If you want to throw a party your child declares “the best ever,” but you’re short on time and energy, I’ll help you plan a DIY party that looks like a professional planned it. You don’t have to give half your budget to an event planner, and you don’t have to go it alone.
70+ summer activities for kids, organized by age & real life
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Hi Reader - When my girls were growing up, we tried a little bit of everything over summer break: VBS, day camp, a week at their godmother's, a mother's helper... The problem was never a shortage of activities — it was that every summer bucket list I found assumed I had the same kind of summer as everyone else. The same schedule. The same amount of bandwidth. So when I put together my summer activity guide this year, I organized it differently. Not just by age (though yes, there's a full toddler-through-teen breakdown), but also by: → Indoor vs. outdoor → Free vs. worth-the-splurge → Quiet independent play vs. active games → What actually works depending on whether you're a stay-at-home parent, a work-from-home parent, or you work in an office There are 70+ ideas total — and yes, some of them came straight from summers with my own girls. (Our at-home summer camp bar cart, parked right outside my office so they could help themselves? It helped me survive — and work — the summer they were 12.) I've organized everything into categories so you can jump straight to what's useful for you right now. You don't have to read the whole thing to get value from it. (And of course there's a printable list for your fridge!) Read the full summer activity guide → Take care- Jennifer // The Party Teacher https://thepartyteacher.com/ P.S. If you need summer birthday party ideas, check out this round up of 30 summer party themes. P.P.S. Father's Day is coming up! If you're looking to celebrate dad, I've got 14 ready-to-print Father's Day decorations in the shop. Just print, trim, and you've got an instant party! (The kids can even help make paper chains.) 
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The Party Teacher
If you want to throw a party your child declares “the best ever,” but you’re short on time and energy, I’ll help you plan a DIY party that looks like a professional planned it. You don’t have to give half your budget to an event planner, and you don’t have to go it alone.
Hi Reader - Before you send your next round of party invitations, there's one detail worth double-checking: Do your guests' parents know whether to stay or go? If it's not clearly spelled out whether or not your party is a drop-off, you may end up with a party full of kids and no adults to help. Maybe that's fine because your guests are older or your party is small and low key. But if your guests are younger and you're doing something like swimming or gymnastics, you'll want parents nearby....
Hi Reader - I used to watch those balloon garland videos — you know, the ones where someone twists four balloons together in about three seconds — and my brain would just go blank. There was no way I could make that. After more trial and error than I'd like to admit (including one garland that wilted in the afternoon sun at a bake sale — I'll tell you the story), I finally figured out what actually makes the difference between a balloon garland that looks professionally done and one that just...
Hi Reader - Baby B has been on a mission lately — and this time, her mission was a shark cookie cake. We always make an American flag fruit pizza for Memorial Day and the 4th of July. She decided that the same idea — sugar cookie base, cream cheese frosting, fresh fruit — would work perfectly with a shark theme. She was right, and she did most of the work to prove it. The result? Honestly adorable. Brown sugar sand, blue wave-peak frosting, gummy sharks surrounding a very dramatic Swedish...