• Barbecues are generally held during the long days of summer. Most barbecue parties center on grilled food consumed outdoors in a picnic atmosphere. Add a special touch to your next outdoor gathering by including a few popular party games that have been adapted to fit a barbecue theme.
  
  

Spatula Badminton

• Spatulas replace badminton racquets in this gamebamboo spatula and spoon image by Jim Mills from Fotolia.com
  
  To play this game, you need a badminton net, four plastic spatulas, four barbecue aprons, four paper chef hats and a round balloon. Party or deep discount stores often carry inexpensive spatulas, aprons and hats. If possible, purchase two different colored hats or aprons, so each team is wearing its own color.
  
  Before starting, the four players are divided into two teams of two. Each player puts on his apron and hat and holds a spatula in one hand. Like badminton, one team stands on one side of the net; the opposing team stands on the other side of the net.
  
  The game is played similar to badminton. Players use their spatulas to hit the balloon over the net. Their hats must stay on their heads at all times. A team loses points if the balloon touches the ground on its side or if one of its members loses his hat.
  
  Play continues for 10 minutes. The team that ends with the fewest points wins the game.
  
  

Memory Tray

• Put 10-12 pieces of barbecue equipment on a large tray. Some examples include a paper chef's hat, barbecue apron, meat thermometer, gingham napkin, toy hamburger (borrowed from a child's plastic food set) or a bottle of mustard. Give everyone three minutes to study the tray, then cover it. Distribute pencils and paper and ask guests to write down every item they remember. The person who recalls the most items wins the game.
  
  

Where's the Beef?

• Hide plastic toy hamburgers and hot dogs (or photos of these items) around the yard before the party starts. Tell guests that you have "lost the beef" and need their help to find it. Ask them to search under bushes, behind trees, in the grass and throughout the area to find the beef. The person who finds the most items wins the game. If children are playing the game, give hints by saying "your grill is sizzling" when they are close to the item or "your grill is dying out" when they are far from the item.
  
  

Condiment Bottle Relay Race

• Play this game with an empty ketchup or mustard bottleketchup and mustard image by Ellanorah from Fotolia.com
  
  Divide party guests into teams of five to eight players. Each team is given an empty mustard or ketchup bottle, one empty bucket and one bucket filled with water.
  
  Line up the teams in rows behind their first bucket, which is full of water. Place the second buckets, which are empty, at the far end of the playing area.
  
  The first person in each line opens the condiment bottle, fills it with water from the first bucket and then replaces the bottle's cap. He runs to the second bucket and squirts all of the water from the bottle into the empty bucket, then runs back to his team and gives the bottle to the second person in line. The second person fills the bottle, covers it, runs to the empty bucket, empties the bottle and returns to his team. The game continues until all the water from the first bucket has been transferred to the second one with the condiment bottle. The first team to fill the second bucket is the winner.