Enjoy Outdoor Entertaining All Year Round

Being able to entertain outdoors has to be one of the single best benefits of having a garden that offers enough space to do just that. However, when the weather starts to turn towards the cold, it’s not uncommon for people to pack away their outdoor furnishings and cover everything up and leave it for the season. You might not necessarily need to do that, however. Here are a few tips that can help you enjoy outdoor entertaining all year around.

The lights are vital

The majority of changes you want to make to your garden’s social space are practical changes. The first is to keep in mind that the season is going to make the days shorter and the nights darker. For the safety of everyone involved (especially if there are steps), you should be investing in some outdoor lighting. Of course, visibility is also going to make it easier to see what you are eating and to chat with your friends, as well. Lastly, the right choice of exterior lighting fixtures can also add a lot of class and comfort to your garden.

Keeping everybody warm

While the low lighting is definitely going to make it harder to enjoy outdoor dining and socialising (and thus should be remedied) the real problem that you’re going to have to deal with is the cold. No one wants to stay outside when it’s freezing, no matter how much they are able to wrap up. To that end, you might want to look at ways to provide a little outdoor heating, yourself. One of the most effective (and most impressive, when it comes to the look and feel of it) is the fire pit. However, there are other options that you can invest in, such as simple space heating appliances that you can strategically place around the area so that the seating area is at least made a little cosier.

Comfort food for comfy times

For a lot of people, the thought of cooking or eating food in the great outdoors disappears as soon as the sun goes away. However, the simple truth is that some good comfort good is going to be the perfect thing to add that extra level of luxury and to heat people up, spreading that warmth directly from the belly. Of course, rather than preparing food indoors, what better way to set a great mood and provide a little show than with a charcoal BBQ? The presence of those burning coals is also going to provide a little extra heat to make sure things stay nice and cosy, as well. Just make sure that you shield your grill from the weather when you’re not using it.

A little shelter goes a long way

Given that the days are getting a little darker and cloudier, it should be expected that you might have to deal with a little drizzle occasionally. Maybe even a little snow. However, so long as it’s not windy enough to make it a moot point, you can still enjoy being outdoors if you’re kept out of the rain and a good shelter can do just that. Perhaps the easiest way to add this is to attach an awning to your home, though there are plenty of people who will build permanent canopies. Not only will it shield you from a little rain or snow, but it also offers some much-needed shade when the sun is high in the sky, which can help you stay comfy in the summers, too.

Make it nice and soft

Keeping people safe, well-lit, warm, and out of the weather are all essentials. You want to do more than just the bare essentials, however, you want to make sure that people have a good time. The best way to do that is to make sure that they’re comfortable. As such, when it gets a little colder, you might want to invest a little more in the way of soft furnishings to soften up your outdoor social area. This can include some extra cushions, a throw rug for your seats, maybe even a nice soft tablecloth for where you eat or set your drinks. Make sure you don’t leave them out if it starts to rain, however.

Of course, if it’s blustery and pouring down, you might not want to stay outdoors for too long. Make sure that you do invest in covers for your furniture and airtight storage for any soft furnishings so that it’s easy to come back out when the weather calms a little.