Splash into Summer with a Berry Beach Party

Whether you are celebrating a birthday, holiday or just celebrating the fact that it is summer, taking the party outdoors is a must! You may live close to a beach, have a splash pad nearby, or a slip n’ slide in your yard. Whatever source of water you choose, here are some really fun ideas to turn a day of splashing fun into a party your guests won’t forget!

Décor:

• Purchase beach balls in different sizes and sand toy accessories (shovels, rakes, etc.) at your local dollar store. Using heavy duty tape, adhere a drinking straw to one side of the inflated beach balls. Use the straws to string twine through them and alternate beach balls with sand tools to create a really fun garland!
• Protect that precious skin by providing a sunscreen station. Fill a large sand bucket with sunscreens and lip balm and add a cute label.
• Fill a large garbage can with colorful pool noodles, floating rings and wings to keep everyone safe and add a vibrant element of décor to the display. If you want to make it even more themed, wrap a plastic table cover in one of your party colors around the garbage can to take it from trash to terrific!
• Keep your food cool and add extra fun to the display by inflating a small floating boat that has a solid bottom with ice and place your food dishes inside of it.

Food:

• A centerpiece can be just as delicious as it is adorable! Use pumpkin carving tools to cut a whale shape from your watermelon. Scoop the fruit out and freeze the whale shell overnight – this helps it maintain its structure and keeps the fruit cool once you fill it for the party.
• Using cookie cutters, create fun shapes from pieces of watermelon about ¾” thick and add them along with fresh berries to bamboo skewers. Fill plastic sand buckets with floral foam and top it with brown sugar (to look like sand), then stick the skewers through the foam to help them stand up. Not only are they refreshing on a hot summer day, they look as good as they taste!
• When you’re out in the sun, no one wants to cook or eat anything hot. That’s why serving Berry Pita Pizzas are the perfect lunch! Just spread fresh strawberry cream cheese on a whole wheat pita and top with assorted berries like blackberries, blueberries and raspberries. Yum!
• Beverages are essential in the heat of summer. You want to keep yourself and your little ones well hydrated! It can be hard to get them to take a break from playing, so offering something that tastes delicious will help lure them away for a few minutes. We love fresh strawberry lemonade with frozen berry ice cubes. For a mid-party treat I love serving strawberry watermelon slush (recipe below) instead of a sugary popsicle or shaved ice. Both are cooling, refreshing and will help keep dehydration at bay.
• Make a playlist with some fun summer music like The Beach Boys or George Gershwin’s; “Summertime”, and “The Livin’ is Easy!” Another favorite summer song at our house is, “Soak up the Sun”, by Sheryl Crow. Your outdoor entertaining should be easy and stress free too! It’s a time to relax, have some fun and enjoy the warm weather.

Activities/Games:

The great thing about a water party is kids really don’t need organized games to have fun. They can splash in the water for as long as you will let them. Some kids will want to have organized activities, and they couldn’t be easier to provide. The key to keeping them low stress is to have all the activity stations independently operated by the child. For example:

• Set up a table to string flowers to make a Lei. Use fake flowers, and have string and kids large eye plastic needles and yarn. Kids can come and go with this craft, and shouldn’t need intense supervision and help.
• Coconut bowling. Have empty 2 liter bottles set up at one end, and a coconut to roll from a designated spot in the sand. Kids can come and go with this activity as long as they desire.
• Beach Volleyball! What party is complete without a beach volleyball game? As few as two children can play this by setting up a net, and using an inflatable beach ball to toss back and forth.

A Beach Party should be relaxing and enjoyable, not only for the little guests, but for mom and dad too. With these summer ideas, the kids are going to be begging for it to be a start of summer tradition!

Strawberry Watermelon Slush

• 4 cups cubed seedless watermelon
• 2 cups strawberries hulled and sliced in half
• 1/3 cup fresh lemon juice
• 2 cups ice cubes
• In a blender, combine watermelon, strawberries and lemon juice. Cover and process on high until smooth. While processing, gradually add ice cubes. Process until slushy.

*To make it even more slushy, freeze the strawberries for a few hours ahead of time until they are just starting to harden.

Passionate about kids' nutrition, Amy and Natalie developed their blog, Super Healthy Kids, to offer parents fantastic ideas for making healthy eating for kids easier, less time consuming, and above all, with less complaint!

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