After choosing a theme, the first order of business was doing some on-line shopping. Playdate Place has some good suggestions for toys and we found some geared perfectly for our age group (1-5) that fit our outdoor theme. Being summertime and crazy hot here (like 119 yesterday!!!), waterplay is a definite must when doing anything outside. So, some water-related activities were on the list.
Shopping was super easy with Kmart.com! I was able to search for various items and even found some great on-line sales. Here are some of the fun things we found:
The convenience of shopping online is great and all the items I selected had a store pickup option. Within just a few hours of placing my order, everything was ready to go! Super easy! Big Brother wanted to pick out so special items for his friends and I wanted to check out the water-play items in store as well. So, we loaded up and headed to Kmart to pickup our order and check things out.
Once in the store, Big Brother had no problem finding a plethora of items he wanted to get!!
There were numerous aisles all geared toward outdoor summer play! Just what we were looking for!!
After much negotiation, we finally made some decisions! Then, we picked up our online order. I was super impressed that they had all of our smaller items grouped together and boxed up for us! So nice!!
The van was packed full with our purchases and it was like Christmas in July once everything was brought into the house!
The toys have already seen some action and Big Brother keeps asking when his friends get to come over to play with everything! We can’t wait! (*Side note: Yes, I originally said the playdate was going to be this past week, but we had to cancel due to a broken A/C fiasco. So, we had to reschedule for after our trip! And, although you can make out quite a bit from the photos, I'm going to save a few surprises on the details of what we bought for the actual playdate post recap, so stay tuned!)
With the toys and activities decided on, figuring out what food to serve is another part of the planning. Needless to say, we’re looking for kid and outdoor-friendly. Think chicken nuggets, fresh fruit, chips—maybe even some popsicles or ice cream! We also have a really fun and easy water play craft planned that I can't wait to share! So, stay tuned!
What are YOUR favorite food/activities for an outdoor summer playdate?
Disclosure: This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias #playdateplace. All opinions and experiences are my own.
I like having a wading pool option or at least a sprinkler when it's hot. Ice cream sandwiches are always good, too!
ReplyDeleteChristmas in July is so accurate! I think we might make it an every year tradition! :-)
ReplyDeletelooks like lots of great stuff. we had so much fun at out playdate
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