Drinks on the Patio

Its seems that lately everyone is starting to gear up for fall.  Don't get me wrong, I love fall.  It may be my favorite season.  But I am not ready to do away with summer just yet! While I still grasp at the warm weather and sunshine, I'm going to share with you some patio projects this week!

It all started when my sister gave me a set of wine glass stakes, complete with a bottle holder. My sis, knowing the wino that I am, thought I'd make great use out of them.  Stick a stake in the ground, to hold my wine glass, now thats awesomesauce. I was all excited to use them until I walked outside and realized, ah crap, we put a patio in last year! You cant stick a stake into brick!

That is when I started to get creative about how I could use these stakes. Quickly I realized that these stakes are freakin sweet, and I needed more of them. But they were also a little pricey. When I entertain on the patio, everyone must be able to put their wine glass in a cool stake because it really freaks drunk people out. "Dude! Why is your glass floating?!"  Yep, that does not get old my friends.  So this week in a series of posts, Im going to show you my projects which include, creating your own cheap-o wine stakes, beer holder stakes, and of course, a place to put them if you have a patio.  You dont have to have a patio to take advantage of these great projects.  A little spot of grass will do just fine.  Afternoon picnic in the park? Perf! 

So first up, here is my patio....

In this photo are some of the projects I'm going to show you this week!

This week you will learn how to make wine glass stakes, beer bottle (or can!) stakes, and drink stake stand.

Here's a close up if you needed it. 

Lets get started with our first project, wine glass holder stakes!

Stop in your neighborhood hardware/home improvement store.  I went over to Menards.  They have a section with yard sale signs, and these are sign stakes. They cost 99 cents each! Yep, read that again folks, 99 cents!!!  Grab a few of these stakes.  Each one will hold one single wine glass.  Oh! TIP! I highly recommend using plastic wine glasses.  Nobody likes broken glass.  Especially if it ends up in the bottom of your foot.  

Now, take these bad boys home and bust out a good pair of pliers, or some kind of tool you can use to hold and bend the metal.  You may work up a sweat, but its totally worth it.

You will start by bending the top loop.  Make it so the loop is parallel to the ground.

Leave that second loop alone.  Its handy for pushing your stake into the ground later.

Next, you'll want to pull the ring open.  Just wide enough that the stem of your glass can pass through it easily. Its handy to have a glass nearby to see how far you need to stretch the ring open.  The base of your glass will rest on the loop.

Stick that stake in the ground and slide your glass in! Viola!!  You are done! Floating wine glass, there you go!!  Now, pour your favorite bottle, and show off to all of your wino friends!!!

Stay tuned this week for more deets on how to satisfy your beer drinking friends!

**Note: I had to cut the length down on these stakes. They were a little tall for my stake holder.  I took about 6-7 inches off the bottom.  I would recommend testing it out before pouring wine and having it spill all over.  Alcohol abuse is just not acceptable people!