Any social gathering in your back garden is great if the weather is not too hot. With such good summers to enjoy cooking outside, Australia is known the world over for its love of barbecues. Of course, if you are inviting friends and family over for a barbecue, then you will want to create a convivial and laid-back atmosphere. This can be harder to achieve when the sun is strong, unfortunately. When guests overheat, they'll seek some way of cooling down. How can you make your next barbecue cooler when your guests come over?

Mist Sprayers

Hot weather mist sprayers are one of the best ways of helping to keep guests cool in rising temperatures. They are especially useful if you hold your barbecue on a patio or a terrace that has soaked up the sun's rays during the day and which continues to operate as a radiator in the late afternoon and early evening. Set a mist sprayer up at either end of your patio so that a fine film of water is made in the air that guests can pass through comfortably to cool down. Eventually, the mist will descend to the ground, helping to disperse the heat captured by your patio's paving slabs.

Shade Sails

You often see shade sails in children's playgrounds and at schools. The reason for this is that they are a very simple way of keeping a patch of land cool. With additional shading from a stretched piece of fabric, you'll be able to keep a large number of guests feeling comfortable even when the sun is directly overhead. Various sorts of shade sail designs are available to choose from but you might like to consider going for a bespoke one. This way, it can be set up for your particular location depending on the orientation of your home toward the sun. Bear in mind that darker materials used for the sail offer more UV protection than lighter ones despite the amount of shade that is generated being the same from similar models.

Awnings

Attached to the side of your property and extending outwards, awnings also make shaded areas for guests to sit beneath. However, they only tend to cast shade in the immediate vicinity of your home, such as outside of your patio doors. This might not be the best location depending on where you intend holding your barbecue. However, awnings are adjustable and some are even fitted with automated controls.