The Ultimate Pool Bash

by Candice
(El Paso)

Summertime is pool party time! It is time to celebrate, be outdoors, and be with friends and family.

Set the mood with the invitations. Sure, you can send a text message or quick e-mail to everyone telling them there’s a party. Or you can actually take the time and send a unique invitation. Creative invitation ideas would be mini beach balls, ring floaties, or even a frisbee; simply use a permanent marker to write the party details on the item itself. Give out the invites early as most people plan a lot of family activities or vacations during the summer. Three weeks early, at a minimum, would be best.

Now that the invites are out, time to plan the décor. Start the decorations from the entrance. A fun whimsical wreath made of unfilled colorful water balloons, a colorful flip flop wreath, or a blown up kids ring floatie as a wreath are just a few items you can place to welcome your guests. For the party space, throw some beach balls around the pool and tie some hanging from the porch or the fence. Colorful lanterns with solar powered lights are also great if the party is going to go on thru the night. Colorful table cloths add an extra statement to the space.

Things to be prepared for are lots of extra towels for guests. Roll them up neatly and place in a big basket or bucket. Throw in a variety of sun block lotions and mosquito repellent. Place it in an area that is going to be visible and easy access for everyone.

Planned activities are not really necessary for a pool party, but good to have a few prepared in case people don’t just jump right into the pool. Depending on the age group, you can certainly play some traditional games playing on the pool party theme. Instead of musical chairs – play musical towels; players walk around the folded towels, and when the music stops, they must stand or sit on the towel. Instead of hot potato – play hot beach ball; pass the beach ball around without dropping it until the music stops. You get the idea. For older guests, play some Minute to Win It games, based on the TV show.

For the food and drinks, first consider where you will have the food table. If having the food outdoors, consider having a netted canopy over the entire food area or if that’s not possible, there are small collapsible netted canopy that go over the serving dishes. Consider serving dishes that can be can be prepared ahead of time and served at room temperature. Use a crock-pot for those dishes that must be kept warm. And for the food items best left cold, placing the dish in a larger bowl with lots of ice should do the trick. Rather than keeping the drinks in a traditional ice chest that your guest will have to dig through, place a few tubs filled with ice and drinks. You can even dedicate one container for each type of drink to prevent guests from having to dig. Tie some dish towels to the side of the buckets so guests can wipe the ice water as they grab their drinks.

There are a few things to keep in mind when having a pool party. Two days before the party, the pool should be serviced; cleaned and chemicals added. This is also the time to treat around the fence area and party space for bugs and mosquitoes. Balloons for decoration are not ideal because of wind and sun exposure. Tiki torches, although they look great, is not ideal if there will be children present. And speaking of children, assign a person or hire a person to be a lifeguard.

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