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Outdoor Entertaining Participation Statistics: Hosting, Barbecues and Gatherings

Survey findings on outdoor space, home hosting, barbecue occasions, guest contributions and outdoor entertaining preferences.

November 12, 2026 8 min read khillbbqcompany.com Editorial Team

Contents

Outdoor entertaining participation statistics: who has and uses outdoor living space

Outdoor entertaining begins with access to a place to sit, eat or gather outside, but having that space does not mean people use it as often as they would like. In ICFA’s 2025 survey, 85% of households had some type of outdoor space, including a porch, patio, balcony or deck. Among households with outdoor living spaces, 77% said they underutilized the space, while 23% said they used it as much as they wanted to. Those responses describe reported use and satisfaction, not the number of parties held. Source: ICFA 2025 consumer research

Outdoor-space measureSharePopulation
Had a porch, patio, balcony, deck or other outdoor space85%Households
Underutilized outdoor living space77%Households with outdoor living spaces
Used outdoor living space as much as wanted23%Households with outdoor living spaces

The access figure and the use figures have different denominators: the 85% refers to households generally, while the latter two percentages refer only to households with outdoor living spaces. The paired use responses point to a gap between availability and desired use, but they do not identify why that gap exists. Source: ICFA 2025 consumer research

Outdoor entertaining participation statistics: outdoor hosting frequency and settings

The 2025 IHA At-Home Entertaining Survey distinguishes households that favor outdoor events from those that mix indoor and outdoor settings. Among respondents, 18% said they held gatherings outdoors more often than indoors, and 31% said they split indoor and outdoor events evenly. These are comparative hosting patterns; the figures do not indicate how many events respondents held or how often they hosted overall. Source: 2025 HomePage News At-Home Entertaining Report

Age differences appear in the report’s measure of hosting most events outdoors. Respondents aged 18–34 were the group most likely to say this, at 23%. This age-specific result should be read as a subgroup finding, rather than as the share of all consumers who host most events outside. Source: 2025 HomePage News At-Home Entertaining Report

The reported measures capture different things: “more outdoors than indoors,” an even indoor/outdoor split, and “most events outdoors” are not interchangeable categories. They provide a view of setting preference, not a full distribution of event counts. Source: 2025 HomePage News At-Home Entertaining Report

Outdoor entertaining participation statistics: seasonal barbecue participation

HPBA’s barbecue industry survey gives holiday-specific measures of grilling among adult primary or shared grillers in the United States and Canada. The survey was conducted online in September 2021 and the report was published in 2023, so these are 2021 survey findings, not measurements from 2023 or 2026. Among grill owners, 54% grilled on the Fourth of July, 47% on Labor Day, 44% on Memorial Day and 34% on Father’s Day. Source: 2023 State of the Barbecue Industry

OccasionGrill owners who grilled
Fourth of July54%
Labor Day47%
Memorial Day44%
Father’s Day34%

The same survey also recorded grilling on colder-weather and other calendar occasions. Among grill owners, 30% cooked out for the Super Bowl, 20% on Thanksgiving, 14% on New Year’s Day, 14% on Valentine’s Day and 11% on Christmas or Hanukkah. These responses show that grilling was reported beyond the summer holidays in the survey; they do not establish how often each person grilled outside those named occasions. Source: 2023 State of the Barbecue Industry

HPBA also reported non-dinner grilling: 12% of surveyed grillers had grilled for brunch in recent years, and 7% for breakfast. The report does not define “recent years” as a specific annual period, so these figures should not be treated as yearly participation rates. Source: 2023 State of the Barbecue Industry

Flavor was cited as a reason for grilling by 57% of grill owners. Other reported reasons were lifestyle, at 40%; entertainment, at 33%; and convenience, at 29%. These are reasons respondents selected, not evidence that any one motivation causes more grilling or hosting. Source: 2023 State of the Barbecue Industry

Outdoor entertaining participation statistics: backyard gatherings by occasion and age

A June 2025 SSRS poll asked U.S. adults how they usually celebrate the Fourth of July. A total of 58% said they usually go to a picnic, party or BBQ. The poll surveyed 1,004 nationally representative adults aged 18 and older between June 20 and June 22, 2025. The measure is about usual holiday behavior and includes events away from home as well as backyard gatherings. Source: SSRS, The Public and 4th of July

Age groupUsually attend a picnic, party or BBQ for the Fourth of July
18–2972%
30–4964%
50 or over47%

The poll’s age breakdown shows that the reported share was 72% among adults aged 18–29, 64% among those aged 30–49, and 47% among adults aged 50 or over. These are subgroup responses about celebrating by going to a picnic, party or BBQ; they do not isolate who hosts, who attends someone else’s event, or whether the gathering takes place outdoors. Source: SSRS, The Public and 4th of July

A separate at-home survey found that 49% of consumers responding to the 2025 IHA survey had hosted celebratory gatherings, such as birthdays, at home. This measure covers home hosting generally and is not specific to outdoor parties or to the Fourth of July. Source: 2025 HomePage News At-Home Entertaining Report

Outdoor entertaining participation: home-hosting participation and event types

BCC/Futuresource’s nationally representative U.S. survey, fielded in April 2024, asked whether people had hosted an event at home with at least 3 guests during the prior 12 months. Among all respondents (N=10,046), 50% answered yes and 47% answered no; 4% answered “Don’t know” in the chart. The question measures home events with a minimum guest count, not outdoor entertaining specifically. Source: The Scale of Consumer Packaging Waste and Elevated Health Problems Due to Confusion, p. 13

Prior 12-month home-event hosting responseShare of all respondents
Yes, hosted an event with at least 3 guests50%
No47%
Don’t know4%

Among respondents who had hosted a home event in the prior 12 months (N=4,998), 45% cited an informal social gathering, such as a BBQ, as a reason for hosting. Other reported reasons included formal friends/family events (38%), a house party (34%), kids’ events (24%), and a sporting-related event (23%). The list also included hosting a club or group (11%) and another reason (3%). These are multiple reasons reported by hosts, rather than mutually exclusive event types, and the survey does not specify that they were outdoors. Source: The Scale of Consumer Packaging Waste and Elevated Health Problems Due to Confusion, p. 13

The survey asked home-event hosts about average attendance at their event or events during the period. The largest listed group was an average of 6–10 guests, reported by 36%; 25% reported 3–5 guests, and 23% reported 11–20 guests. For larger average groups, 9% reported 21–30 guests, 3% reported 31–40 guests and 2% reported 41–50 guests. The denominator is the 4,998 respondents who hosted home events in the prior 12 months. Source: The Scale of Consumer Packaging Waste and Elevated Health Problems Due to Confusion, p. 13

Outdoor entertaining participation: outdoor cooking motivations and guest contributions

In ICFA’s 2025 survey, households with outdoor living spaces were asked what they would do more of after updating that space. The responses were intended activities, not observed changes: 60% said they would spend more time with family and friends, 55% would eat al fresco, 48% would socialize, and 44% would do more entertaining. The figures describe potential use among households with outdoor spaces and should not be read as measured post-renovation behavior. Source: ICFA 2025 consumer research

Outdoor cooking can accompany entertaining, but the HPBA and IHA findings describe distinct survey populations and questions. In HPBA’s September 2021 survey of adult primary or shared grillers in the United States and Canada, 33% of grill owners cited entertainment as a reason for grilling. In the 2025 IHA survey, guests brought desserts at least half the time for 57% of respondents, side dishes for 52%, and appetizers for 44%. The IHA contribution results concern food and drink at gatherings hosted at home, without specifying that gatherings were outdoors. Sources: HPBA; 2025 HomePage News At-Home Entertaining Report

Food-serving preferences also show how hosts organize home gatherings. In the 2025 IHA survey, 50% said buffet or self-serve was their most popular gathering style when serving food, while 37% preferred sit-down meals. In the 2026 IHA survey, 51% preferred a self-serve or buffet setup. These are report-specific survey findings; they are not a direct year-to-year trend comparison, since the checked results do not establish that the samples and question wording are identical. Sources: 2025 HomePage News At-Home Entertaining Report; 2026 At-Home Entertaining Report

The 2026 IHA report also asked who provides food at gatherings. It found that 64% of hosts provided most of the food, 26% usually had guests bring half, and 7% relied on guests for most of the food. These responses describe reported food-sharing arrangements among hosts, rather than outdoor participation. Together with the 2025 guest-contribution findings, they show that home gatherings can combine host-provided food with guest contributions, while the available measures do not say whether the meal was cooked outdoors. Source: 2026 At-Home Entertaining Report

Sources

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khillbbqcompany.com Editorial Team

Editorial team

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