Plan a Winter Party Around Your Outdoor Fireplace

With an outdoor fireplace in your backyard or on your patio you can extend your outdoor activities long past the warm summer months.

The newest trend in entertaining is entertaining outdoors. New? After all, barbecues and picnics and deck parties have been around for decades. These days, though, the outdoor deck is more likely to be an extension of your indoor living space. All summer long, families breakfast under the trees, enjoy lunch under the shelter of a patio umbrella and lounge into the night beneath a sparkling sky. An outdoor fireplace on your deck or patio or in your backyard means that you can extend your outdoor entertaining year round.

Why put your backyard or patio under wraps when the first frost hits your area when you can plan an outdoor extravaganza around your outdoor fireplace? Here are some hints and ideas for throwing a winter party around your outdoor fireplace.

Plan an activity or theme. Outdoor parties in summertime are easy – everyone expects to be outdoors and enjoy the sunshine. In winter, you can plan an outdoor skating party, a snowball fight, an igloo building competition or a night of star-gazing. The key is to keep things interesting and active.
Keep the fire stoked. Since most people will be using the fireplace to warm their toes and keep their hands toasty, keep the cooking over the fireplace to the minimum. Some food suggestions for an outdoor fireplace winter party include:
- Grilled cheese sandwiches, preassembled and ready to heat over the coals
- A big pot of chicken dumpling soup simmering to the side with cups for easy dipping
- Hot chocolate, of course!
- Mulled cider is a must, simmered over the fire in an enormous pot and kept warm on the grate
- Toasted marshmallows to finish up the evening
Throw a pizza party. Set up tables beside the fireplace area to hold pizzas and thermos bottles full of mulled cider, warmed sangria and hot chocolate. Gather everyone around the fire for campfire sing-along's!
Have you got an incline in your backyard? Take a step back to childhood with a sliding party. You can slick the ride ahead of time by building up the ice with a garden hose. Provide snow saucers, cardboard boxes and other sliding apparatus – and keep the fire warm for everyone to gather after sliding.

An outdoor fireplace can be romantic, offering a level of intimacy and warmth that will spark up any party.

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