Food & Drinks

Punch is the most underrated drink format for a pool party. Not a cocktail. Not a jug of lemonade. Punch — a large-batch drink made in advance, served from a…

When guests arrive, the first thing they reach for is the pool party charcuterie board. If they like what they see, they are already set to enjoy the party. The…

A lot of thought goes into planning and preparing the main dish. The dessert gets photographed. But the pool party side dishes get assigned to whoever volunteered at the last…

Most hosts default to the same rotation when it comes to making pool party snacks for adults — chips and dip, a veggie platter, a cheese board, and a bowl…

Do you know why pool party cupcakes are the most practical dessert decision you can make? Not because they are easier to make than a full cake — they are…

The non-alcoholic drink station is the most underplanned element at most pool parties. Hosts will spend hours perfecting the signature cocktail—the frozen piña colada, the spritz, the punch bowl—and then…

A BBQ pool party is the most ambitious thing a backyard can be asked to do, and also the most rewarding when it works. You are running two distinct operations…

Individual cocktails at a pool party are a beautiful idea that falls apart in practice within thirty minutes. You make the first round. Then someone wants a refill. Then three…

A pool party cake has one job that no other pool party detail shares. Everything else — the decorations, the food, the playlist, the floats — creates the atmosphere. The…

Most pool party hosts think about food in categories. Snacks. Drinks. Dessert. Maybe something on the grill. What they rarely think about is sequence. A pool party menu is not…