Summer Bucket List – Home Edition

With the various restrictions currently in place due to Covid-19 and the possibility of another lockdown looming, Summer is looking a little different this year. Lots of you are staying home after holidays abroad have been cancelled. The kids have already been off school for 17485 weeks (or so it feels!). My ideas for entertaining them are rapidly running out!

All is not lost though. Normally I’d be sharing the epic Summer events listing right now but instead I’m bringing to you my Summer bucket list – Home Edition. There are loads of ideas here to make the most of spending this Summer at home. Have fun with your family and stay safe 🌞

• Camp At Home. Pitch up your tent in the back garden or build a den in the living room. Have a campfire (or use a candle carefully if you’re camping indoors). Don’t forget those all important smores! For those of you who don’t know what smores are you melt a marshmallow over the fire then sandwich it between two chocolate digestive biscuits. They are delicious! You could cook your dinner on the campfire too.

• Cinema Movie Night. Make your own cinema tickets and have a kiosk for drinks and snacks. You could simply do this in your living room or use a TV or projector in the garden. Make it really cosy with cushions and blankets. Laura from http://www.thingstodoinhampshirewithkids.co.uk has said that putting up fairy lights made it amazing.

• Garden Summer Fete. Set up a summer fete in your own back garden! You could set up a coconut shy, tin can alley and hook a duck (put your paddling pool to use!). Sarah from http://www.boorooandtiggertoo.com has suggested having a welly throwing competition. I think this is known as welly wanging? She says “we did this at a summer fete a few years ago and the kids thought it was hilarious. So we do our own version at home. From seeing who can fling their welly the furthest (by throwing like a bowling ball or from being loosely on their foot). To attempting to knock things over etc. So much fun. “

• Board Games Day. I have recently emptied out a wooden chest in my living room that was full of junk and have put all of our games in there instead. They are getting far more use now and we’ve discovered new favourites too. Josie from https://methemandtheothers.com did this in the Easter holidays. “We made snacks and spent the whole day taking turns to choose the game.”

• Sports Day. Like most children mine were sad to miss their school sports day this year. You could set up a really fun family sports day in the garden though. Egg and spoon race, sack (bin bag or sleeping bag) race, skipping rope race, jump over hurdles. Lianne from http://www.anklebitersadventures.co.uk says “you can get medals on Amazon and there are loads of certificates you can print online to make it fun”. My children’s school always gives them rocket ice lollies at the end so that would be a must for our sports day!
• Pizza Bar. Danni from http://www.monkeyandpal.com came up with the brilliant idea of having a pizza or pancake bar. “We love having a pancake or pizza bar where we set up all the ingredients and create our own favourites! Super easy, and everyone gets what they want! Coupled with a lounge cinema or kitchen disco – perfect for rainy afternoons!” Now my kids aren’t fans of pizza. I know right – how the heck did I end up with kids that DON’T LIKE PIZZA?!?!?!? However, they do like pancakes. You could also do this with ice cream and have all different toppings. Yummy!

• Den Building. Clare from https://www.travel-bugs.co.uk says “It’s all about den building in our house. I have given up telling the kids to leave the cushions on the sofa and have a mass den building day planned where they can take all of the cushions, blankets etc into the garden and big a massive den. They can have a special picnic lunch in there and hopefully us parents will get to chill out while they enjoy it..” We’ve built numerous dens in the garden or the kids bedroom during lockdown. They love having their own little hide out.

• Water Fight. Robbie from https://paternaldamnation.com has taken den building to a whole new level by building cardboard forts. “We set up two cardboard box forts at opposite ends of the garden, gave each a liberal supply of water balloons, and let battle commence! It was a really good way to make use of all the delivery boxes we’d accumulated recently, and all the water even softened them up for easy recycling afterwards.” An alternative to use instead of balloons is sponges. My kids would absolutely love this!

• Indoor camping. We’ve got into a habit of having sleepovers in a den under the dining table every Friday night during lockdown. The kids really look forward to it every week. (Top tip: It’s a great bribery tool for getting their school work done!). Louise from https://pinkpearbear.com says “Sleepover in the lounge! It’s such a simple one but makes things more exciting and different to the norm. You can also have a ‘midnight’ feast. (We do ours at about 9.30pm so it feels late but I don’t have to stay up!” We actually did smores on a little campfire in the garden last week and they went down a storm!

• Recreate Your Holiday. Clare from https://mytunbridgewells.com came up with this idea and I love it so much I am already making plans for ours. “We were meant to be going to Greece so we are going to have Greek food that day, drink mythos, fill up the paddling pool and play some beach games”. A friend of mine has been doing a recipe from a different country each week during lock down. Her 9 year old daughter has been learning how to cook the recipes with her and they research a bit about the country too. I think this is a brilliant idea for travel fans. We are going to choose 6 countries for each week of the holidays. I cant wait!
• Festival In The Garden. Last year we went to The Big Feastival which was our first ever festival. We only went for the day but had a brilliant time. The atmosphere was great and there was loads to see and do. Our highlight was seeing Jonas Blue who was fantastic. Sabina held her own family festival in the back garden and it looks like the kids had a blast. You can read all about it here: https://deepinmummymatters.com/family-festival-fun-at-home-makesummer

• Indoor Festival. If you haven’t got a garden that doesn’t mean you have to miss out on having a festival. Sarah from http://www.kippersandcurtains.com set up a beautiful festival in her living room. Check out her gorgeous photos below!

• Ninja Warrior Course. Lois and Cody love setting up ‘ninja warrior’ courses in the garden using various furniture and whatever they can find in the shed. They time each other to see who can complete the course the fastest. Vicki from http://blossomeducation.co.uk often sets up an obstacle course in the garden with her family. “Inevitably it ends with a dip in the pool and water goes everywhere. So much fun and best of all, it’s free!”
• Afternoon Tea. Make your own afternoon tea including homemade scones. Get everyone to dress up in their smart clothes and enjoy a taste of luxury at home. We’ve had 2 afternoon teas during lockdown. One for St Georges Day and one for VE day. It’s definitely time we made some more scones.

• Create a Zoo. Lois had to create an animal out of junk modelling for her school project. This then led to an entire zoo being created with grand opening ceremony and all! They were very proud of their zoo and the elephant is still here!

If you have any more great ideas please let me know in the comments below. Happy school holidays everyone!