Who doesn’t love eating outdoors? There’s nothing nicer than enjoying an alfresco meal on a summer evening with family and friends.
That’s why we’ve put together some top tips to ensure your alfresco party is relaxing and enjoyable for you and your guests.
Plan ahead to spend more time with your guests
The more preparation you can do in advance, the better. That way, you can spend more time with your guests rather than having to dash in and out of the kitchen.
Try to make as many dishes as possible in advance and keep them in the fridge. If you can store them in table-ready dishes, all you need to do is bring them out and uncover them. This also helps with clearing up as you won’t have masses of pots and pans to clean afterwards.
Salads are simple to prepare and easy to serve as guests can help themselves. Choose entrees that can be handed around on a platter.
Pick a theme for your party
Add some fun by having a themed party such as a Spanish tapas evening, a Mexican supper, or an Italian feast.
Select some appropriate dishes and work out how you can coordinate their preparation. You don’t want anything too complicated that could go wrong and throw out your timings.
Liven up the dining table with a few themed touches such as colourful placemats and small glasses of flowers. You could also decorate the garden with the flags of that country or give out a few props such as sombreros for your guests to wear.
Add ambience with scented candles, garden lanterns or strings of outdoor lights.
Host a cocktail hour
To get your guests in the mood, you could offer them a cocktail to start. If you don’t want anything too alcoholic, opt for a simple spritzer or a bowl of sangria if you’re serving tapas.
Themed cocktails such as margaritas are ideal for a Mexican evening. If you want to keep it simple, have a pre-mixed cocktail for everyone.
But if serving cocktails is your thing, and you have the necessary ingredients, why not set up your own cocktail bar? Your guests can watch while you prepare a cocktail of their choice.
To help you prepare cocktails in style, we have classic martini-style cocktail glasses, and double-bowled margarita glasses. Our versatile 3-piece cobbler cocktail shaker with built-in strainer and a lid measuring indicator will help you prepare drinks to perfection.
Serve a few nibbles
If you’re serving cocktails, you’ll need a few nibbles, but nothing too filling if you’re preparing a large dinner. Bowls of olives, dips, bruschetta and pesto are ideal.
Drinks to match your meal
Once you know what food you’ll be eating, it saves time to put out appropriate glasses in advance.
We have a range of polycarbonate wine glasses, including stylish stemless and practical stacking glasses, so you can pick the right volume size for the wine you’re serving. Red wine is best served at room temperature and should be poured into a larger glass to give the wine room to breathe.
Chilled white wine is best served in a smaller glass that will help it to remain at the correct temperature. Also, our elegant champagne flutes are long and slender to allow the bubbles to rise to the surface, while the long stem keeps the drink from warming when you handle the glass.
Opt for durable glasses
All our glasses are perfect for alfresco dining as they’re virtually unbreakable. The last thing you want to worry about during your dinner party is having to clear up broken glass.
Our polycarbonate glasses look exactly like real glass and are just as stylish. They’re also extremely hardwearing as well as being dishwasher and microwave safe.
At the end of the party, you can throw them in the dishwasher without fear of them breaking.
Host the perfect alfresco dinner party with our unbreakable polycarbonate glasses
Virtually Glass is a specialist supplier of polycarbonate glasses. We supply high-quality polycarbonate glasses from leading manufacturers at competitive prices.
We offer a stylish range of polycarbonate glasses to suit all occasions, including wine glasses, champagne glasses, beer glasses, tumblers and cocktail glasses in different shapes and sizes.
To find out more, call us on 07432 672377 or email: