Hosting a successful barbeque event isn't quite as simple as it may first appear.
Although a well hosted day should ensure that everyone can relax and enjoy themselves, there is always room for things to go wrong.
So what is it that causes the greatest amount of disasters? It's undoubtedly the failure to prepare properly that causes many of the problems that people encounter.
Indeed, many people fail to do much preparation at all.
They think that, since the event will be a casual affair, they can take a casual approach to getting everything ready.
Unfortunately, such an approach will rarely lead to success.
What you should be aiming for is a day that everyone will enjoy.
Making sure that this is the case will require some thought.
Central to the day will be the food, so this is probably the element that will require the greatest amount of thought.
You need to consider what you will be cooking, how you will prepare and how you will actually do the cooking.
What you will cook should reflect the tastes and requirements of your guests.
You need to give plenty of thought to the type of meal that they are likely to enjoy.
Give particular thought to any specific dietary needs that they might have.
Once you've decided what to cook, give some consideration to how much of it you can prepare early.
Anything that cuts down on work on the actual day will be a bonus.
Finally, how are you going to cook it? This may seem like an obvious question, but cooking on a BBQ will require you to know how the equipment works and which areas of the cooking surface reach the highest temperatures.
If you don't already know this then it's worth having a brief trial run before any guests arrive.
The less that you leave to chance, the greater potential for cooking success that you will have.