Teddy Bear Summer Party

Is everyone having a fun summer?

Ours has been great so far.  Swimming lessons, play dates, bowling, movies, shopping, splash park, library, playgrounds, reading, children's museums.  And schools only been out a week and a half!  

I've been trying to keep my kids happy and busy and doing some fun stuff we don't normally do.  My two older kids play great together and are always coming up with all kinds of creative ways to entertain themselves but my daughter isn't used to being home all day and the, "Mom, I'm bored" has occasionally popped up just like I thought it would.

To solve this problem I decided that we would have occasional parties this summer.

Here's how they work:
* The parties are low key. Just the kids and me.
* My kids are in charge of the parties.  They get to do all the planning.  (Just like our letter parties.)  It's the perfect thing to suggest they do when "bored".
* I'm happy to help in anyway asked but try to keep my ideas to myself and let the kids use their own creativity and original ideas.  They get to do what they think is fun.

Our first party was a teddy bear party.  Every time I heard "I'm bored" I suggested to my kids that they go work on planning their party, to which I always got an excited response of "Oh yeah!" and happily they went to work.  It's worked well so far.  After a week an a half of planning we celebrated on Friday with our teddy bears.

 My daughter worked all week making invitations for those that were invited.  I thought we'd have a room full of teddy bears but I guess only the select few who received invitations got to come.  Fine with me.  The kids are in charge.

We started off with a gummy bear snack.

Then it was time to play teddy bear games.  Games such as duck-duck-goose and tag, but with a teddy bear twist.

We then played hide and seek. 

Those sneaky teddy bears found some good hiding spots.

 More treats . . .

And then a little teddy bear art on the computer.

I think these kids had a few more activities up their sleeves but were exhausted at this point and ready to relax.  They changed their plans and watched a show while cuddling with their bears instead. 

It was a fun afternoon and so rewarding that they planned it all themselves.

After envying their cousins Spy Party it looks like that's what we'll be planning next.  I can't wait to see what my two cute kids come up with for that one.  Should be fun!