That Time We Talked About How To Throw a Party

This is episode number 50 of The Homeowner Show. Whether you're DIY or looking to hire, we're here to help you find the best information and options for you and your home. My name is Kevin Hackett, and here with me is Craig Williams.

Hello, hello, hello, and welcome to The Homeowner Show. We are glad that you could join us today because we have a really cool episode for you guys. Kev, how you doing, man?

I'm doing good. Really?

Yeah.

Nothing terrible. Nothing terrible. It's been a good day. Enjoyed, uh, today was National Fajita Day. Woo. Yeah. So, so we're a little bit, you know, couple of days. This will air a couple of days after that, but man, it was fun. Went out to lunch with some friends.

Oh, well, I was there.

Yeah. And, and you were there.

And I was there.

And, and we had a, we had a good time. Yeah. Eating some fajitas for lunch.

Much salsa was consumed.

A lot of salsa.

It was good stuff.

It was. How you doing?

Dude, I'm doing really good. We've got some big projects coming around the Williams household, so we've been getting geared up for that. We've got some major remodeling about to happen in the House O' Weird.

Which I'm sure anytime you tear into something, it's just—

It's like peeling an onion in my house, man. I mean, there's more tears as we peel back these layers. Yeah.

And you never know what you're gonna find, right?

No, never. Yeah. Ever.

Yeah. So, and that's true with a lot of home remodels. You never know what you're gonna find. You don't. But if you already know your house is weird, yeah, it's, it's gonna be fun.

So, and at some point, I mean, we're gonna, I think we're gonna have a couple of the guys that, that are working on my house come into the studio and, and, and chat for a bit. Uh, 'cause they, they do really good work.

Yeah.

Um, and you know, they, they'd have to, to agree to work on my house. Um, they'd have to have to be highly skilled craftsmen.

They've seen a lot of things already.

Yeah. And I'm going to be the one they're telling the stories about to other homeowners. Like, listen, this is bad, but it's not nearly as bad. You should go talk to Craig.

They're going to be the ones that they're talking to their friends, man, I had this one house this one time, and it's going to be yours.

Yeah.

Yeah.

So, but you know, as with most home projects, man, it, it just reveals other things that you want to get done. And it It just, because it, it compounds like that, right? Because like, you know, like we're doing some ceilings in our house, but it's making us address some issues that we're having with some of the walls.

Okay.

Because of where the new ceiling's going to come and how all that's going to work together. And is this going to look right? And all that stuff.

Yeah.

So, you know, we're just, we're just decided to tackle all of it at once, man. So, but you know, it was a good opportunity to use that DIY calculator because some of it I'm looking at going, man, this is really expensive. Should I just do this myself? And you punch the numbers in, it's like, this doesn't make me happy. I don't enjoy doing this. And so, you know, that we— I ran the numbers.

Yeah.

The numbers, the numbers were very helpful. It was, it was just a helpful tool. Pretty much what I found out is that I have no interest in doing any of it.

Yeah.

And it's just worth it to have someone who's really good and efficient at what they're doing, just knock it out.

Well, it's a busy season right now, just in general with back to school and Uh, lots of things happening in general. So, um, man, trying to find time in your regular everyday schedule to remodel your house.

Yeah.

That's just, you know, your wife would eventually be like, nope, hire it out.

Yep. Well, especially when she saw the end product.

You're going to hire it out anyway.

That's right. You're just going to have to have somebody else come behind you.

So that's right.

Hire them now.

You know, I had a friend, um, that just recently has just about finished up a remodel, and they were out of their house for like 3 weeks. They went and stayed at an Airbnb while these people just came in and just like—

Gutted it, huh?

Yeah, and redid a bunch of stuff all at once. And so, you know, it's kind of like ripping the Band-Aid off. It cost a lot of money because they're, you know, now they're displaced for a little while, and it's a lot of things that they're doing all at once, but Hey, it's getting done. Yeah.

It's, you know, and sometimes that's what you have to do. I mean, I've, I've met people who's, you know, have the, the infamous attic, uh, water heater burst while they're out of town, man, you know, and those people end up out of their homes for months.

Yeah.

I mean, just from like mold remediation and I mean, just the whole thing.

That, that's whenever you come back and say tankless.

Yeah.

I'm just putting a tankless in. Get over here, Burke. Exactly. Ryan, where are you at, man?

Need my tankless.

Bring me a tankless because I'm not doing this again. Yeah. No, man. It's worth the extra money for the tankless just to not go through all of that.

So, man, we, we mentioned it's a busy season, and part of what makes it a busy season for a lot of people is it is now football season.

Yes, it is.

So it is, it is officially football season, which means it's officially outdoor hosting season, tailgating season, backyard barbecue season. We're going to be having lots of get-togethers.

Yeah. I mean, it's a, it's a time to do that.

Yeah.

And, and, and, you know, it's one of the, one of my favorite times of the year because, you know, I, I think a lot of people want excuses to get together and hang out. And a lot of times it just, for whatever reason, one reason or the other, it just, it, it becomes an issue of it just doesn't make sense this week or this month or whatever. But like football, you're probably watching it anyway at your house. So just have people over to watch it with you. Yeah.

I mean, or if you're like me and you're someone who has like zero interest in professional sports, um, you appreciate the season just because it's an excuse to get together with your friends.

There you go.

So, I mean, I'm not, that's not saying that I don't enjoy sports. I just, I have no time for professional sports. I don't get it. I like college sports.

There you go.

So it's my thing.

Well, and, and one of, one of the things that I've found is most people have a preference. They either like—

You mean between professional and college?

Oh yeah. Oh yeah. So no, it's not across the board, but a lot of people are way more college people than they are NFL people or, uh, you know, whatever professional sport.

Right.

And then the opposite is also true. There's some that are just like, man, I, I mean, I'll watch college football, but really I care about NFL. So yeah, it's, it's amazing to me the, the stark differences there. And then you got people like me that just appreciate the game.

You wanna watch sports?

I just, I wanna watch sports. I wanna watch football. I want it on all the time. I mean, I'm, I'm on the field as much as I can even. Yeah.

So I, I, I feel like I'm kind of odd in that, like, I, I enjoy college sports more than I do professional sports. I still won't choose to watch college sports over doing something else.

Mm-hmm.

Unless it's the Aggies. And then, well, But, and then even then, like, I'd much rather just be there.

Yeah. Well, yeah. And, and, you know, I'm, I'll let it be known I'm not an Aggie fan. That being said, I, if, if you've never been to Kyle Field, dude, that's an experience.

Yeah. It's incredible. Well, especially now. I mean, like, it's completely different from even when I went to school there, but yeah, it's, it's an, it's an awesome, awesome stadium.

Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it's a crazy loud venue. It's, it's, it's an experience.

So I think they're at like 110,000 that they can be at capacity. It's, it's crazy.

That's an unbelievable—

I still don't understand how they manage parking.

Yeah. And, and what's even more bizarre is like the seating is just straight up.

Yeah. Like if you're in some places, in some places it's straight up.

Yeah. But if you're, if you're on like the 50-yard line in that upper deck, you feel like you're over the, you know, the logo.

Yeah.

It's crazy.

So all that to say, what we're gonna be talking about today is how to have a good party in the backyard.

Yeah, and this is, this is just super important in my mind because the last thing you want to do if you're gonna, if you're gonna have people over is for them to get there and go, I mean, that was lame. Yeah, I mean, and, and you don't want that to happen. If you're inviting people over, you're having certain expectations of, you know, I want people to enjoy themselves.

Yeah.

And if they get there and you don't have things set up well and you're constantly going Oh man, I forgot this. I forgot that. I got to go grab this. You're not even going to have fun entertaining people. And all you're going to be doing is working. And at the end of the night, you're going to be frustrated and tired. So setting things up well on the front end of this gives you an opportunity to enjoy yourself as well.

Yeah. Preparation, preparation, preparation.

Absolutely.

Yeah.

The 3 Ps.

Absolutely. If you got those, you'll have a good party.

There you go.

So, and so, you know, hopefully by now you've, you're prepared for the food end of things because we talked about grills, back on episode 44. And if you haven't listened to that, go back and listen to episode 44, find out what kind of grill you need, what, you know, what kind of grill fits your personality, get that grill. And then, you know, that way you'll be ready to prepare some good killer outdoor food.

Yeah. And on that, we, we missed a whole like type of grill that I'd never heard of before that since in the last 6 episodes, last month and a half, I've found out about a whole new type of grill. That's unbelievable. Which is it's a 55-gallon drum.

Oh, like a smoker box like that?

Yeah, but it's like a— I mean, it's a— they're called— it's called barrel cooking.

Yeah.

And it's like a— it's basically a 55-gallon drum that you— that's got an insert in it that just you hang meat in.

Huh.

And you—

Oh yeah, I've seen that where you hang the meat on the inside.

Like, yeah, I see.

I know what you're talking about. You like ribs in there and—

Uh-huh.

I know what you're talking about.

Anyway, I'd never seen anything like it. I thought it was kind of interesting.

When I don't— one of the other ones I don't think that we talked about, because I don't know if it's technically a grill, but like the Chinese smart boxes. Are you familiar with those? The street vendors, the Cuban street vendors down in Miami use them.

Yep.

Dude, those things make some killer pig.

Sure. Yeah. Oh yeah.

So good.

Anyway, go to Buc-ee's. They got stuff.

Oh yeah. You can also get a fryer.

Yeah.

I mean, like, that's— if I'm being honest, if I'm not smoking, give me some fried food.

Oh yeah.

Because we rarely— I mean, like, around our house, we rarely eat fried food, but like, man, if I can put some put some breading on some chicken. Yes, sir.

I'll eat that.

So, but anyway, so some, some idea, I mean, just, I mean, like for me, one of the things I like about with an outdoor party is that it's not necessarily like a sit-down dinner party. Sure.

You know?

And so I like to kind of have like a buffet of things for people to come and go. And for me, one of the easiest things to make everyone happy is to have a lot of choices at a taco bar. You can have different kinds of meats and toppings, and people can work that line and assemble their perfect taco, and they're happy.

And they can come back for more!

And they can try a different one. You can have different salsas. It's endless what you can have there. I tend to try and keep it pretty simple, especially if we're having kids. You know, around because kids like meat and cheese and that's pretty much it for the most part. But yeah, I mean, just keeping the food simple, it also makes it easy to prep. So you're not like sweating and cooking while you're waiting, you know, for your guests to arrive.

Yeah. And I would say, you know, especially while guests are arriving too, thinking about like, what are some just finger foods, whether it's, you know, chips, Chex Mix, something just kind of Out and about. Yeah, out and about, you know, in, in an easily accessible place.

Which, if you're doing tacos, chips and salsa.

Yeah, absolutely. That's easy. A little guac. Yeah.

Not a little guac, a lot of guac.

A lot of guac.

Just for me.

And honestly—

I want my own bowl.

There you go.

Because I'm going to be double dipping.

You're a double dipper.

Well, you know, it's my own bowl. Absolutely. You dipped the chip and then you took a bite.

And then you dip the chip again!

That's right! I claimed that guacamole in the name of Craig. There you go.

Yeah, and you know, I mean, a lot of this stuff, I mean, just think about it. I mean, what do you want to spend? You're going to spend the majority of your money on food. And so you can do that a lot of different ways. I mean, you can make your own guacamole and it's fairly inexpensive. It's really good to do it that way.

Yes.

Little tip, just leave the pit in there.

Yeah, it keeps it from oxidizing.

Absolutely. So that's just a little tip out there. Or you can go to H-E-B or Kroger or wherever your local, uh, you know, Piggly Wiggly and, uh—

Piggly Wiggly. Yeah. Oh man, I haven't seen a Piggly Wiggly in forever. I love the Piggly Wiggly. Yeah.

And, and, you know, they probably make their own guacamole. Buy some, bring it.

If they don't, they should.

They should.

With bacon in it.

Oh, bacon guacamole from the Piggly Wiggly. Oh, well, yeah.

Why would— how could you pass up that opportunity?

Yeah, it's the best marketing scheme ever.

Right.

So, but Another way to mitigate that a little bit, as far as cost goes, is depending on who you're asking to come over, have them bring food. That's perfectly legitimate to ask people to bring food.

It's a great way to find out if you want to continue being friends.

That's so true.

If you make terrible food, we ain't hanging out.

That's so true. Have you ever done a bring-your-own-meat type of party?

I have not.

Man, it's kind of interesting. You just tell them, We're gonna have the grill going. Bring a steak if you want, bring hamburger if you want, you know, whatever. If we can, you know, as long as it's not like a 12-hour smoke.

Yeah.

Bring it over. We'll grill it up as something just different. But, um, at that point you're not having to supply the most expensive part of the meal.

Sure.

Which is the meat.

And I'd say like, I think in those kinds of situations, just because I wouldn't know what kind of grill they had, I might bring you like some smoked sausage. Yeah, because that's, that's pretty much good on every type of grill.

Yes, it is.

So, and it tastes good, not really expensive.

Sure.

My kids like it.

Mm-hmm.

And I can cut it up in little pieces and put on toothpicks.

There you go. Yep. Anyway, just a little option there. Party, party idea. And I'm already hungry.

Yes, we need to, we need to put one, uh, put together a homeowner show backyard bonanza.

Absolutely. Yeah, invite all of our friends. Yeah, 4 people will show up.

Well, if we go with your cheapskate You bring your own meat.

I'm just offering affordable options here. I'm not saying it's the most, you know, most fun for your guests. I'm just saying it's an option.

It's an option. It's an option. It's a terrible option.

Okay, don't do it. I'm never doing it.

All right, so, but part of the reason we talked about this is because it's football season. So if it's football season, part of the reason you're probably getting together is to watch the game.

Yes.

And so if you're gonna be outside, This can be challenging because typically the big screen TV is in the living room most of the time. What are we gonna do about this, Kev?

Well, there's a lot of different options. In fact, a lot of people are putting TVs outdoors now.

A lot of people are, yes.

And, and, you know, you have some challenges there. You know, one of them is it needs to be weatherproof. So whether or not that's, you know, you've got a canopy of some sort, whether it's a, you know, an overhang on your porch, um, or something like that. Some people put it in a box. They make weatherproof boxes for them. They even make weatherproof TVs. Yeah, those are going to be more on the expensive side. Or, uh, if you don't want anything permanent, we do have some other options, um, available to us these days in projectors, right? I mean, they're super inexpensive these days, um, and you may even know someone that has one, you know, that they use for whatever.

Yeah.

And, you know, you really only have to think about timing on those because when it comes to a projector, the more affordable ones are not as bright, right, as some of the more expensive ones. And so you just have to kind of consider, okay, is this a night party? Is this an afternoon party? Um, and, and that'll kind of determine, okay, what type of projector do I need?

Mm-hmm.

The more lumens it has, the brighter it is. The brighter it is. That's all you have to kind of consider there. And then, you know, how are you gonna project it? Um, and, and there's some different options for that. Probably the, you know, the, the cheapest way, you throw a sheet up somewhere if you want to. But, you know, they make some really cool inexpensive inflatable screens these days.

Yeah. And, uh, just, just to backtrack real quick, one of the— for the outdoor TV, I mean, because flat screens now are so affordable, I mean, like you can get like a 55-inch for like $150 brand new almost.

I mean, it's not like a great quality.

It's not 4K or whatever, but it works. You can also buy canvas covers for these TVs. They make custom canvas covers. My folks actually have one for their back porch.

It works great!

It keeps water off of it, it keeps spiders and everything from gathering. It slides right off whenever they're ready to watch something on the back porch.

Really? Cool!

Yeah, it works really, really well. The other thing is, with these inflatable projection screens and projectors. One, if it's like a big event and you really want it to look nice, you can actually rent these things. Yeah, they're pretty inexpensive to rent. But if you're looking to buy it, and we'll link up some of these because you can buy them on Amazon. But yeah, they— I've lost my train of thought. What was I saying with these things?

The projectors.

The projectors. Oh, you can find them in the camping section.

Really?

Yeah, because a lot of people are buying these because people are going camping like with other families. And so someone will bring that whole setup so the kids can watch a movie at night. It's like a big inflatable screen.

That's a fantastic idea.

And I think the projectors are even like battery operated and all that kind of stuff. So, I mean, it's really, it's a really ease of access to these kinds of things. But again, with these inflatable ones and usually like these battery operated projectors, it's gotta be nighttime in order to really use them effectively. Otherwise, I mean, if it's daytime, you're just never going to see it unless you stick it like in a dark corner underneath a bush. Right.

Um, in the shade somewhere.

Yeah, I mean, it'll show up better, but like daylight just kills. Yeah, kills stuff, man. I mean, it's— I mean, even because like we have one on our deck and our deck is completely covered, and even in the daylight it's nowhere near as bright as it is. And I mean, like, you sure it's difficult to see in the daytime and there's not an ounce of sunlight on that screen.

Yeah, that's true.

So I mean, the sunlight just bleeds over into everything. So, but yeah, so But, you know, have— if that's the reason that you're getting together with folks, you know, it'd probably be a good option to have a screen outside.

Yeah. And, and the other thing you got to consider here is where are you getting the source from? So, I mean, you know, you've got to have power out there and you've got to have either a cable, um, a cable hookup, or if you're doing Dish, you got to have a Dish hookup, or if you're doing internet. You've got to have Wi-Fi that will reach out there, which is probably what most people are going to be doing these days.

Yeah.

So just make sure that your backyard or your front yard, wherever you're doing this, make sure you're covered with enough coverage to be able to get this. Because again, going back to what I said earlier with preparation, test it out because the last thing you want to do as a as a dude out there putting on a, you know, a football party. Yeah. Is to not have the game going for some reason. Right. I mean, I'll, I'll be honest, if I show up at your house, Craig, cuz you tell me that, you know, Texas Tech's gonna be playing football against the Aggies.

Mm-hmm.

And I come over to your house to watch a game and it's not on. I'm, I might leave. Yeah.

Well, in that case it might be a mercy.

Well, either way, it don't matter either way. I'm, I'm not happy. Make sure. Come on, you didn't even test this first.

Yeah. You know what I mean? Well, and that, that's probably, I mean, like, you know, a lot of the ways people are getting their sports now is via the internet.

Yeah.

And so it'd be a good idea to, you know, test your internet signal on the outside.

Yeah.

And make sure you got a good signal because that, you know, like for instance, I know now, um, and I forget when it's launching, but like Disney is bundling ESPN. Yep. With their new streaming package. Yep. And it's gonna, what was it gonna be like $10 or something like that?

Yeah, it's, it's gonna be super inexpensive. In fact, I think it was gonna start off at like $6. Oh, really? And then They're going to have different options as far as stepping up, I think. But I think you're going to get most of your content for super cheap.

I know ESPN's had trouble with their subscription model, but I think this is a really smart play because mom and dad are going to pay for the Disney stuff. If they get ESPN along the way, awesome! one, like, I don't— we don't have TV, but like, again, like, I only care to watch college football, and college football pretty much only gets played on ESPN, at least the games that I care about. Um, so that'd be a great pickup for us. Yeah.

So, well, and the other thing that you can always do, and this is even easier if you're watching a game that is going to be nationally televised, not on ESPN, it's probably going to be on like ABC, NBC, something like that. And if you're in a you know, big enough market, just get an antenna, right?

Yeah.

I mean, and as long as you've got a powered antenna, they're pretty effective. They are very effective. You're gonna get HD quality out of those things. And, you know, that might— I mean, you can pick those up for $30, right? And you hook that up to your projector or whatever and you're good to go.

Yeah. So, well, and so, so moving on from that, one of the, one of the other things that, um, that comes up quite often at outdoor parties is the bugs.

Oh man, that's the worst.

Yes.

I mean, the, the worst thing is being outside and there's just bugs everywhere.

So yeah, and like, uh, we were reading an article and a lot, apparently people, uh, further north of us, they worry about flies outside. I mean, down here it's, it's the bird mosquitoes.

Oh man, they're, they're like carry you off size.

Yeah. So it's, it's, I think it's kind of a problem anywhere when it's, it's nice to be outdoors. There's gonna be bugs. There's gonna be ants. there's going to be flies, there's going to be mosquitoes.

And they're going to flock to you when they know there's food around.

Yeah, or blood, whatever. Or whatever, which I guess technically is food.

Sure.

But there's lots of ways of dealing with this, right? So the traditional method, well, not really the traditional method, but the one that's become popular recently is just to have your yard fogged. And you can do that yourself. You can actually go buy the fogger at the store and the chemical and the propane and you can fog your yard or you can hire somebody to do it. relatively inexpensive to have that done. Uh, it's, you know, it's less safer for you to have it done that way. Um, but there's other ways too. I mean, like, if you want to go like the Cadillac of keeping bugs away, you can have a misting system installed. Um, but

those can, you know, run you anywhere from $2,000 to $6,000, um, depending on the size of your yard.

Just for one party, it's probably worth it, Craig. Probably.

Yeah, for the one party.

Yeah, it's probably worth it. Yeah, you should go ahead and go do that.

Well, You know, with my guests, come on. Yeah, they deserve luxury.

Yeah, it's the clientele. So people like me.

Have I had you over for a party?

Yeah, maybe once.

Okay. Yeah, not with a misting system though.

No.

Oh, okay.

Nope.

Um, so anyway, though, they're very effective. I mean, they're good to have around just for your own enjoyment. Yeah, not necessarily for parties, but yeah.

But especially if you've got pools or stuff like that, right?

Or if you're just outdoor people and you want to not be eaten.

Yes.

It's helpful.

Reasonable. Yes.

One of the other things is these tiki torches. What is the stuff that you put in the tiki torches? Is it citronella oil?

Yeah. Citronella is good for a lot of different things. We'll mention that in a minute. But yeah, you just buy that oil. It's the same place you buy the tiki torches. You buy the oil there. pour it in and it burns off.

And they're pretty.

Yeah.

I mean, they do have a bit of a funk to them. Well, I mean, if you're sensitive to smells, sure, it does have a little bit of a funk when you— but like, you know, don't go stand next to the flame.

Yeah, but a lot of these now are like lemon scented or something like that.

Are they adding things to them?

Yeah, some of them. So, you know, those are great on a couple of different levels because now you've got something that keeps the bugs away and you've got a little bit of outdoor lighting.

Yes.

To go along with it.

Absolutely. Then, to be the above-and-beyond host from there, one of the things that's just really thoughtful to do is have bug spray available for your guests.

Yes.

You can be creative with that in lots of different ways, but just have it out and available and labeled and let it be known, like, look, this is here for you. In case there's any problems, just, you know, and have the different kinds because people are weird about DEET and all that other stuff.

Yes. Get the family kind.

Get the coconut oil. Yes.

Get the backwoods, like you might get cancer from this, and everywhere in between, you're good.

And, you know, also for those people, just add a little sugar water in there.

It's fine. Because there's always that one friend.

That's right. They've got it coming.

Yeah, they do.

So, and so when they get the, when they get the sugar water on them, one of the other things that, that's really good to have available for these, if it's okay, so this one's really more for like, if you're having young families over, parents with kids, which I think, you know, for, for most of our audience, there's, you know, either going to be grandkids or kids or, you know, nieces and nephews. There's going to be children involved usually.

Most of the time.

Um, so one of the things that's really thoughtful to have is what they would, when this article that we were doing some research called it a sticky station. So, and it's a place where there's, you know, like baby wipes and, and different things in order to help clean off children who inevitably get stickiness all over them.

Yeah, because, because there's, there's only really 2 options. Either they're gonna go into your house, right, and touch everything. Yes. Or they're gonna come up to you and touch you. Yes. And if you don't want those things to happen, have a sticky station.

Yeah, I mean, it's just I mean, there's not a lot to it, right? I mean, they're like paper towels.

Sure.

Baby wipes.

Yeah.

You know, different sprays and different things like that. But like, you know, just, just a space that's available. And the way we saw it in this, in this article we were reading was just a— it was a chair that had like a metal bucket that just had stuff in it, like cloths and rags and all, you know, everything that, you know, was kind of, you know, uh, it looked appealing to the eye to see it. And it was labeled sticky station. You know, it was just— it was, it was a neat idea to have for families there available.

Yeah, again, whenever you're starting to think about having a party, having this mindset of, okay, what are all of the possibilities that people might need to go into my house for, right? And if I can keep them out of my house, I'm probably wanting to do that. And this is one of those things, you know, whether it's, you know, having hand sanitizer outside just before people eat or the sticky station for people to wash up. Um, that— it's just a way to keep people out of your house unless they, you know, absolutely have to go inside.

Yeah. So, um, and then beyond that, and this is probably something you could even add on to like the sticky station, but this is something that you actually mentioned that I don't think we came across anywhere in doing the research for this show, was to have a first aid kit available.

Yeah, yeah. You know, I— here's the thing. My daughter can walk across the living room and get a paper cut. So like, I think if you're gonna be outside, a kid's gonna fall, someone's gonna push someone, you know, an ant, you're gonna get an ant bite. There's gonna be something that happens. And just having something there to say, hey, let me put a Band-Aid on it, you know, maybe some, some type of triple antibiotic ointment or something, bandages to just say, hey, look, I've got this available. I think it's probably a good practice to have around your house anyway, but to have it out and available, hey, that's just one more thing that you can do for your guests.

Absolutely! Let me tell you something, man. My house has a first aid kit. The reason it does— well, not one of the reasons it does— is because if I ever got brave enough to try and do any sort of electrical work, I would probably hurt myself.

Oh, there's no doubt.

Yeah, I— it's just, it freaks, and that's why I don't do it. Electrical work absolutely freaks me out. I don't understand it. I mean, I know that electricity comes from that plug and that the breaker box controls all of those outlets and switches and things, but beyond that—

Leave it to the professionals.

Leave it to the professionals, which is, which is why I'm really excited about our, uh, our sponsor this week. Uh, New Builds Electric. Uh, these guys specialize in all of your new build needs from start to finish. Whether you're building a new home, a metal shop, a barn, they have you covered for the power pole and meter install to the last finishing touches of decorative lighting. If you're having a mobile home or shell home added to your land, or you need a surge protector installed on your newly built smart home, New Builds Electric is the right company for you. Licensed and insured. They guarantee that all work will be installed up to code with the highest of quality. You can follow them on Facebook or

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Yeah. And you know, I, the thing that I like about them is they're, they're not looking at this going, okay, we only want the big projects. I mean, they're willing to work on the small projects too. I mean, whether you just want to add some can lighting, to your home, or you want to, you know, replace all your plugs. In fact, we had a house that we bought, the very first house, that were all 2-prong outlets everywhere. Yeah. And, you know, if you want to plug anything in, just about, you need a 3-prong outlet these days. So, you know, if you want to do new plugs, new switches, smart devices, outdoor lighting, you know— But you're huge right now. Oh yeah.

I mean, and it can be confusing to hook them up.

Sure it can be. And, you know, we're talking about even having a space outside to, to host a football game, right? If you need an outlet put out somewhere, I mean, I recently installed a big fan in our courtyard and, you know, I didn't have any power out there. So, uh, getting that taken care of, these guys, um, Courtney, uh, and Weston, they can help you out.

Absolutely. Which, which, I mean, like leads us right back into the party. I mean, like having outdoor lighting for when the, you know, the party lingers on into the evening hours. I mean, these guys would be perfect company to have, have 'em come out and install this stuff, make sure it's hooked up right.

Absolutely. So, and, and speaking of, you know, whenever it comes to outdoor lighting, like, um, did you know that like certain bugs are attracted to different colors of light?

Yes. So I, I mean, I, I don't know which ones specifically, but I know that it, yeah.

Someone had talked to me about this one time and they were like, oh yeah, there's always bugs around cuz you got those incandescent bulbs or whatever it is. And I was like, okay, so what's better? I mean, is LED better, you know, or these, you know, the fluorescent bulbs better? What's better? And he's like, actually, if you want bugs to stay away, it's yellow.

Huh.

Buying a yellow bulb, you will not have bugs attracted to it. And what's interesting is, um, when we bought the house that we're currently in, the outdoor lights were, were yellow lights right outside the front door. And I thought, man, this is horrible because honestly the light output is not as good, right, as you would get in a regular light bulb. But there aren't bugs around it.

Yeah.

And so, you know, I'm not saying go buy a bunch of yellow light bulbs, but it is something to consider is just the amount of bugs that are attracted to those light sources.

I mean, if you wanted to be really effective, I know that bugs can't see red.

Yeah, that's true.

So you can put a red light bulb in there.

Yeah.

It'd be like you're on Krypton, but, but you're bug-free.

So everybody's kind of happy. Yeah. Yeah.

So I'll tell you another trick that I've learned, and I don't even know why this one works. I've just witnessed it so many times and it, like the first time I heard it, it was like, oh, that's just a stupid old wives' tale. That does— that's not true. Yeah. But if you have a porch and usually the porch has a ceiling on it, you know, if you paint the ceiling of your porch baby blue, dirt daubers and spiders, they just don't want to be on it. They don't like it. I don't know what it is about it. It's not that they won't ever, but it's significantly less than what you would normally experience.

The reason is because it looks like the sky.

Ah, is that what people say?

That's what people say, is it looks like the sky, and so they think that they literally can't be there. They don't think that space even exists.

Interesting.

So they just won't go.

Huh. Yeah, I've experienced it many times now and it's absolutely true.

Yeah.

I mean, again, it doesn't mean that they won't. It's just much less likely to have it happen. Right. So, but anyway, going back to these, these outdoor— we have lots of options for outdoor light. We already mentioned one. We've got the tiki torches. You can have those. Those actually provide a good amount if you have enough of them. Yeah, they provide a good amount of light. But these new strand lights that you can buy, I think we'll link some of those up on Amazon because they're pretty affordable.

Sure. And they can be cool designs and, you know, they've, they've got colorful options and, you know, not, you know, just regular colored options, but string lights are really popular these days.

And they're pretty cheap to operate because most of them are LEDs now.

Yeah.

But they, and they still look cool.

Yeah. And, you know, some people will just string them up around the, you know, the perimeter of the, of the porch or whatever. But, but, you know, if you've got a tree out in the middle of your yard, you can run a line out to that. And, you know, you've got all of a sudden you've, you've spanned the gap, right. You know, across the entire yard and it's just more lighting options.

Yeah. One of them, one of my favorite things to do is actually to wrap trees in Christmas lights.

Yeah.

I think that's a really cool way to light up the yard. It looks pretty. It doesn't actually look, I mean, like it could look Christmassy, but like, you know, if it's in the fall, it still looks nice because it's just an outdoor area. Sure. And it's a good way to actually get some use out of those lights. instead of just that one month out of the year.

Right.

So yeah, those, those are all pretty good options. And, you know, there's traditional ones. One, like when it gets a little bit cooler outside, I mean, I enjoy having a fire. We actually have a big fire pit that we kind of gather around in our yard. But there's lots of different ways to do that. I mean, you could have a chiminea, you could have— they make these big metal ones that roll around for, you know, concrete patios and things like that.

Yeah.

So, you know, that, that good old caveman fire is, is a good gathering spot.

Yeah.

So, and it's weird, even when it's, even when it's hot outside, if you have a fire, people kind of come sit around it. Not for the warmth, just because it's, I don't know, it's sort of instinctively just a gathering place for people.

People like to look at fire, man. Yeah, it's fun to watch.

So other than that, man, I think the last thing that we have is just, you know, you got to have some good beverages for the folks.

Sure.

And you can be really creative with this. I saw recently there's one that's been going around pretty often about putting a spigot on a watermelon after you blend the inside of the watermelon.

What?

Yes. So the watermelon itself actually acts as the vessel for the— so you basically cut the— turn a watermelon on its side. Cut the side, the tip off, and then you have an immersion blender almost.

Oh my goodness.

That you stick down in there and blend the inside of that watermelon, and then you can add other goodness in there, whatever your preference might be.

Wow.

And then you— there's spigots that you can buy that actually go through the skin of the watermelon down at the bottom, and then people can come get their drink out of that watermelon.

That's fantastic.

Yeah, very, very cool.

Man.

So there's— so again, there's lots of ways to be creative about this. You know, you can, you can just go with bottles and cans for sure. Um, but if you're going to have cups, one of the things that a lot of people have suggested, you know, if you're going to have a party, again, there's probably going to be kids around. In order for people to not have to use the sticky station as much, you probably want to have cups with lids and straws.

That's a necessity.

Unless you're in California, in which case you'll be breaking the law and you'll go to jail. Yes. Or severely fined.

I'm just gonna go with yes. Yeah, and you know what, I actually saw a really interesting hack, um, online as well. So depending on what kind of beverage holder you're using, um, some people are taking like, um, cupcake holder, like the paper cupcakes.

The stump, stump cover.

Yeah, cupcake. The part that nobody likes to eat. Yes, and they'll take that wrapper and they'll put it over on top of their drink and poke a hole through it, put a straw in it, and that'll keep bugs out of it.

Oh, okay, just to keep the—

Just to keep bugs, because they're going to be attracted to the sugar.

Yeah.

You know, so—

If you're having sugary things.

Which you probably are.

Yep.

Especially if you got kids around.

Yes.

So, and another thing to just mention, and I can't believe we didn't think about this earlier, is like trash cans.

Ah.

Big trash cans. Or, or just be prepared to have multiple liners around and, you know, cuz you're gonna have a lot of trash most likely.

Oh yeah. So, yeah.

So yeah. Uh, and there's a lot of different oper— options whenever it comes to, uh, to drink stations.

Oh yeah. So like for our house, we actually have a kegerator.

Okay.

And that's not just for dispensing beer.

No.

Um, you can, you can have any kind of drink you want coming outta that thing. You could put iced tea in there, you could put, We've done lemonade, we've done cider, we've done root beer. Although, fun fact, if you use a keg for root beer, you can never use it for anything else ever again.

Well, that's because root beer is awful.

It will be forever tainted with the stain of root beer.

Just like your breath.

Yeah. But if root beer is your thing, that's your thing. It's not difficult to make. Homemade soda is not difficult to make to put into kegs. And so, like I say, some of you may be thinking, he just said kegerator, and that's going to cost me a fortune. I'll tell you guys, if you're willing to shop around, I picked up everything I needed for mine for $200.

Wow!

And it's a full fridge that's converted. But even converting them, it's not difficult. You can convert a chest freezer, and I think those are actually some of the cooler ones, because it's actually a surface that you can you know, actually pour drinks on. Fridges work great too though, um, because I like using the freezer to keep the mugs nice and frosty. Yes. Um, but it's just, it's a cool way to invite your guests to be interactive with their beverages.

Sure.

And again, it doesn't have to be beer and alcohol and all those kinds of— it can be those things.

Yeah.

And it works really well for those. But again, you can, you can put in soda, you can put in lemonade, you can, I mean, whatever, you can really do whatever you want. You could do fizzy orange juice if you really wanted to. I mean, yeah, it really doesn't matter. I mean, like, you can put whatever you want in there and get a little creative. You can, uh, and a lot of these brew shops and stuff, they also have soda mixes, and you can blend lots of different flavors together. They have them all there. Cool. Um, and it's, again, it's cheap to do.

Yeah, and that kind of stuff is fun. Yeah, I mean, because you don't, you don't get that just anywhere, right? And, and so it's a different experience. It absolutely is. And it's one of those things where You know, if you, so, you know, your party is successful if A, you're not running around, you know, because you didn't prepare well, uh, all, all night. And 2, um, which I realize I went A and then 2, saying that I did that.

That's fine.

Um, and 2 is that, you know, people leave your party saying something was really, really neat.

Yeah.

And, and sometimes, you know, the way you do drinks can be the thing that people walk away like that watermelon idea or, or, or a kegerator. It's not something that people have all over the place.

Right.

You know, um, or, or you can just buy those soda fountain stations. You know, you can buy those where you're kind of mixing your own, your own sodas, um, those types of things, you know. And then there's just the regular, you know, the old, the old school. You get a big massive gallon or 2-gallon mason jar, you know, slice up a bunch of lemons and limes, pour water in there. It's just something— it looks pretty at the bottom of the— yeah, you know, the bottom of the, uh, um, jar. You know, they're being creative with those types of things. Again, it's the experience that I think is something that people are going to talk about, they're going to appreciate. They're, they're going to walk away going, okay, they spent time on this and I appreciated it.

Yep. Yeah, every time, man.

Yeah.

Well, I think that's about it. Yeah, I think we've just created the perfect party.

Well, yeah, I think so too. One more thing I want to bring up.

Oh, okay.

And that is you mentioned kids.

Yes.

And so the only other thing that I would add is that what I've found is that if you don't have something specifically prepared for the kids to do, yes, then you're gonna wish that you never threw a party to begin with. Because I mean, part of the reason to throw a party is to be able to hang out with your friends, right? And, and the kids want to hang out with their friends too, but they need something to do. So whether that's an inflatable, I mean, you can you can buy cheap inflatables at Sam's. You can rent them for really inexpensive.

What do you mean when you say— you talking about like bouncy houses?

Yeah, like bouncy house types of things. They're fairly inexpensive. Um, or, you know, a water station, whether it's sprinklers or, you know, if you've got a pool, something like that. Um, you know, just, you know, craft stations, whether it's, you know, you know, coloring or whatever it is. Just have some activities available, uh, for your kids, maybe some music. Going, those types of things. I think you'll be happier with yourself.

Have you, have you seen these like instant water balloon fight things?

I have.

Those things are incredible.

Yeah, they got like, you can blow up like 50 at once.

I think it's more than that.

Oh my goodness.

Because I mean, they're supposed to have it like in a tub when you like go because they're just going to start dropping off and then they're just ready.

Oh my goodness.

So our kids actually did that over the 4th of July. It was amazing.

That, yeah, that needs to happen.

It was like a scene from Braveheart, but with water balloons. Freedom! That's fantastic.

Yeah, so anyway, that's, that's kind of the only thing. And so here's the deal. Most likely we forgot something.

Oh yeah.

And, and those of you out there listening are going, man, I'm an expert at this. And this is what I've learned. Send us that information.

Yeah, because, uh, or get your own podcast.

Stop critiquing us so much. We're not getting paid much for this or anything. So, um, yeah, but, but send us your ideas, your tips, uh, info@homewonershow.com. That would be fantastic. And, uh, you know, we'll share the love.

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That's right. Well, uh, it's been a fun episode. Oh yeah. And, uh, I'm ready to have a party. Yeah, let's do it.

After party.

An after party.

A party and then an after party.

Yeah, that's right. Well, thank you guys for downloading today's episode, for listening to us each and every week. We are here every Tuesday, so thanks for supporting us, and until then, we'll see you next time. See ya.