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I would make several vinaigrette dressings to have on hand to add to salads and vegetables. When I have weekend-long visitors, I grill quite a bit and I grill extra to have left-overs for salads, etc. I always have hummus and cut up veggies around as well as a selection of cheeses and olives. I try to keep it simple and tasty. I want to party with my pals.

Another thing would be to have lots of pizza dough on hand - either home-made if you have time and the desire or store-bought or bought from the local pizza place.

Grilled or baked, topped with greens or tomatoes or whatever, filled with cheese and made into a calzone.

Quick, good, and even kid-friendly.

Wow--that sounds like so much fun!

Since it's a hot weather thing, I wouldn't cook that much at all--why not have lunch meats, cheeses, dips, spreads, breads, crackers, hummus, plenty of fresh fruit and cut-up produce for snacking and salad to pick at, and some mayo-type salads if they fancy that. Hard boil some eggs, make some pasta salads. One bar-b-que of nice burgers (veggie and meat) and chicken breasts with 'good' buns.

Have one brunch of French Toast/omlettes/pancakes and lots of cereal--cereal is a good go-to thing for kids.

Make your own ice cream sundaes for desserts, with cookies and brownies you make or buy before as add-ons.

Also, for one night you can do chinese or go to a nice brunch buffer place.

I don't like to serve untested recipes to guests, but if you have a breakfast casserole recipe -- the kind where you put bread and eggs in a dish the evening before and then bake it in the morning -- that might be a good one to make up for the first breakfast after they arrive.

I find a rice salad keeps better than potato or pasta salad when made ahead of time.

Also, of course, lots of ice and iced tea made up beforehand. Good luck.

I second the breakfast casserole idea - someone referenced bread in the eggs - this is strata, and it is awesome. I would make two up ahead of time, bake one, and then the other if you run out and if not, the second one the next day. I make stratas in muffin tins so that I can have breakfast for the week, and it microwaves pretty well.

Also, if your friends are all kind of foodies, get them involved to see what they would want to make. You could use all their hands to make tamales or empanadas or dumplings - something like that.

Definitely foods that require a degree of self-assembly: fancy tacos, flatbread or pita pizzas, omlettes, fondue, shish kabobs, etc.

The easiest dinner I've ever made for slightly foodie guests was middle eastern - kabobs, fresh grilled pita, salad, hummus, couscous or rice. Almost all of that can be prepped/assembled ahead of time - couscous might be one of the easiest things to make, yet can be made fancy and interesting depending on what you stir in.

Bake a batch of Cinnabons. This recipe makes a huge batch. You can make a zillion mini-cinnabons if you like in order to add some to your breakfast choices each day.

With some planning, you can do my recipe for pulled pork...

Chiffy's Pulled Pork
This dish seems to evolve but every time I reinvent it, I'm happier with it.

4 Lg. Carrots, Peeled, cut into 3" lengths
1 Lg. Onion, Peeled and quartered
5 Poblano or other medium spicy Chile Peppers, discard seeds and stem
1 14 Oz. Can Whole Peeled Tomatoes
3-10 Lg. Cloves Garlic, Peeled
1 Cup White Wine or Beef Broth
1-2 Tablespoons Chili Powder OR
2 Chipotle Peppers en Adobo (these come in a can - only use 2 peppers)
1 Tablespoon Cumin
Salt & Pepper
2 Large Fresh "Picnic Hams" or "Pork Picnic Shoulders"

With a very sharp paring knife, carefully remove the fat layer from each shoulder. If you get shoulder at Sam's it comes trimmed. The fat layer is not necessary as pork shoulder has lots of intramuscular fat to give it flavor. Set shoulders aside.

Most recent development on this recipe was Super Bowl Sunday. BF smoked the shoulder on his grill for two hours and then it got slow cooked in the oven overnight. Sheer Heaven. And the smokiness improved the pork 100% although it was yummy without smoking. Adding extra chipotle might increase smokiness if you can't smoke the pork. (This will also increase heat so be careful.)

(After smoking the pork proceed...)

Cut carrot, onion, chiles into large chunks; and squish tomatoes. You can leave garlic cloves whole. Place into a large roasting pan (or 2 if you don't have a monster-sized dutch oven or roaster). Add wine or beef broth. Add chili powder OR chipotles. Add S & P (you'll probably need about a teaspoon of salt and a half tsp of pepper. Add cumin. Stir the whole thing together and push the veggies to the outer rim of the roasting pan - put the picnic shoulder right in the middle. Cover the pan with foil (or its lid) and make sure you crimp the edges so the steam doesn't escape.

Slow cook in a 250 degree oven for 10-12 hours without the pre-oven smoking; or 8-10 hours after the shoulder is smoked.

When the cooking time is done, remove the shoulder to a bowl for easier handling. Have a large pan ready to accept the shredded pork.

This dish is like the loaves and the fishes of Bible fame and you will not believe the amount of food it will yield.

With your hands, begin shredding the pork. It should break up into a stringy mess (a stringy delicious mess). Place shreds in the pan where the pork will be heated or if making in advance, into a container with a lid. Allow to cool COMPLETELY before refrigerating.

Pour juices from the roasting pan into a large glass measure or other bowl and chill until you can spoon off the fat layer that will form on top. Discard fat layer.

Use defatted juice to moisten pork. I sometimes sauce it with a commercial BBQ sauce like KC Masterpiece or Open Pit or any of the more glamous gourmet concoctions out there. Lately I've come to appreciate the flavor of the pork with just its juices - as long as pulled pork is not DRY (something that really grills my cheese). Taste the juices and augment with a squirt of hot sauce or some of the adobo sauce from chipotles en adobo. If you feel it's too rich, you can add a touch of lime juice to cut through the richness.

I serve Pulled Pork with purchased corn bread, corn and flour taco sized tortillas, and sweet bell peppers sauteed with onions. Also offered are sour cream and salsa.

This link should point to a picture of the pulled pork (on the right).

I just had a whole house full of people for memorial day week.
Friday I did a baked pasta with meatballs and sausage, large mixed green salad, 2 rotisserie chickens (costco), with green bean salad (some chopped scallions and vinegarette) and a smashed potatoes. They picked on this for several days for lunches. I made lots of cookies to nibble (pizzelles, biscotti, snickerdoodles, brownies, black and white mini cupcakes, choc chip, oatmeal bars (for purists with organic jam) and a limoncello torte.

Saturday I did some grilling; mario's green chicken (thighs bone in) as a marinade/(reserve some for sauce) which I added some tequila to, some strip steaks which were on sale 5.99 lb, I picked up about 5 and we sliced them before serving so everyone got some meat, tomato cuke salad and grilled portobellos and fresh corn on the cob.

Sunday afternoon I did my rendition of the thomas keller quiche with bacon, sauteed mushrooms and a mix of cheeses (gruyere, sharp cheddar and colby jack) http://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/over-the-top-mushroom-quiche
also steamed shrimp, small croissants and more string bean salad for brunch. Mimosas and blood marys.

Monday we had the traditional burgers, dogs, ribs (boneless from costco dry rub overnight, which I did in the oven 2.5 hours at 225 then finished on the grill with some bbq sauce), potato salad, string bean salad, cuke tomato salad, and a huge fruit salad with some of those cookies.
I bought a lot of the produce local, or costco.
the meat was all reasonable even the rotisserie chickens and baked goods were all made by me.

This fed on and off about 14 people which some were here all weekend and some came and went.

@jerzee- "i'm not worthy" (bowing)-nice work! I'm so stealing some of your ideas! Totally did not think of the baked pasta thing-love the make ahead concept. i'm loving all the good ideas from you guys!

...And thanks for the kind words! (Danged itchy trigger finger and no edit!)

make 3 or 4 batches of oatmeal cookies. get the old fashioned oats. use the recipe in the lid. i use a mix of craisins and raisins. gives people something kinda healthy to munch on the whole weekend.

Do the breakfast casserole. Use your largest lasagna pan. You can start cooking this now if you want. You don't even need a 'real' recipe. I put 4 main layers, starting with.
1. browned hash browns with grilled onions (make these now and freeze em) (i use at least one big bag)
2. layer of lots and lots of bacon. (cut it up, fry it and freeze it now). (I use 2 pounds)
3. Layer of shreaded cheese. (I use a large bag 32oz.)
4. Layer of scrambeled eggs (I us at least 18 - 36 eggs)
The night before, pull your cooked potatoes/onions and bacon out of the freezer and assemble. Refrigerate overnight. Bake at 350 till eggs are cooked. With this much stuff it will take more than an hour. Maybe an hour and a half. Then all you need is rolls and butter juice and coffee.

I also smoke a pork shoulder for a July 4th bash. I offer 2 homemade BBQ sauces on the side: hot chipotle and regular. I'm going to add the green beans this year. sounds great. I also serve coleslaw for the traditionalists who like the slaw on their sandwich. @chiff0nade - Thanks for the green bean idea. I'd love the recipe. Thanks.

Use leftovers from dinners like spinach, grilled potatoes, peppers, sausage, cheeses--the list is endless-- to make breakfast frittata. If you have a large cast iron frying pan you can even cook it on the outdoor grill. Serve with some melon or fruit salad and bread. Always gets rave reviews and a great way to clean out the fridge!