WHEN I LIVED on Long Island, every May 15 I resolved to entertain outdoors throughout the entire summer. The weather was just perfect! We put a jaunty green canvas canopy over our back patio, got out the wicker furniture and made a long list of outdoor weekend dinner parties we’d host up until and including Labor Day.
What the hell was I thinking? By June, I never wanted to step foot outdoors again. It was hot, it was humid, and even though malaria seemed pretty much under control in the neighborhood, the mosquitoes were so thick and violent I had to stop my husband from burning truck tires to keep them at bay.
I’d like to say that entertaining outdoors got easier when I moved to northern California. It didn’t. Temperatures plunge into the low 50s at night. It’s windy, so the candles always blow out. After dark, I can hear the fruit rats chittering in the palm tree by the garage. And with our current drought and newest biblical weather event—Firestorm Season—half the time it’s a red flag day when you’re not allowed to barbecue anyway.
No matter where you live, outdoor entertaining is overrated. Which is why I’ve pretty much given up on it. But weirdly, it turns out that I’m in the minority.
“Every year we see more and more growth in people’s commitment to their outdoor spaces,” said Jackie Hirschhaut, the executive director of the International Casual Furnishings Association in High Point, N.C., which surveys people nationwide annually about how they plan to use their outdoor spaces. “And this year, the whole Covid experience put that trend on steroids. I think people rediscovered their outdoor space—like a room that all of a sudden you clean out and realize you can use.”