October blog
How to organise a deceptively impressive (and safe)
Bonfire Night party
Bonfire
Depending on how much space you’ve got you might want a brazier type fire in the back garden or a tee-pee style bonfire for bigger spaces. Whichever you choose, make sure your wood is dry (and not stained with any potentially toxic chemicals). Start with kindling and then build your bigger logs and wood around it allowing the air to circulate. Keep a water hose handy (just in case) and also for dampening down the smoke when the fire starts going out to keep your neighbours happy.
Fireworks
Buy them in a box – instead of everyone hanging around in the freezing cold for 5 minutes every time you light a rocket, buy a fireworks display in a box – light it once and then enjoy the spectacle of a full display – everyone will marvel at your firework organising prowess. Oh and don’t forget the sparklers – always a crowd pleaser and we’re all big kids at heart.
Food and drink
Keep it simple!
Pre-cook an oven full of baked potatoes and a pan full of home made chilli and/or vegetable chilli with a big bowl of grated cheese – perfect for a cold night and easy to make. If you’re not hot on puddings, rope one of your friends into making a big tray of apple crumble – you can buy ready-made custard. Or go to Thorntons and buy a load of treacle toffee to pass around. Easy!
Serve the usual array of bottles of beer (which will keep cold outside), wine and fizz and you might also want to have some mulled wine on the go – delicious and again very easy to make.
Finale:
Buy some chinese lanterns – a perfect finish to the evening, they will waft slowly up into the night sky – just be sure to set them off carefully so they don’t get caught in your next door neighbour’s tree which would spoil the effect.
Have fun!
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