Offer Sangria, a fruity wine drink, (see recipe) and other drinks as guests arrive. After you have served a round of drinks, get to cooking the shrimp kabobs on the grill. After guests have had an appetizer and salad, pass out watermelon popsicles for them to suck on and to cleanse their palates in preparation for some more delicious outdoor cookery.

(Note: If you do not have time to make your own popsicles, buy high quality frozen ones in the supermarket and coat them in a liqueur as you are ready to serve, for an added zip.) The popsicles are fun, but here again, the ingredients are special.

Continuing on the ease-with-grace theme, mix your party dinnerware — paper with glass, etc. For example, use a sectioned paper plate, pretty plastic glasses with a cloth napkin, and your good silver place-settings, or mix-and-match them. Here are more ideas:

Have a bamboo tray preset for every guest. Set each tray as though it were their own personal table. Cover the tray top with a seasonal placemat, dinner plate, cloth napkin and silverware. Top with a dinner plate. Stack them at the end of the buffet line, where you may offer guests either a votive candle for their tray or a small tiny vase of flowers. They will find a place in the garden or at a small side table or garden wall to eat their alfresco meal with tray on lap.

Use a clean wheelbarrow as an ice bucket. Keep this garden tool out of the sun and away from the grill to keep the ice from melting too quickly. Keep bottled beverages in this big "bucket" so that guests can help themselves, or wheel it around to their spot and serve the drinks right from the wheelbarrow. You can also do this with a moveable garden cart from your patio set.