The BYOM Potluck Cookout (The Easiest Way to Entertain this Summer)

I am so excited to share one of my sweet friends from high school with you today!  She has some of the yummiest recipes and a lot of great tips for keeping things uncomplicated in the kitchen – but without sacrificing delicious flavor.  I love her heart and her posts make me laugh out loud.  The Lord encourages us to open our homes and to always be eager to practice hospitality (Romans 12:13), but sometimes I don’t open our home because, let’s face it, it takes a good chunk of cash to feed a crowd (not to mention I am not always eager to make the bathrooms less of a sanitation hazard company ready).  In today’s post, Bet brings us a simple way to be obedient to Him, enjoy fellowship with others, and be cost effective all at the same time.  I know you will love her!

Hey there! I’m Bet from Bet On Dinner, and I’m so excited to be posting over here today! I knew Julie before she was the Fairy, and now I love using her ideas with my two girls. I love how very real she is about being a mom!

Julie and me our senior year of high school. I was using black and white film…to be artsy, I guess? But yep, film. #thingsthatmakeyoufeelold

When Julie invited me to share something, she was probably expecting a recipe, since that’s mostly what I do on my blog (plus meal planning, freezer-friendly meal ideas, and sorting through my childhood closet for my internet friends). But I’m here to talk about how to make having friends over for dinner INCREDIBLY easy!

So: we LOVE to have people over. Obviously, I like to cook (and I really, really like to eat), but it just makes me happy to have people we love sitting around our table.

But. Sometimes this love can cause me to be a tiny bit c.r.a.z.y. I take on one (or two or three) too many cooking projects. I’ve been known to exceed decimate the grocery budget. I get testy with my daughters who continue to need things while I’m getting the house ready (whyyy must they do that?). I use all of the dishes.

In other words: I still get the warm fuzzy feelings of having friends laughing in my kitchen, but I’m also exhausted.

Does anyone else do this? Here’s the antidote:

a BYOM (Bring Your Own Meat) Potluck Cookout!

As the host, your jobs are simple:

1. Invite some friends. A total of 6-10 people is a good size.

2. Ask them to bring some meat to throw on the grill and a side dish or dessert to share. (See? Potluck cookout!)

3. Make sure you have paper plates, something to drink, gas or charcoal for the grill, and your family’s meat for the grill.

4. Set out something to munch on while people are arriving and the meat is cooking. I recommend chips and salsa. (If you have a little voice in your head that says things like, “Hey! You could totally make the salsa!”, tell it to mind it’s own business.)

5. Set out yard games or bubbles, or spread out a blanket and toys for babies and kiddos.

Ready to party!

And that’s it! With zero things to cook ahead of time, you’re not making a mess in your kitchen (and between the grill and paper plates, you’ll barely have any clean-up at the end). You’re free to hide your clutter in your bedroom straighten up, be kind to your children, enjoy your company, and then sit on the couch after they go home.

We did this for an early dinner a couple of weekends ago, and it was so fun and relaxing.

I even had time for one of my favorite pastimes: documenting this girl’s Cindy Lou Who fauxhawk.

Our friends brought roasted potatoes, watermelon, and brownies, and it was a perfectly beautiful day. And it was really nice not to be running around like a maniac before they arrived.

Sweet friends.

Bonus: this type of entertaining doesn’t break the bank and it’s possible to pull off last-minute. You could do it every week and not run out of hosting steam! I love removing barriers to getting people together.

Happy BYOM Potluck Cookout-ing!

(Psst! If you’re lucky enough to be invited to a par-tay like this, you could bring along some roasted sweet potatoes… or a chocolate chess pie.) 🙂