Showing posts with label bbq. Show all posts
Showing posts with label bbq. Show all posts

Wednesday, July 6, 2011

Canada Day BBQ

Guests: 10 all adults plus 1 dog
Location: Keswick, ON
Budget: $20 for decorations and supplies, $60 for main course, side dishes were potluck 

*as always, no pictures of guests are included in this post.

Menu:
  • Mini Ribfest: honey bbq, honey garlic, smokin stampede and regular bbq
  • Corn on the cob
  • Caesar Salad
  • Garden Salad
  • Veggies and dip
  • Salsa and tostitoes
  • Raspberry Lemonade (just add fresh raspberries to any kind of lemonade)
  • Beer & Mixed Drinks
  • Cupcakes
Corn simmering on the side burner and racks of ribs cooking away
I decorated the dog too, doesn't he look cute?
Decorations:
  • Flag Banner
  • Pin wheels
  • Canada Day Buttons
  • T-shirts and Hats
  • Bandana for the Dog
  • Glow Sticks for after dark

 Activities:
  • Bocce
  • Drinksbee
  • Relaxing on the desk in the sunshine
  • Fireworks 

Bocce:
You can play with 2, 4, or 8 players. Divide the colour balls amongst teams, I played yellow and red, for example. The little ball is called the pellino. Somebody throws the white ball a decent distance away. The idea is to get your coloured ball as close as possible to the white ball without hitting it. One point is awarded for every ball that is closer than the other sides. 
For more information and rules, see this site

See how close I was? I win! 


 Drinksbee:
Materials Needed:
  • 4 plastic beer cups
  • 4 dowels or stakes
  • 2 frisbees
  • Drinks for each team member (preferably alcoholic)

Playing Field: Set up the field as shown in the photo. Each side has 2 poles and 2 cups. Two players on each team, each player guards a pole (and the cup). Set the ends a good throwing distance apart, but not so far that you won't be able to hit the targets. That's not fun at all.

 Concept: Throw the frisbee, knock off your opponent's cups.One cup knocked down equals one point. If the cup you are responsible for hits the ground, you must take a drink. Team members can catch each other's cups. Catch your cups to reverse the point to the throwing side, you get the point, they have to take a drink.
Doubles: after a point, you get to throw again. Knock it down again, means double the points and double the drinks. 
Trifecta: Go again for a chance to score three points. The other team has to chugg the rest of their drinks. Obviously, this is the most coveted and rare of plays. 
Tips: Distractions are allowed, including faking, dancing, rude gestures, etc.
Offense: fake outs, cross overs, bouncing the frisbee off one pole to knock down two cups at once are encouraged. 
Defense: Catch those cups! Sacrifice the body if you have to. 
Subbing players is encouraged, everyone can play!

Slips out of my hands. Grrr. Time for a drink.




Fireworks:
One of the guests brought an assortment of fireworks. As expected, some were better than others. Some nieghbours had really good ones. I handed out glow sticks for everyone. Fun! We all walked down to the beach to set them off, which would have been fantastic except for the mutant sized mosquitos. Yikes!
 
 
Hope your July long weekend was as fun as mine! 

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

Staff BBQ



*To protect the privacy of the guests, no names or photos of guests are included in this post

Date: Saturday August 28th 1-4 pm
Guests: 40, staff plus families
Location: Erindale Park, Mississauga On

Menu:

  • Hamburgers
  • Veggie burgers
  • Chicken breasts
  • Sausages
  • Assorted condiments and buns/pitas
  • Potato salad
  • Pasta salad
  • Coleslaw
  • Assorted drinks
  • Watermelon slices
  • Chocolate or vanilla ice cream cones
I also opted for biodegrable plates and cutlery, to green up the bbq a bit. I hate to leave so much garbage behind.

Catering by Simply BBQ, see website for more details

Simply BBQ provides all the necessary equipment and handles all the set-up, which includes a trailer bbq and service canopies.
They even bring along the music! The staff was fantastic and very easy to work with. See the photos on their site for more information.

Details
:

Since we had a mixture of very young children, adults and teenagers I allowed for a free form event. Nothing was "scheduled". I added additional service time for the bbq in case some families with young children were a bit late getting to the event. The atmosphere was quite casual, and I think the guests enjoyed the ability to relax and mingle with colleagues and their families in an informal environment.

I supplied lawn games such as frisbees, nerf toys, lawn darts, ring toss and horsehoes and allowed the guests to structure the games any way they wished. The nerf football and frisbees proved popular with the teenage boys.



The battery powered bubble machine was fantastic. However-it sure went through alot of bubble solution very quickly. I'll be sure to bring a large jug next time I use it.



The picnic area features a playpark for the children, which they enjoyed throughout the afternoon.


Here is the site before the event-not much there

The weather was quite windy, more than I expected. I managed to jury rig tie downs for the plaid tablecloths with some twine. Some early arrivals helped me out. Thanks guys!

The weather forecast indicated it would be quite hot and humid. Knowing the picnic area is a wide open grassy field, without much shade I brought along a pop-up gazebo tent, similar to a camping dining tent.

This was the best idea of the day! Guests quickly labelled it " the baby tent". Six babies have been born to the staff in the past year, it was great to see them all, and for the parents to all meet each other.

I knew it was successful when the guests lingered long after the official end date of the event-especially the babies. They were amongst the last to leave!

Lootbags were provided for all guests, with specific items removed or added depending on the age of the guests. Some examples of items-pencils and erasers, bubbles, balls, hair clips for younger girls and socks for the babies.

Overall-success!


The Credit River