As temperatures start to rise this spring, it’s time to roll out the picnic tables and clip the roses in preparation of garden party season. If you’ve ever thrown a backyard soiree, you’ll know that juggling the menu and decor are stressful enough without having to worry about potential rain. But with these garden party tips and tricks, you can stay cooler than ever.

Eat buffet-style

The worry of serving up meals isn’t fun for anyone. It’s not fun for you as you stress over everyone having the perfect plate, and it’s not fun for your guests as you stand and sit constantly. Just relax! Buffet set-ups might be more informal, but they keep the tone light and allow for your guests to help themselves at their own leisure. Plus, you can still create a beautiful table with individual place settings to up the ambiance.

Go frozen

You don’t need to spend hours in the kitchen preparing for your garden party – cooking a few finger food dishes from frozen will allow you to spend time on other things. These Lightly Spiced Wedges from McCain are seasoned with herbs that will complement other seasonal dishes, while frozen mini quiches offer a garden party favourite with none of the hassle. Potato wedges and other light bites will still taste fresh and delicious, and nobody will know you didn’t spend hours individually prepping each.

Use household items for decoration

The more mismatched, the better. Garden parties are a notoriously high-brow affair, but they don’t need to be. In fact, recent party trends show us that rustic chic is the way to go. Even basic household items make for creative decor, keeping the atmosphere laid-back while still having that wow factor. Mismatched china and drinks served in jam jars are informal but quirky, and will give your garden party that stylish, rustic edge.

For dessert, opt for store-bought

Your garden party’s grand finale shouldn’t give you sleepless nights. After all, by dessert time the party is starting to wind down – and so should you. That’s why we suggest a store-bought dessert, preferably something with fruit and heaps of whipped cream. If your store of choice has skimped on the toppings, this is your opportunity to make the premade dessert your own. You can even go as basic as fluffing it up with a creamy topping, fresh fruit or a sprinkling of powdered sugar.

Don’t be afraid to delegate

We know that shouldering the entire menu of your garden party can seem like a point of pride, but you shouldn’t be afraid to let others help you out where food prep is concerned. Any good guest will offer to bring something, so you shouldn’t worry about accepting. Just make sure that if you do allocate dishes to other guests, you’re explicit about what they should bring. It would be a shame to end up with twelve bags of spicy wedges and no sausage rolls, after all.

Have a wet weather plan

There’s nothing quite as stressful trying to predict the weather, especially in the UK. What will be will be, and so the only thing you can do is plan ahead in case there’s an unexpected summer shower. Setting up tables in a gazebo or having a tent on hand is optimal, but if your garden is too small for either, no bother. You can always have just-in-case tables set up indoors where you can flee until the rain passes and it’s safe to return outside.

Garden parties are the perfect time to kick back and luxuriate in warmer weather, so don’t spend all day stressing about the rise on your cake. If you’re a seasoned host or hostess, how do you settle your party-throwing jitters?

The year 2017 is a very interesting year, to be sure. Some are predicting that 2017 will be the year of disruption such as disruption has never been seen before. No money will become new money, and old money will become no money. Industries are shifting.

This definitely rings true when we come to the area of food and beverages. There have been massive shifts recently in the way we view what we are going to take into our bodies, and many are predicting that this is just the tip of  a massive wave of innovation that will sweep through us all.

For thousands of years in cultures all across the world, alcoholic drinks have been the first choice for people going out to have a good time. There are of course various sound reasons for this. But there is a new wave of drinks called Botanicals, beverage products that are based around super ingredients, or “hero” ingredients, and are designed to be healthful, deliciously flavorful and stimulating from the bottom up.

How many of us are just frankly exhausted, and the last thing we want to do in our precious free time is be imbibing a substance that makes us even more tired (since it is, after all, a central nervous system depressant)? Adding to this, people are now more aware than ever of just how bad for your health drinking alcohol actually is. Botanicals are a hot new product that have a lot of potential to stay in the market because they actually promote health.

Not to mention the recipes are put together with input from people working in gastronomy, people with refined palates who know how to make something taste good!

So the end result are lines of drinks that have amazing new flavors (and every one is vastly different from all the others so variety never is lacking), provide health benefits, are super agreeable to the discerning palate, and in addition to all this, provide proven health benefits. No more hangovers, no more negative effects etc. And you can pick them up everywhere. They even have a My Voucher Codes for it.

Let’s face it; it’s about time that we started thinking more about our health and changed our habits, and this includes not only our work but also our leisure. We see how sick the generations that came before us and how quickly they got that way, and how hard it is to get out of it. So we want to fix the problem at the root, and if that means disruptive changes in our environment, so be it!

As late as even several years ago, if you asked any real foodie about where to eat in Beijing, they’d look grim and maybe make a few half hearted suggestions, or maybe even just tell you to get on a plane and go to Hong Kong or Shanghai.

But this is 2017 and the world is a rapidly changing pace. Beijing has recently really started to come into its own as far as fine dining and good gastronomy is concerned. You no longer have to look so hard to find good offerings in tons of different international styles. Here are some of Beijings best offerings, in various styles and at many different price points.

Out of the many styles of Chinese cooking, imperial cuisine is perhaps the most overlooked and underrated. With that in mind, we would like to point you to Tiandi Yijia, where imperial cuisine fuses with select contemporary techniques to produce something truly spectacular. Found in the restaurant district right next to the Forbidden City, this place is not cheap, but it’s worth every last RMB you will spend.

The south of China is famous for its dim sum, among many other things, and Beijing is not short of offerings in this area. Our favorite over here is the famous La Garden, which is highly recommended for its crystal dumplings and egg custards. This place can get crowded, so go there early.

Haidilao is a Sichuan restaurant, serving what many people consider to actually be the most underrated regional cuisine in China, and certainly one of the top exported cuisines. Haidilao is famous for its exquisite bubbly hotpots. Love of spicy food is recommended for the full experience here.

For Japanese fare, especially sushi and sashimi of course, there is Hatsune, with its expertly cut and prepared offerings. Vietnamese food at its absolute best can be easily found at the very chic Susu. And now, there is a delicious little part of Italy that has located itself in a remote little alleyway far away from any of the traditional restaurant districts. Check out Mercante, which serves up simple but absolutely top-notch pastas and ragus etc.

So now, as you are cruising around town in your Blacklane, be sure to stop and check out some of Beijings newest and best culinary offerings. Your palate will thank you for it. Bon appetite everybody!