5 Activity Ideas for a Barbecue Cookout Night

With summer comes the smell of barbecued burgers; and there's not much that's better than grabbing a beer and calling your friends together for a night of grilling and laughter. To ensure the party doesn't go stale though, consider offering some activities to keep your guests entertained. So consider these suggestions of fun ideas for your barbecue night.

Play Games

Having fun when you play some games doesn't have an expiry date; so if you have the space, set up some exciting games like cornhole or giant Jenga. For a nostalgia trip, you can take it back to sports days and tie up your guest for an uncoordinated two-legged race. Alternatively, grab the egg and spoon and feel the heat in an eggs-travagant race.

Bring Your Own Dish

As you're going to be feeding everyone and slaving over the grill for a couple of hours, consider instructing your guests to bring a side dish or dessert of their choice. Not only will your guests have something they enjoy, but depending on how many friends you have, you'll also have a wide variety of choices. If you want to be a little more structured, send them a recipe and see how things turn out on the day of the event.

Bring Your Own Booze

If you're throwing a BBQ bash for your adult mates, cut down the costs by getting them to bring their own booze. Again, if you want to have an excellent choice of drinks, create a drinks list and have people sign up for certain ones—the last thing you want is everyone turning up with the cheapest lager they can find.

Throw a Themed Night

Encourage your guests to dress according to a theme while you take care of cooking some superb dishes. Some popular choices and tips to help you out include:

Baseball BBQ: Put together a classic Jock playlist, hang up some baseball decor for the local teams, and get your mates involved in a mini-game of baseball.
Flaming Hot BBQ: Ramp up the heat by putting some flame lighting around, make hot sauce and hot dishes, and watch as everyone builds up a sweat. Make sure you leave fans and paper towels about the place so they can cool down.
Patriotic BBQ: With the 4th of July in mind, throw the American colors everywhere and leave party poppers and sparklers on tables. Let your party go out with a bang and host a firework display to please everyone.

Keep the Party Going

As the sun goes down and the air starts to get chilly, don't let it ruin your fun. Invest in a central firepit, cook S'mores, and tell stories; or just keep the drinks flowing long into the night. To make sure everyone stays safe, be careful and consider investing in some fire blankets and sand buckets for safety.

Barbecues are always an exciting event, but sometimes it can be difficult to entertain everyone for a long time. Choose one or more of these ideas and you just might have a hard time getting your guests to leave at the end of the night—for that, just blast the stereo and put in a noise complaint.