay

Nobody likes to spend a party fighting off a relentless swarm of hungry mosquitoes or swatting away an endless horde of flies. Before your guests start pouring in, take some time to keep those buzzing friends at bay. A combination of fumigation and bug zappers is usually enough to temporarily repulse bugs. If you’d rather not spray poison to mitigate bugs, at least make sure that everyone has some mosquito repellent handy (some natural alternatives such as oil of lemon eucalyptus are also effective).  

Useful Hacks to Keep the Summer Bugs and Critters Away

Be Firework Safe

Fireworks are a truckload of fun for the 13-year-old in all of us. It’s hard to resist the temptation of making things go boom and seeing all the beautiful colors. While many families across the country enjoy shooting fireworks, it’s important to take the time and ensure it is done safely so that no one gets hurt. 

• As a rule, never hold a firework in your hand when it’s lit, and never carry fireworks in your pocket.
  

Ways to Make Your Front Lawn and Backyard Firework-Safe

Prepare the Lawn 

No self-respecting backyard entertainment guru would host a backyard party without dressing their lawn up for the occasion. So before firing up the grill and setting out your lawn chairs be sure to give your backyard the TLC it needs. Do some bush trimming, mow the lawn, and take out any weeds as needed. If you have any trees with branches getting in the way, give them a quick trim. Give your yard ornaments a good cleaning and put them somewhere where they will be seen by guests. 

Fundamental Steps of Landscaping and Hardscaping

Have Plenty of Entertainment Ready

Cornhole is fun and all, but there are plenty of other ways to keep your kids busy for the whole day. A bunch of plastic tubing and some netting can make a soccer goal perfect for hours of kicking the ball back and forth. A DIY treehouse can be another source of infinite good times for your kids, especially if it’s themed like a castle or pirate ship. A sandbox is an especially good addition for younger children, giving them plenty of space to explore, dig, and build. 

Summer Projects That Make Outdoor Living Even More Fun

At the end of the day, the goal is to have as many outdoor activities as possible so that no kid has a chance to feel bored. And when they fall asleep exhausted in the living room, you can bring out the ping pong table or adult card games — just make sure to have coasters to keep your board games away from water rings.