Life has been very busy as of late with lots of new things coming down the pipeline for us here at The Tiny Life, but when I saw how nice it was going to be this past weekend I knew I had to close the laptop.
It takes work to break yourself away and make time for relaxation with friends. In a world as fast paced as ours, we need to keep sight of what’s important. The work will never be done, but time with friends and family is a precious commodity. This past weekend I decided to take advantage of the perfect weather by having a cookout and campfire.
They say the best way to clean your house is to throw a party…it’s so true! But in a tiny house, that takes me all of 15 minutes of work! It was going to be a small group, but still bigger than I could seat in my tiny house. So when the invite went out I said BYOB and BYOC (bring your own chair). We had a mix of meat eaters and vegetarians, so we had burgers and hotdogs for the meat eaters and veggie patties and veggie kabobs for my vegetarian friends.
Because of the number of folks, I decided to host it entirely outdoors. I had my grill all set up, plus I brought out a folding table that I’m able to keep tucked away most of the time and bring out when I need some more working room. With the table setup, I laid out everything we would need to keep folks outside the house. I left the door to the tiny house propped open, as people inevitably want to check it out.
Amy and my friends Caroline, JR, Jared, and Lauren came over for food and to hang out. Amy brought the veggie kabobs and tried her hand at grilling for the first time; we all got together, chatted and grilled. Once we filled our plates we moved over to the fire.
After eating and chatting, Lauren broke out supplies for s’mores, but instead of marshmallows, she brought Peeps. So we roasted the poor marshmallow chicks over the fire and ate s’mores. All in all it was a great time, grilling and sitting by the fire and enjoying the stars after dark.
Your Turn!
- What type of tiny house party are you going to throw first?
This has been one of my concerns also about the tiny house life. My daughters and their familes and my sister and her’s…plus friends dropping in on me. I am thinking I will need to set up some type of pavilion tent for such occasions. The overriding factor of living in Florida is the weather. In fact, as we locals put it: if you don’t like the weather here, wait ten minutes, it’ll change! Storms (we call’em Gator Gushers) come up out of nowhere, flood you out and almost blow you away….and then the sun pops out and it is steamy hot! Welcome to Florida!
In the Pacific NW you can’t guarantee a rain-free event so lots of people have a covered outdoor space, either temporary or permanent to enjoy large gatherings regardless of house size. Also good for shade if the sun is relentless or a bug free space. Sometimes you have to break out the pop-up canopy and it can be as formal or informal as you like. You can really dress those things up with drapery and plants. One thing on my list is making an outdoor fire space with covered sitting area that can have awning extensions for larger groups. Covering the food with netting umbrellas can really help in bug season too.
We entertain several times a week. Its not unusual to have multiple overnight guest each week as well. We did 400sq ft living with outdoor entertaining areas for years. Ultimately, with the degree of hospitality we like to extend, a home of 1200 sq ft with permanent means of entertaining and housing guest has proven more appropriate. Who wants their hospitality to be at the mercy of weather.