Summer Grill-Out at the Park

One of the things I wanted to do this summer was to plan a grill-out at the park - invite some friends, get some food, and hang out at the park.  Then, one week at summer connect (a summer program put on by CRU where an individual or group can watch a speaker online followed by discussion questions) challenged us to plan a summer party - such as a pool party, grill-out, game night - and to invite others to it.  The idea was for it to be a sort of outreach.  This sounded exactly like what I was hoping to do this summer!  So, a couple weeks ago, my hub (the group that meets in Ames to listen to the speaker and then go through the discussion questions together) and I had a summer grill-out at the park.

Since this was a group event, the idea was that we could all help bring some food and invite others to come.  I ended up getting most of the food, which was fine, but I really had no idea of how many people would come.  I really didn't think too many would come, so I didn't want to get too much food, but I also didn't want to not have enough.  I got mostly hotdogs because they are easy, but some hamburgers too incase someone really doesn't like hotdogs.  I was thinking 15 people - with that being an over estimate.  Well, we had for sure 15-17 people come!  And, we had just the right amount of food!  I would say the grill-out was a success!

I tried to keep the planning and whole event simple.  You can pay to reserve shelters at the park, but that is just an extra thing to do.  I was just going to hope that there would be an open shelter, and there was!

Someone brought a watermelon and rubber bands so we could try to get the watermelon to explode.  You keep putting rubber bands around the center of the watermelon until it pops.  We had a hard time to get the watermelon to pop.

One girl brought some fireworks - poppers and sparklers.  Just make sure you clean up after yourself!

Here is what we had for food!  We kept it very simple.  You could definitely add more to the menu and make it a little fancier.

• Hamburgers and hotdogs
• Buns
• Condiments:  sliced cheese, ketchup, and mustard.  We kept the condiments very simple.  Having a platter with cheese, sliced tomatoes, lettuce, onion, and pickles, along with ketchup and mustard, would be great too if you want to be a little more fancy!
• Chips:  we had kettle and BBQ
• Watermelon
• Carrots - A veggie try with dip would be fun too if you want to step it up a notch.
• I made overnight refrigerator pickles.  They were a big hit!  I am HOPING to blog the recipe soon.
• A jello salad
• Desserts:  lemon cupcakes, monster cookie bars, and s'mores (we roasted marshmallows over the grill)
• Beverages:  homemade lemonade and root beer.  If anyone wanted anything else, we suggested they bring it (BYOB!).

Here of a list of things I found helpful to have... just for future grill-out reference.  I hope I'm not forgetting anything.

• charcoal
• lighter fluid
• lots of matches (getting the grill started was a bit tricky)
• a grill brush if you have one (we didn't so we used a stick to clean off the grill)
• a metal spatula to flip the burgers and tongs to flip the hotdogs
• wet wipes
• a few wet rags (keep them in a plastic bag until you need them and to keep them moist)
• clean containers to put leftover cooked meat in
• paper towels
• aluminum foil to cover meat to keep it hot (and for any other reason you might need it)
• a cooler with ice packs to keep the meat and anything else cold until you are ready to cook it and to put leftovers in
• extra plastic bags come in handy to but dirty containers/utensils in
• roasted skewers for if you are having s'mores
• paper plates
• napkins
• plastic silverware
• serving utensils (depending on what you are serving)
• cups for beverages
• a bag of ice - This probably isn't necessary, but it came in handy.  We used it for beverages and to cool down the grill before we left.
• a table cloth - just for fun!
• games - We had the watermelon to pop and some fireworks.

I was hoping for this to just be something fun to do this summer.  And, it was for the most part (it did start to stress me out a little though, to be honest).  I just thought it would be fun to blog about it - so that I can remember what is needed for the next time (probably not this summer though).