The key to having a little backyard family fun is easier than I thought….
It’s no secret that I’m not travelling anywhere this summer. I feel akin to that angry marshmallow dude at the end of Ghostbusters. Big, puffy, and really grumpy. 
It’s summer, I’m 32 weeks pregnant. Blah, blah, blah. I want to go to the beach. I want to go to the mountains… I’d like to go anywhere. But, even leaving the house these days is a challenge.
Safe to say, I’m in a funk, and I know my kids can feel it. I’m tired of yelling at them; I’m tired of them yelling at each other. Scarily, we’re only a few days into summer break. I thought it was time for some old-fashioned fun to turn this ship around. So we scheduled a family party in the backyard with some of my favorite products from World Market.
It puts me in a good mood to shop at World Market, and it puts my family in a good mood when I’m in a good mood. So I headed out for a shopping trip and came home with all the fixins for some backyard fun with the fam.
First, I set the mood for our low-key party atmosphere with some inexpensive decor items. I’ve been wanting some lumbar pillows for our patio furniture and figured if I’m gonna hang outside and enjoy myself with the kids, I should be comfortable. Plus, they were too cute to pass up! I also scored the adorable floral oil-cloth tablecloth. It’s super easy to wipe up and has a zippered closure for wrapping around patio umbrellas. It’s my new favorite summer accessory.
I wrapped our balcony with party lights so we could play long enough into the evening to catch lightening bugs, and added additional lanterns for the table.
The kids need their snacks and something to stay hydrated with: chips and salsa served with lemonade did the trick. I love the screen-covered food tent I picked up from World Market to keep out bugs.
Oh, and let’s not forget the toasting of the marshmallows… complete with GLOW IN THE DARK skewers! (A tribute to our marshmallow friend above…)
For the “fun” component of the evening, I hit up the children’s aisle at World Market which is loaded with old-fashioned toys and laid them out on a picnic blanket for the kids to discover after naptime. It was like Christmas… in June.
Who doesn’t want to partake in a little slip ‘n slide? Well, I’m gonna pass (remember that 32 weeks pregnant bit?), but the kids thought it was awesome. I think my hubs was secretly dying to give it a go himself! And yes, I was too lazy to go inside to get their swimsuits… nothing wrong with a little water play in the backyard in your underwear, right? At least not if you’re five or under. 😉
Another hit? Hopping sacks. They tripped up my three-year-old a bit (literally and figuratively), but they had a good time chasing each other and the dog around the yard.
We had a few hours of fun and that, my friends, was priceless. Summer had gotten off to a bumpy start, but now I can say I’m in the right spirit. The equation for summer fun? Lemonade + Snacks + Slip ‘n Slide = Happy. Swim suits optional.
I hope you take some of these ideas and have some big time backyard fun with your family, but I also hope you take a few minutes to enter this amazing giveaway from World Market. I would too, if I wasn’t home-bound by this baby-to-be!
Cost Plus World Market has partnered up with Southwest Airlines to offer four Great Summer Getaways. Enter for a chance to win a trip for 4 on Southwest Airlines! The four grand prize packages include airfare for 4 on Southwest Airlines, hotel accomodations and a $500 World Market Gift Card.
As a Trendsetter Tribe Ambassador for World Market, I was given gift cards to purchase products for this post and to compensate me for my time. All opinions, as always, are my own.
[…] on the blog, I wrote about outdoor family fun and also confessed that I have no intention of travelling anywhere this summer. ‘Tis true. […]