Time for the Best End of Summer Kids’ Party Now

A little late, we just had our annual summer kids’ party over the weekend. The grandkids had been away most of the summer; then they were sick.

This is our fifth annual summer party. I started the first one during the pandemic to give the grandkids something to look forward to; it’s become an annual family tradition.

Keep Food Simple for your Summer Kids’ Party

To keep the menu simple, we had grilled hot dogs on buns. (Steve also grilled chicken andouille and Italian sausage as options.) With skewers of vegetables and fruit, and homemade paletas for dessert, it was a simple meal.

• Vegetable kabobs: Skewer cucumber chunks with red and yellow cherry tomatoes and fresh mozzarella mini balls. Make a dip of balsamic vinegar, Dijon mustard, and extra virgin olive oil. Or use bottled salad dressing.
• Fruit kabobs: Skewer fresh fruits such as cantaloupe and pineapple wedges, strawberries, and grapes. Make a dressing of plain regular yogurt and honey.

Balloon Tip: When you start a new helium tank, write the number of balloons blown directly on the tank with a Sharpie. That way, you’ll have an idea of how much helium is left for your next party.

If the children are little, skip the bamboo skewers and use lollipop sticks when making kabobs.

This Year’s Summer Kids’ Party Games

It was a hot day and so we didn’t get to all of the planned games. One game I had purposely skipped was the annual fishing game. I expected it would be boring, now that the kids are older. Turns out it was a favorite. We’ll have to revisit it next year.

Individual Entertainment

Bowling Bottles: Collect nine plastic individual-size soda bottles. Fill with enough water to weight it down. Arrange the bottles as bowling pins. To ensure that the pins are always in the same position for each bowler, make a triangle from blue painter’s tape.

You’ll need to calibrate the amount of water in the bottles to the ball you are using. Too much water and the bottles won’t tip over; too little and all the bottles will topple with a glancing blow.

Giant Bubbles: I bought a new giant bubble-making set since our old one is missing. This kit comes with a small bottle of dry mix; you add 1 tablespoon of the dry mix to 1/2 cup of Dawn and lots of water. The dry mix is probably enough for two more times. Then we’ll have to make our own bubble solution .

A Team Game for Your Summer Kids’ Party

Water Balloon Toss: Fill water balloons. Divide into two teams. Hang a hoop, such as a reshaped wire hanger between the two teams.

Take turns tossing a balloon through the hoop, one person at a time. The defenders on the other side of the hoop must try to catch the balloon without bursting it.

Award 10 points for each balloon that makes it through the hoop safely. Award 10 points to the defenders for each balloon that they catch intact. This game outcome was inconclusive–we laughed so much, we lost count.

Relay Games are Team Building

Bring Home the “Bacon”: Set out grocery items along two relay paths, with items at the same spot for each team. Make corresponding cards naming each item, one set for each team. Put each set of cards in a paper bag (so the cards stay hidden) at the end of the relay track. Give each team a shopping bag.

The first person on each team runs with the shopping bag to their team’s bag of cards, picks up a card, then finds the corresponding item on the relay path, puts it into the shopping bag, and brings it back to home base. Repeat until one team brings home all the items first.

Silly Sentences: Prepare 2 sets of cards with nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs. Make five sets of each type for each team. For example, for nouns: PANDA, ELF, PRINCESS, ZOMBIE, PIRATE. Verbs could be: LAUGHS, CRAWLS, SCURRIES, PRANCES, HOWLS. For adjectives: SMART, SILLY, ANGRY, FUNNY, SAD. For adverbs: SECRETLY, FOOLISHLY, CAREFULLY, MADLY, BADLY. Color-code the cards by type to make it easier to distinguish the sentence parts. Put each set of cards in a separate paper bag.

A player from each team runs to their bag, picks up a color card and returns it to home base. Each team continues to run to the bag, pick up a card and return with it. The first team that shouts out a sentence using an adjective, noun, verb, and adverb (four different color cards) wins.

In our game, only Miss T and her dad were up for the game. So they simply ran to the bag and pulled out cards to see who could make a sentence first.

The Finale

For the past two years, we’ve ended our party by shooting off a confetti canon. This year, since our neighbors are renovating and there might be wet stucco or paint, we didn’t want to take a chance of having our confetti blow in their direction. So, we shot it indoors. Miss T did the honors–AND swept up afterwards.

Some Games We Didn’t Play

The heat was enervating so we all went indoors. Here are a couple of additional games we could have played.

Water Relay: Set two pots or bowls, one for each team, at the start of the relay race and two pots or bowls at the end. The four pots or bowls should be of similar size.

Fill the bowls at the start of the relay with water. Use a measuring cup to ensure there is the same amount in each vessel. Give each team the same size paper cup.

The first member of the relay team fills their cup with water and runs down to the opposite end and dumps the water into the empty pot or bowl. They return to the start of the relay and hands the cup to the next person who does the same thing.

Your game is over when one side has emptied their pot or bowl completely. The winner is the team that collected the most water (use your measuring cup to be accurate).

Bean Bag Toss: Set down a collection of plates, bowls, and cups on the ground. Assign points for each, depending on difficulty. For example, assign higher points to a small cup; lower points for a large plate. It’s easy to make your own bean bags.

Prizes

For adults, some good prizes could be a nice bar of specialty soap, purse-size hand sanitizers, or travel-size products. Some of my prizes for the kids this year were off-target. They’re growing up and the kinds of toys they used to like–such as fidget toys, foam gliders, or small bubble solution jars–aren’t as much fun. Glow sticks are still loved and the mini Etch A Sketch was a hit.

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