Well. Did you think I was done talking about baby blow-up pools? I AM NOT.
This summer, I was invited to a friend's "baby pool party," and it was such a creative event that had never occurred to me, so I decided to borrow the idea and host my own! #RedneckSwimClub We had a shady area for the moms, a bigger toddler pool (this pirate ship from Sam's Club was on sale!), a small baby pool, and a slip-n-slide which was a blast!
Being a mom can feel lonely, so it's random meet-ups like this that bring us together and give us a chance to talk to other people here in the trenches with us. When Aiden was a few months old, I felt he was too young for us to go to library story times, I only had one mom friend, and I spent most days at home or walking through parks (and Target) with him by myself. Thankfully, I've met other local mamas at storytimes, through our local MOMS club (look it up! I bet you have one near you!), at church, etc. Because I know how lonely being a stay-at-home mom can feel, I wanted to host something that would give the kids some fun and us moms some time to talk.
On a side-note, this idea can also be adapted to whatever you want it to be. If you don't have a yard or space for blow up baby pools, you could do a pizza-party play date (order pizza for lunch!), play-doh play date, or even a sensory bin play date where you put beans and rice in bins and let the kids drive trucks and other toys through the beans/rice.......the point is, invite people over! Other moms won't care how messy your place is.
Having done it once, there are some things that definitely made it go more smoothly and some hints for helping a baby pool party go well:
- A week or more in advance, send a FB event invite or text to the moms you know. They can all be from one category of your life ("mom friends from church"), moms with certain aged kids, or just every mom you know!
- Set a specific time in the invite. I did 9am-12pm.
- Acquire some baby pools. It's the end of summer, so they're on sale. Find 'em. Fill 'em.
- Fill the pools early that morning hours before people are supposed to come over.
- Create some sort of shade. (See our two umbrellas + yard chairs).
- Put out a few snacks and drinks in a cooler. Healthy or otherwise. No judgment.
- Let the chaos and fun ensue.
I only took photos beforehand, because once the friends arrived, it was 3 hours of genuinely wildddd fun. I invited almost every mom I know and 5 moms and 7 kids were able to come, which was plenty! The moms didn't know each other before that day, but conversation still flowed. The kids ranged from 6 months old to three-yrs-old which meant there was plenty of entertainment if we ran out of things to talk about.
What events have you attended or hosted this summer? I want to hear your fun event ideas!!
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