Crowd Pleasing, Budget Friendly, Summer Birthday Party Idea (Part Three)

Super Soaker Party!

Pool Parties are great and if you have a pool -- man, you're lucky invite me over! But a pool isn't necessary for a splashin' awesome summer party. In fact, kids do a lot of swimming in the summer, they probably even visit some water parks and splash pads but there are fabulously fun things to do that you can really only do in your own back yard.

Water Party Essentials:

• Water Guns

• Sprinklers

• Roll of Plastic

• Water Balloons

• Small Pools

• Buckets

• Cups

• Floats and Inner Tubes

• Sponges

• Goggles

• Towels

• Sunscreen

Water Guns Games are a fun way to get started.

For starters, have the water guns floating in a small pool. Create a course lined with helium balloons for the children to run through and shoot. Sort of a gauntlet of sorts, have the children lined up along the route in different places trying to get the child wet as they run through the course. They take turns so everyone gets a chance to be the target and to shoot at the balloon targets.

Draw targets on the balloons and set them at different heights to make it interesting.

Create Water Relay Games

Divide the children into teams of 3 or 4. One child sits with a bucket on their head. The other teammates take turns in relay fashion. Running over to a small pool they grab a cup fill it with water and then run to the child with the bucket, dumping the water in the bucket. They return the cup to the pool and race back to their team to tag the next player, who repeats the course until the bucket is full. This is also fun with sponges, colanders or buckets with holes too.

Water Balloons are always fun! Get creative with them.

Have the kids stand in a hula hoop or on a tarp while other teams try to hit them.

Pair them off in two's and toss a water balloon back forth, getting farther apart each time.

Have one launch and the other try to catch them in a bucket.

The most important part of having water balloons is to make TONS of them.

Sprinklers are always fun. Have as many going as possible and place them around or between my favorite Super Soaker Party Activity - the Slide!

Kids love to slip and slide. You can purchase a name brand slide or you can head over to your local home and contractor supply store like Lowe's or even stop by Wal-Mart and buy a roll of contractor plastic for about $30.

Personally I prefer the contractor plastic. When we are doing a Super Soaker Party I like to have multiple things for the kids to do. A giant roll can have a 100 - 200 feet of plastic. That's AWESOME! You can have a couple of these going at once.

If your kids are like my kids, water is not slippery enough so they love to add a little dish soap to the slide for the extra fun of potentially being injured. Look, yes it takes the risk factor up a little bit but for the older kids, I say go for it. Little ones under 8 I say no but the older kids I'm okay with it.

But I will caution you, my good friend's daughter broke her ankle during the first week of summer break this year on a very slippery backyard water slide. This is crazy fun but it comes with risks. Use your best judgment about what ages this activity is best and supervise the kids while they play at all times. Most injuries happen when kids are trying to get creative with how they approach the slide, jumping, twisting, etc. Or they run into one another because they do not wait for the slide to be clear. Explain the rules up front, simple sliding, no tricks, no going till the other person is completely off the slide.

Water Parties should be closely supervised even if there isn't a swimming pool.

Let me address the elephant in the room, or rather on the lawn. Water parties like this have a reputation for ruining the grass. They don't have to. First, it's important to do activities in different areas so one area isn't pounded the entire time. Second, if you don't have a well established foundation of grass and there are large areas of dirt then it's a mud party (which is super fun but different) and it will decimate any grass you may have. Third, don't put everything on the grass until just before the party and then get the items off the grass as soon as the party is over, immediately. Fourth, stay off the grass for a couple days to allow it to recover. Fifth, all the water will actually be great for it in the hot summer months. Probably my favorite thing about a Super Soaker Party is that it takes place entirely out doors! Do everything outside. Food, cupcakes, everything - keep 'em outside! You can let them have popsicles or ice cream bars because they aren't inside. Who cares if they get sticky?! Hose them off when they finish.

If you want to end the party with a really big bang. Plan to get wet towards the end. Jump in and get them wet and let your kids know it's okay at the end to get you wet too. Maybe have a code word. The other kids will revel with wicked delight at dumping water on you, or dad, you can delegate this task to dad, or an older sibling too.

When compared to the costs of renting a pool at the local YMCA or having a water park party this fun afternoon playing in the water can't be beat.