18 Products to Elevate Your Next Backyard BBQ

Where there's no smoke, there's TIKI fire. The brand builds their 25" stainless steel fire pit with a patent-pending internal airflow system designed to stoke stellar flames without the high levels of smoke and ash that normally accompany them.

TIKI's low smoke fire pit burns either with traditional firewood, or a TIKI Wood Pack , the latter of which enables an instant light fire for those of you all TIKI-tock about getting your fire pit roaring.

Arteflame's 40" Grill goes from a BBQ with visiting family tonight to a bonfire with the lady you didn't want to torture with meeting them when they all leave tomorrow. A slick, contemporary design for your patio or back yard, the combo grill and fire pit burns both wood and charcoal from within a US Corten steel spun bowl, which you can use with or without the included 1/2" carbon steel cooktop.

I learned about The Loudest Wireless Bluetooth Speaker from my recently deaf friends Maurice and Sue, who tested Soundboks' 126dB bad boy at Burning Man. Conclusion:

It's loud.

And, also to their benefit, heat-, wind-, and dust-resistant. Even in the middle-of-nowhere Black Rock City desert, which supports Soundboks' second claim that their Loudest Portable Speaker stands up to shock, temperature, water, and weather like it ain't no thing.

Now that summer is starting anew, the Loudest Wireless Bluetooth Speaker's courtesies extend to music lovers and dance partiers who aren't going any farther than their back yards, but: 1) don't want to have to worry about sudden changes in weather; and 2) do want to, as the band Holland would say, Wake up the neighborhood! Wake up the neighbors good!

A Cowboy Cauldron brings together folks from all walks of life. Wranglers can cook out with witches. Dudes from the ranch can grill with dads from McMansions. Fantasy fans can warm their hands across the fire pit from hipsters. Cowboy Cauldrons know no boundaries. Even better, the Salt Lake City-based company says no matter who you are, "a Cauldron will literally change your life. In fact, it will almost surely change the lives of grandchildren and great-grandchildren who aren't even born yet."

I was just thinking the other day that I could stand for a good round of co-ed jello wrestling at my mama's next backyard BBQ (I know, not the ideal location, but she's the one with the back yard; I live in a cond.) But when I started doing the calculations to figure out how many boxes of gelatin-forming strawberry granules I'd need to fill a backyard swimmin' hole, I realized...I'm really shitty at math. It would definitely be way more cardboard and little paper sacks than I'm willing to paper cut myself opening though.

However, after 40 years of lazing around waiting for other people to do stuff for me, I have learned that where there's a problem, some go-getter type will always figure out a solution from which I can profit. Here, it's the Jello Wrestling Package. A giant bag of jello crystals ready for gelatinization, each Jello Wrestling Package makes up to 100 gallons of tussle-quality jello. Just dump its contents into an empty pool, mix with 100 gallons of water, crack a beer, and wait for the product to set.

The Crafty Cocktail is all smoke and mirrors chimneys. Their Cocktail Smoking Chimney Kit comes with everything you'll need to infuse your bourbon, whiskey, or mixologist's especiale with a little smouldering barrel aged wood. Using the included cocktail chimney and butane torch, the show you put on while doing it should be just as lit.

Now here's a way to win your backyard BBQ...or first date. My Hibachi BBQ's 3-in-1 Sit Around propane gas grill is an investment to be sure, but think of all the use you'll get out of it, showing off to friends and family, entertaining your boss' wife, and impressing Tinder dates with your mad teppanyaki skills. You want to Netflix & chill? First you better apron up & grill.

My Hibachi BBQ goes 3-in-1 with its centerpiece surface, a flat-top teppanyaki griddle that can also change into a standard BBQ grill or a multi-purpose cast iron stovetop. The grill table has 3 integrated folding surfaces that flip out to form space for 4 to Sit Around the hibachi and eat. Four folding stools are also included.

But can these fire dragons roast marshmallows? Maybe not with their breath, but Campfire Flyers, kinetic dragon sculptures powered by the flames of your campfire, could probably be rigged to hold the sticks.

Designed by kinetic artists, and father and son, Jeffrey and Carl Zachmann, Campfire Flyers consist of steel dragon cutouts attached to rods and a ground stake. They loosely resemble a mobile you'd hang in a kid's room, but instead of a crib, Campfire Flyers dangle over a campfire or fire pit. When lit, the fire's flames create thermal convective currents, with rising heat that creates an updraft and makes the dragons fly. In circles, with wings flapping, like they're protecting the land below.

Under the motto, "Make the good times better," the Kong Bong is a combo can koozie and beer bong that transitions between the two in seconds. The insulating koozie holds beer cans, keeps 'em cold, and facilitates condensation-free polite sipping from the tab when business on the top is appropriate.

But when it's time to party on the bottom, the Kong Bong koozie's hard plastic construction lets it convert to a vessel that can also hold liquid on its own. A corrugated hose screws into the bottom of the koozie to serve as your chugging conduit and, once you've got the open end plugged with your thumb, pour up to 16 ounces of beer straight into the Kong Bong koozie. Then, prepare your pharynx.

Twinkie, Twinkie little star / how I wonder what you are...still doing in your giant Party Size Twinkies baking pan. Get! In! My! Belly!

Hostess has released a Party Size Twinkies Baking Kit, and even though I've never before associated Twinkies with backyard BBQs, I feel like the pairing is appropriate, and I am all in.

Bricknic modular cooking bricks have many qualities I would endorse, but the coolest thing about these clay culinary tools is that you can fill them up, stack them up, and fire them up to build your own brick oven. Whose individual bricks are filled with your food!

That's right, filled with and your food. Those key descriptors shouldn't be lost on you. Bricknics aren't about radiating heat outward onto a cornucopia of delectable eats you must then share family-style with others. Each brick houses its own meat, fish, veg - even, bread, cake, or pie! - which heat radiates inward to cook tagine-style. And when the magical process is complete, the contents to me look to be perfectly portioned for one.