The air is warm, the breeze gentle, flowers are blooming, the birds are singing and tonight is the night. Tonight is your first big cookout. If you're like me, entertaining some close friends with great food and a relaxed atmosphere in your garden paradise is what spring and summer are all about. You want the event to be perfect. Also if you're like me, you've learned to accept that there's always some minor hurdle to overcome before you can claim victory for the evening.

With the grudging acceptance of the inevitability of a hiccup or two, my strategy is to prepare ahead of time and take several elements through dry runs. Your steps may vary, but the day of the event I make sure there's plenty propane for the grill and test light it. I go through a check list of consumables (drinks, chips, plenty of burgers, dogs or steak). Finally, I make sure my tiki torches light.

If that last sounds a bit over the top, I hope you'll forgive me, but the ambiance provided by outdoor torches is an important part of the mood I want to set and I've been unpleasantly surprised once before. To quote our former president, fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, um, you can't get fooled again.

It's the little things that get you in the end. Though there isn't much to tiki torches beyond a wick, fuel reservoir and the stick to hold them up, these deceptively simple critters can suffer from performance anxiety for several reasons. The obvious one being lack of fuel, but that's not the only reason. So, lesson learned, I test them.

You might also think that something as simple as a few tiki torches failing to perform is a fairly minor concern in the grand scheme of things. That may be true for some, but not in my case. Outdoor lighting can be the showcase of any good landscaping project. Whether low-voltage electric or, in my case, a well designed garden employing more primitive outdoor torches, it all works together with your planting and design to paint the perfect picture.

In my case, going without the torches would be like wiping the hint of a smile off Mona Lisa's face or straightening the Leaning Tower of Pisa. Each would still be a notable masterpiece but would lose something substantially for the absence of those quirks. The little things count for a lot!

Your objective, in hosting outdoor events, shouldn't just be focused on last minute preparation. You should be planning the moods you want to set before you even put shovel to soil. Do you want an elegant and classical setting? Do you want to simulate escape to a tropical paradise? Whatever your goal, make it one that's memorable for your guests; an escape from their everyday lives.

Gatherings that go into the night let you show of the features in your garden dramatically with landscape lighting. I shoot for a tropical paradise getaway in my garden so tiki torches are a natural (and inexpensive) tool that really brings things together. But there are so many amazing lighting techniques available with landscape lighting that you should really invest the time to learn the tricks and techniques for the best results.

By investing some up front time in planning and then implementing a well conceived landscape lighting layout, you will create events that will be exceptionally memorable. Where others have only their grill mastery to wow the crowd, you'll have your guests reminiscing around the water cooler on Monday about the mini-vacation you graciously provided them. Assuming, of course, you tested your lights before they arrived.