Host Your Own Pool Party!
Looking for something fun to do with your family and friends this summer? The answer might be as close as your own backyard. Hiring a swimming pool contractor isn’t quite the same as hiring a party planner, but once the pool builders leave, you’ll have all the equipment you need for a summer full of fun and memorable parties.Here are some ideas to get you started:
HOST YOUR OWN LUAU
Treat your guests to a Polynesian getaway without the jet lag. Decorate the pool area with Tiki torches, bright colors and Hawaiian- themed accessories from your local party supply or craft store. Use real or artificial flowers to decorate table tops and the surface of your pool.
Then, invite your guests to don their most colorful Hawaiian shirts, “grass” skirts and sunscreen for a stay-at-home trip to the Aloha State. Serve tropical drinks, plates of fruit and Hawaiian-themed dishes. If you have the yard for it, you might even want to host your own pig roast. For entertainment, line your guests up for a hula contest, or “surf” from the side of the pool or take turns making a splash in a Big Kahuna Belly Flop contest.
FOURTH OF JULY SPLASH DOWN
Celebrate America’s independence with an alternative to the hot, smokey mosquito infested fireworks display at the city park. Stay cool instead. Decorate your pool area with red, white and blue streamers. Start off the festivities with a squirt gun or water balloon battle. Serve All-American foods like apple pie, hamburgers and snow cones. When the sun goes down, kick back and enjoy the fireworks from the comfort of your favorite raft.
BACKYARD BEACH PARTY
If a trip to the coast is too pricey, bring the seaside fun home with a backyard beach party. Decorate the pool area with sea shells and fishnets, plastic crabs and other sea critters. Buy inflatable porpoises or sharks to float in the pool. Barbecue hot-dogs and hamburgers for your beach cookout. Put up a net for some “beach” volleyball, or bring in some sand for a castle building contest.
NEIGHBORHOOD YACHT RACE
You don’t need a fortune in misbegotten shareholder funds to go cavorting on the high seas. Host your own backyard yacht race. Have your guests don their best cabana wear, provide them with captains hats and suitably large sunglasses from your local party supply story and invite them aboard for some high class fun.
Buy some plastic boats from your local toy store to race across the pool. Decorate your pool and deck area with rope lights or colorful lanterns and serve the best “caviar” (tuna fish on crackers) and truffles (chocolate kisses) to complete your upper crust theme.
