Once a month we plan a family fun night for our girls and their families to bring everyone together. We smile, laugh, and make memories that will last a lifetime. This past weekend was our monthly get together, and I want to share everything we put together to make this night memorable for our entire family. And give you a few tips to get started with your own.
Deb has two girls from her first marriage and I have two girls from my first marriage. I have shared previously that there have been times throughout the years that there was a lot of tension between us all. I have always felt bad about it. So, that was the inspiration for our family fun night. It is the opportunity for us to all get together and spend time together as a family.
We started this new tradition just a few months ago, and we are so glad we started doing it! The night consists of food, socializing, games, and a lot of playtime with the grandkids. If you didn’t know, we currently have six grandkids, ages 1-6: five boys (Titus, Ollie, Atlas, Jack, and Archie) and one girl (Etta). As you can imagine with mostly boys, they love to run around and rough house. They also all love to be outdoors.
This past weekend, it was supposed to be 90 degrees, so we had to add a new activity to help keep the kids cool! I want to share all the things that made our day eventful. I hope the grandkids will remember these days together for years to come because I know we will!
We all love to eat! The goal is to make the night as stress free as possible which means Deb isn’t allowed to spend the entire day cooking. None the less, we always have good food. We started with a snack bar, and then moved onto a full meal for dinner, which consisted of burgers and hot dogs from the grill, baked beans, pickled eggs and beets, potato salad, cheesy potatoes, chips and salsa, and dessert. We had A LOT of food… Ha! Some months it’s just enough and some months it’s way too much. This month was the latter.
Our main activity for the adults will be porch sitting! We typically sit on the front porch of the Cottage, but now that we have our new patio sets on the front porch of the main house we spend a lot of time there. You can read about our new patio furniture here. It was a risk ordering it, having never seen it in person, but it was a 100% win and everyone loves it! It’s comfortable and if someone spills their drink it is okay.
When it is cool outside, we will sit inside and play a few games of Mexican Train Dominos. Up to 8 people can play, so we can get everyone involved. I love this Front Porch Classics set with its wooden and metal pieces.
This weekend, we played a friendly game of Bocce Ball. One of the girls brings over her set. You can find it on Amazon. This is another game that can involve up to 8 people, and it gets us all up and moving around.
The number one favorite activity of all the grandkids is jumping in the bouncy house! They love it, and so do their parents! They are somewhat contained and they jump out all of their energy. We upgraded our bouncy house to the Bounceland Inflatable Obstacle Pro-Racer Combo Slides from Amazon. It’s big enough that all of the kids can play in it together, and they can race each other. It comes with a commercial grade blower with a 25-foot power cord. At the end of the night, we deflate it, roll it up, and store it away until the next visit.
We wanted an activity to help keep the kids cool, so we order this giant inflatable water slide from Amazon.
It didn’t end up making it in time for the party, so we picked up a few smaller kiddie pools from Walmart, including the Bluescape Deluxe Comfort Inflatable Family Swimming Pool. I think the adults enjoyed this one as much as the kids. We also grabbed the Happy Hop Water Slide with Crocodile Jumping Castle and Pool. I think this one was the biggest hit of all.
To help with the heat, one of the girls also brought their little tent for shade for little Etta. But, all the kids loved playing in the tent. She has the Pop ‘N Go playpen and it literally pops into place in seconds. You can hold a baby in one warm and pop this open with the other. It is lightweight and comes with a carrying bag for beach days. The girls also set this up in their house during the winter as a ball pit or play tent for the kids.
And, I feel like all kids love Hot Wheels. One of our girls still has her Hot Wheels cars from when she was a kid. All the kids loved playing with this Hot Wheels Ultimate Garage Moving T-Rex Set. It is big, over 3-feet tall! This set is interactive and they can all play with it together. It was a big hit this weekend.
I have wanted to do this for years, but it kept getting pushed to the side with work and everyone’s busy schedules. Doesn’t that sound familiar! I finally decided… okay, it’s time for this to happen. So, I sent out a group text and said here is my idea, so let’s pick a date! And that was that!
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I too have wanted to do a family get together. Though my idea is a bit different. I love to cook for my family and friends. I guess you could say it’s my love language 🫶🏻
Our first Sunday lunch at Lovey’s is next week. I’m planning on making homemade pizza! With strawberry shortcake for dessert!