Summer Water Party

Last year my friend Haley had a super fun summer party for her kids and their friends on the last day of school.  I asked her if I could take over and do it this summer (I must be crazy).

I started out with these popsicle invitations.  The original idea was to use velum to make the popsicles but I just love these chevron prints from Mel Stampz and I have been using them for everything.  I printed a full sheet of the chevron paper, then I printed the free printable from Martha Stewart over the chevron paper and just cut them out and glued them to the popsicle stick.

When Haley did her party last year, she served the treats in buckets, so I thought I'd do the same... it's just super cute!

This watermelon shark has been floating around Pinterest a lot!  I didn't go all out, like some of the other ones I've seen, but the kids loved it and that's all that matters:)

I felt so bad about forgetting the jello petri dishes for my son's science party, so I had to make jello fish bowls for this party.  They were a huge hit!

We let the kids jump on the tramp with the sprinkler under it.  We also had our "vintage" slip-n-slide that my mom has saved from when I was a kid.  It's awesome because it's way stronger and longer than the slip-n-slides you can buy these days:)  I really wanted to make the bike car wash that I keep seeing on Pinterest, but I totally ran out of time:(

I had a huge list of game ideas that I wanted to play.... but the kids had more fun just doing their own thing.  We did get to play "duck, duck splash" and we played a game where they shot down towers of cups with squirt guns.... I think where I lost them was with water balloon volleyball... It was just too hard for kids this age!

This little water balloon filler was my life savor!!!  I bought it at K-mart for $4.  The kids can fill and tie their own water balloons!!!  I set them to work a few days before the party and they filled almost 400 water balloons!

I couldn't send the kids home without a party favor!  I love this "Have a Ball this Summer" printable from Dixie Delights.  I don't particularly like bouncy balls and I know how much kids LOVE gumballs, so I used gumballs instead!

I'm not sure what my deal is lately about forgetting things.... but I totally forgot to give the kids the orange cream sicles I had bought for the party:)  It's all good, most of those friends have come back at later times to enjoy those popsicles!