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Am I the only one that thinks of the Aquabats every time I think pool party? Or is my elder millennial showing? Well, it is full on Summer now and I am ready for our first pool party of the season. Before the 4th of July holiday I was able to share some of my favorite summer party tips on KATU’s Afternoon Live that are great for any outdoor party including pool parties, family reunions, splash pad parties, summer bbqs, and more. Follow these tips and you’re sure to say, “It was a cool party.”

Watch my segment on Afternoon Live for my Summer Pool Party Tips!

5 Tips for a Summer Pool Party + One Bonus Tip!

Five of these tips I shared on the TV segment above. However, the sixth, bonus tip below, is one I got from attending our first pool party of the season hosted by our realtors. I love sourcing great party tips from others (giving credit where credit is due) and incorporating them into my own events in the future to help make my parties even more fun going forward.

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One of the things I’ve learned over the past few years as time or resources have become more limited is that it is okay to NOT do everything I want to do. It is okay to not be ready at party time and have friends help pitch in. It is okay to not photograph everything ahead of time. If you have the time, resources, capacity, and desire to go full Pinterest mode then enjoy it to the fullest (I know I do!). However, if that is an expectation that is weighing on you (as it has me over the years), please do your best to let go of a few things. Edit your list. Be okay with almost.

Tip 1: Have Summer Party Protection Essentials ready to go!

This summer party tip goes well beyond just pool parties. I have a summer protection kit set up at my house throughout the entire summer for my own kids to use as well as guests at impromptu bbqs and, of course, my summer events.

Sunscreen and Bug Spray Station Party Idea with Sign that Says Help Protect Yourself in US Patriotic Colors

As a skin cancer survivor, I take skin protection very seriously and tend to have sunscreen on me at all times. But, I also understand that when people are running out the door it is easy to forget something that you only use once in a while. So, having things like face sunscreen, body sunscreens (both spray and lotion), bug bite prevention, and wipes for cleaning hands, makes skin protection easy for guests and doesn’t put someone on the spot to ask others if they did forget.

Tip 2: Keep Extra Pool Supplies on Hand!

If we all lived by the rules of the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, then we’d never leave without our towel. But, I know I’ve been at a pool party before sans towel or wishing I had a pair of sunglasses, or maybe an extra pool float.

display of summer party items including towels sunscreen and floaties

You certainly do not need towels and supplies for everyone and don’t need to go out and buy extra items. But, sourcing your supplies for some extras to keep available for people to use if they forgot their own is helpful. Add a sign* or bucket for returning the items if you’re worried they’ll be mistaken for favors.

Tip Three: Prep hydrating, healthy, and easy to eat snacks for quick snack breaks that lead right back to play!

Listen, when everyone is enjoying themselves swimming or playing outdoor party activities such as wiffle ball, cornhole, kickball, or playing in a splash pad, they simply do not want to stop long to eat a bunch of food! Plus, they don’t want to feel too full or heavy for more playing in the heat. Make easy to eat snacks that are mostly healthy, somewhat sneakily hydrating, and fun to eat!

Ideas for foods to serve at a summer party:

  • Fruit kabobs! This was featured on the Afternoon Live segment above. Food on a stick is just naturally fun. Fruit is hydrating, quick to eat, healthy, and delicious! Wash and cut fruit into bite size pieces and add to a skewer. Use a melon baller or small cookie cutters to create more interesting fruit kabobs or to match a theme, like star shaped watermelon slices for your Independence Day Party.
  • Cheese sticks and cheese snacks. Prepackaged isn’t my normal go to for parties, but they are perfect for this type of event. Keep the cheese on ice and people can grab a pre-packed cheese stick, eat it easily without the need of a plate, and discard of the package before jumping right back into the pool.
  • Individual snacks: Chip bags, pretzels, snack bars, squeeze pouches… all of them make great fast snacks for a summer pool party! While I’d normally not go for individual servings, this is useful for not getting pool water in snacks or having a bunch of half filled plates laying around getting gross in the heat.
  • Bite size appetizers: Caprese bites on a toothpick, italian antipasto skewers, crostini, and similar easy to grab and eat without a plate appetizers are also solid choices for an active outdoor event.

Tip Four: Make hydration fun!

For my boys there seems to be nothing worse than me telling them to drink more water or how important hydration is! But, if I make hydration fun by putting out interesting mixers and making it more like an activity than a chore, they will hydrate themselves without effort (or groans)! Don’t forget to use plastic, compostable cups*, or other outdoor drinkware so that you don’t have breaks that end up closing down the pool for the day.

Water hydration station set up with fourth of july colorscheme

Items to Stock with your Hydration Bar:

  • Ice and water! I use a big water jug and fill it with ice and water. I then put an ice bucket and scoop to the side so people can add ice to their glass as well. When it is really hot, this will be welcomed. You can also use water bottles if you choose, but then you’ll limit your ability to add in fruit and other fun additions to your drinks limiting just to powdered mix in items or juices.
  • Cut up fruit, vegetables, and herbs. While you can make different mixes of flavored water it takes a bit of the fun out of making your own combinations. Cut up produce such as strawberries, lemons, limes, oranges, cucumbers, mint, basil, and other such fresh items.
  • Liquid sweetener. I personally like my water without sweetener, but sometimes a little simple syrup* or agave syrup* will help take the flavored water to a more enjoyable level.
  • Electrolyte or flavored mix ins. Grab some of the flavored water drops*, your favorite electrolyte powders*, and other such mix ins that people can add to their waters for a punch of flavor.
  • Something for stirring and muddling.* I like to keep a muddler and long spoon or several long stir sticks at the table for people to mix in their favorite combinations and get the most flavor out of it.

Tip Five: Keep it on ICE!

The saying goes, hot things hot and cold things cold. In an outdoor party you’re likely not serving heated appetizers, but if you do then remember to consider food safety—the heat of the day is not hot enough for several hours of hot food safety. More likely though, you’ll be serving items that need to keep chilled. Every summer, despite having an ice dispenser and plenty of ice trays, I buy ice in bulk. Utilize ice chests and your freezer space to keep it cold.

Keep food cool by putting food in one tray and top it on a tray of ice, utilize these amazing cold food serving trays*, or use inflatable serving bars* to fill with ice and add your trays of food or chilled drinks.

Bonus Tip 6: Create fun favors for the kids to take home to keep the party going!

Now, not every party needs a party favor. Gulp. Sacrilege from me, I know. But, if you have the budget and the desire then this is a great one for a summer pool party!

colorful buckets filled with sidewalk chalk beach ball and bubbles

We were recently invited to our first pool party of the season by our amazing Oregon and Washington based realtors, The Enloe Group. The party was fabulous as all their parties are, but the party favor was exceptionally sweet! My son loved grabbing a beach bucket filled with sidewalk chalk, a beach ball, and bubbles. Such a great gift for a pool party.

Other excellent favors would include different sized flip flops, sunglasses, sunscreens, towels, pool floats, and other such summer-related items.

Use these five tips plus summer fun bonus tip for your last-minute summer BBQs where kids (and adults) will be running around playing games, at your next splashpad gathering with moms, your summer birthday parties at the park, or your next pool party. Keep hydrated, cool, protected, and prepared for a fun and safe event!

What are your summer party tips? Share in the comments below!

On hot summer days I always crave a classic cherry limeade. However, as I’ve gotten older, my tastes for the overly sweet syrups has declined. Which is how this simple and tasty recipe was created… with a desire for real fruit syrup, a good squeeze of lime, and lots of bubbles. Read on for a recipe for three fruit limeades that you can really mix it up and do several different ways!

This post is not sponsored by the companies with products featured. There are some affiliate links in this post, affiliate links give a small portion of products purchased to this blog. Thank you for supporting this blog!

I work from home and this week was a lull between camps for my oldest. So, on a break from work we walked together to the local coffee shop. On the way I was trying to explain why I work and what I do to him so he could understand it a bit more… I also really wanted to impress so I shared a bit more:

example of three limeade flavors

Me: “My first job out of school was at a newspaper. Well, not my first job ever, that was Sonic [Drive-in Restaurant], but my first job out of college was at a newspaper. I’ve written for newspapers and for magazines!”

Him: “Yeah, but, I love Sonic.”

So, while I may not impress him or anyone else with my writing skills, those skills I learned at Sonic Drive-In have totally translated into making a ton of drink recipes. One of my drink recipes that seems to be directly related to my experience as a car hop is this recipe, a good ole classic, Limeade!

Homemade Fruit Syrup (Better Than Store Bought!)

Way back when I could fit into a size medium I loved the Cherry Limeades from Sonic, but these days the taste of that cherry syrup gives me heartburn rather than good feels. These three limeade versions are made with a homemade fruit syrup that doesn’t take too long to make and can sit in your fridge for about 2 weeks to make a lot of fun drink combinations.

I chose to make 3 different limeade versions so I created a fruit syrup out of blueberries, cherries, and strawberries. You can mix it up to any fruit really… though, if you prefer a citrus then skip making the syrup and just squeeze fresh fruit into your drink and add in a simple syrup.

Note: You can do the same with fresh fruit rather than frozen. You may need to increase the water a bit if so.

Ingredients for Fruit Syrup:

  • 12 oz frozen fruit of choice
  • 1 1/4 cup sugar
  • 1 cup water

Directions for Fruit Syrup:

  1. Pour all three ingredients into a sauce pan (heavy bottom is best when working with sugar) and put over medium heat on stove top.
  2. Stir frequently so that sugar does not sit on the bottom of the pan and it dissolves completely.
  3. Cook for about 6-10 minutes or until the fruit has softened and sugar has fully dissolved.
  4. Strain through fine mesh sieve (squash the fruit to get all the good stuff!) reserving the liquid.
  5. Chill!

Note: Thinking ahead to the garnish… I chose to garnish my Strawberry Limeade and Blueberry Limeade with fresh fruit. But, I didn’t want fresh cherries as a garnish for the Cherry Limeade and I didn’t want Maraschino Cherries either, so instead I chose to pull out a few of the frozen cherries after they had soaked in the sugar and water mixture but before they got totally soft. I reserved a few of those cherries and put covered in the fridge to use as garnish later.

Limeade Times Three

You can make a variety of flavors of limeades! I made a Cherry Limeade, Blueberry Limeade, and a Strawberry Limeade. The directions for all three are the same!

Limeade Ingredients:

I’m not going to give exact proportions below because it’ll all depend on the size of your glass and your tastes.

  • Fruit Syrup
  • Limes
  • 7-UP
  • Garnish (fruit of choice)
  • Glass filled with ice
  • Straw/stirring spoon

Limeade Directions:

  1. Fill a glass with ice.
  2. Pour fruit syrup into the glass until it is about 1/4 the way full.
  3. Squeeze in 1/2 lime (you can add more to taste later if needed)
  4. Top with 7-UP
  5. Add garnish
  6. Stir and Serve!

Make it a cocktail!

Now, as delicious as this drink is without the addition of alcohol….it also makes a great base for some fun, easy adult-only drinks. Try one of the below variations (and drink responsibly!)

  1. Add in a shot of vodka. A great flavored vodka (no added sugar! Wild Roots makes delicious ones.) would be fantastic in this. Or,
  2. Add in a shot of rum. I’d go with a silver rum or if you’re feeling it, coconut or pineapple rum. Or,
  3. Substitute the lemon-lime soda with a sweet sparkling wine.

Do you have any drinks that hit you with some full-force nostalgia? Share in the comments below!

This drink was originally shared in a #nightcapwithjenni session on Instagram. Like beverage recipes as much as I do? Don’t forget to follow-along this upcoming Sunday around 6 PM PST on Instagram stories for my next installment of #nightcapwithjenni!

 

It has been a long time since I’ve shared a Saturday Spirits post. But, this past hot weather and a challenge from Oregon Berries to create a recipe featuring blackberries and edible flowers got me thinking about a deliciously sweet, cold blackberry lemonade that would be fun to sip on a long afternoon playing outdoors.

Oregon blackberries are perfectly in season at this time of year, but thankfully, you can capture the fresh berry flavor all year long with the use of frozen Oregon blackberries. This recipe makes a tasty non-alcoholic lavender blackberry lemonade and tips for an easy cocktail created with this base recipe.

This post is in partnership with Oregon Berries. All opinions are my own. About Oregon Berries: The Oregon Raspberry & Blackberry Commission focuses on promoting caneberries to multiple audiences, and supports Oregon berry farmers by fostering plant research and farming education initiatives. Find Oregon Berry brands on the Oregon Berries website! 

Lavender Blackberry Lemonade | A Well Crafted Party

In the past, I was not much of a fan of lavender in my foods or beverages. However, as I’ve gotten older, I’ve started to appreciate the subtle floral note as an addition to different drinks, meals, and desserts. The combination of tart lemons, sweet blackberries, and lavender is an especially good use of this edible flower.

Blackberry Lavender Lemonade

I started this recipe by making two different simple syrups. I made a lavender simple syrup and a blackberry simple syrup. Then combined the syrups with freshly squeezed lemon juice and water.

The simple syrups help sweeten the lemonade, but I do suggest sweetening to taste a bit as I tend to like things a bit more tart.

Lavender simple syrup:

I was able to find a beautiful lavender plant at our local farmer’s market. I’ll be planting it in my yard so that I can continue to make this simple syrup year after year.

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1 cup water
  • 3 heads of fresh lavender

Directions:

    In a small heavy bottom saucepan place all ingredients. Cook over medium heat, stirring until the sugar is dissolved.
    Cook for about 5 minutes and take off the heat. I let mine sit for 10 minutes to cool a bit and allow the flavor to meld a bit more.
    Strain, reserving the liquid.

Blackberry Simple Syrup

If you’ve never had an Oregon blackberry then you may think of blackberries a bit differently than I do. I always associated blackberries with lots of seeds and a berry flavor, but just not worth the effort to cook with/eat due to the seeds. However, after eating Oregon blackberries it has become my favorite berry by far! Juicy, bold flavor and not the same seedy feeling that I’ve had experienced in the past. I’ve learned that Oregon is an ideal growing environment for berries due to the great combination of how the Oregon soil, air, and water work together. The berries that are chosen for Oregon Berries products are picked at the peak of ripeness and are frozen within 24 hours of being picked to maximize taste, juiciness, and nutrition.

Ingredients:

  • 16 oz frozen blackberries
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1/2 cup water

Directions:

    Put all ingredients in a small, heavy-bottomed saucepan and cook over medium heat. Stir frequently so that sugar doesn’t burn.
    Cook until the blackberries are cooked down and the sugar is dissolved. About 5-10 minutes.
    Strain mixture, smashing all the blackberries and reserving the liquid.

Blackberry Lavender Lemonade

Makes approximately 1 64 oz pitcher

  • 1 cup of lavender simple syrup
  • 1 cup of blackberry simple syrup
  • Freshley squeezed juice of 12 lemons
  • 4 cups water
  • Blackberries and lemon slices for garnish

Combine all ingredients in a pitcher and chill.

To create a tasty (and easy) cocktail with this mixture add in your favorite gin or vodka. This makes an easy summer cocktail for those who wish to imbibe.

See my other Oregon Berries recipes:

I love working with Oregon Berries because I already buy them and eat them on the regular. Getting to share my love with you is icing on the cake.

Can’t get enough blackberries? Check out the hashtags #oregonberries or #putaberryonit to see what others are doing with Oregon Berries!