Summer Fun with a Purpose

Purposeful Summer Ideas for Moms and Kids

By Beth Seversen

Do you love the lazy, spontaneous days of summer? Or do you find those endless summer days just that, endless? If the latter is true of you, then perhaps you’ve experienced the struggle of trying to come up with ideas to keep your kids active, learning and getting along with each other during these months. Here are some fresh ideas for the approaching season that will also allow you to get to know women.

Invite all the moms from one of your children’s classrooms to a summer survival coffee. On your invitation, ask everyone to be prepared to share one summer fun idea. Encourage mothers of preschoolers not to let childcare issues prevent them from coming. Have a basket of toys and a VeggieTales video handy to occupy toddlers. When women RSVP and offer to bring something, let them! They will feel ownership for your gathering and are much more likely to attend if they’re contributing something. On the other hand, assure overwhelmed moms that they don’t need to bring a thing, other than themselves.

By using summer as a theme for your gathering, you can keep the menu and décor simple. Set out buckets, shovels and sand toys for centerpieces. Strew jump ropes, colored sidewalk chalk or jacks and rubber balls across the serving table. Offer lemonade, iced tea, Cracker Jacks, peanuts, and Popsicles ¾ anything that reminds you of summer. If your kids have some spare stickers, put ladybugs, bicycles, ice cream cones, roller skates and flowers on plain name tags or labels. Hunt around the house and garage for things you already have ¾picnic cloths, potted plants, bottles of bubbles, a baseball cap or mitt ¾ to enhance your theme.

Introduce your guests to each other, and socialize over treats. Try not to hurry people or appear rushed because you have an agenda. The main agenda is for you to get to know your guests better and for them to enjoy themselves. This is a fun, casual way of deepening relationships, hoping that God will use you at some point to help bring these friends to Christ.