Creating Outdoor Rooms

So, we're expecting eighty people tonight for our Halloween party. And, while we love our house, it's nowhere near big enough for entertaining that many inside. Our luck has held though and it's a beautiful October day here in North Texas. So, we'll be able to take the party outside. It's easy for you to do the same if you think of your yard and the outdoors as a series of outdoor rooms.

For a big party, you need to create a variety of smaller seating areas, both indoors and out. Places where anywhere from two to eight people can sit down and have a conversation. They need chairs and a place to set their plates and drinks. If outdoors, they won't want to be in the dark so you need to provide some lighting too. All these things can be easily and inexpensively accomplished.

First, map things out. Look around your yard and see where you might have interesting and commonsense places for folks to congregate. Don't block doors or traffic areas and try and put these seating areas in places that can be easily seen as people come outdoors. (There's no sense in taking the time and effort to create a great space that no one can find.

A couple of our outdoor rooms are "permanent." We have a high bar table and two chairs on our deck. Three steps down is a patio with a regular size patio table and six chairs. For tonight's party, we've supplemented with a small table ( yours could be a card table or even wooden TV tray) and some chairs a few steps away in the back yard. We're also opening the gate to our rear driveway where I'll cover a six foot folding table with a simple cotton tablecloth and surround it with eight chairs. None of it is expensive to accomplish. The tablecloths were on clearance and most of the chairs are nothing more than those stackable plastic ones you can buy at any grocery or department store.

Certainly, people will bring plates from the buffet and drinks from the bar to their tables, but I also make it easy for them by having a few snacks served on each table. I'll put popcorn and a variety of nuts out in small bowls for people to nibble on. You can make your own (I'll share some of the recipes I'm trying in the next couple of weeks.) or buy pre-made nut or snack mixes.

And make sure people have enought light to see. As you're placing your outdoor rooms, look for places that your landscape lighting might already illuminate. You can supplement with strings of old-fashioned Christmas lights hung in trees or on fences. (We keep lights permanently strung on the wooden fence around our backyard. If we're feeling particularly creative, we change out some of the white lights with the season. Red and green for Christmas. Orange for Halloween. You get the idea.) Or hang smaller "twinkle" lights in trees and bushes for a romantic effect. Candles in wind-proof containers are also nice.

We even take the idea of outdoor room lighting quite literally on our patio. Some friends recently remodeled their new house and gave us the wrought-iron chandelier from their breakfast nook. We rewired it so that it plugs in to an outdoor extension cord and hung it from the wooden arbor over our patio table and chairs. Poof. Instant outdoor dining room.

So, take some of these tips and expand your own party past your home's walls. With a variety of places to sit and a little lighting to enhance the mood, these outdoor rooms provide great places for guests to sit and enjoy each other's company. When the weather cooperates, it adds an unforgettable dimension to your entertaining.