If you’re keeping track, the first part of July signifies the half-way point of the year. How are your family adventures stacking up for the first six months?
Put your collecting family thinking caps on and plan ahead for this month and the five following that to plan family fun and festivities for the rest of the year, to make sure you get in much quality family time and memory-making opportunities. Plan indoor activities for the extra-hot days this month, but make sure to get outside and soak up the vitamin D as much as possible. Make plenty of memories this month with the ones you love to head into the second half of 2024.
Try out some of the wild, but real, holidays below and throw in some unique ones created just for your family, too.
I barbecue sauce or mild buffalo wing sauce. Grate several kinds of cheeses to choose from. Add bacon bits, diced onions and relish to the hot dog buffet. What about ranch seasoning, chili, salsa or chopped peppers? Try splitting the wiener and bun in half or thirds so you can sample a variety of topping offerings. Enjoy a different dog to celebrate the event and have fun with the family while doing so.
➤ Independence Day – Give the kids shallow pie pans of red, white and blue paint and a loofa bath sponge for each color. Use a white sheet of poster board as a blank canvas. Encourage the kids to dip the sponges in the appropriate colors of paint and make prints on the poster board to make a flag painting.
➤ National Roadside Traffic Safety Awareness Month – Give the kids a roll or two of painters’ tape and let them create a highway on the den floor. Pull out small matchbox-style cars after they design the highway or freeway and take the toy cars on an imaginary road trip.
➤ National Scrabble Week – Play a family game of scrabble using the scrabble board and tiles one night. Then, try another version: speed scrabble. Give each person 7 tiles. On “go,” each person flips their tiles and attempts to use them all to spell words, scrabble-style. The first person to use all seven tiles yells “go,” and each person picks another tile from the stack in the middle of the table. Each player must incorporate that letter into their combination of words. Again, the person who uses all their tiles yells “go,” and the game continues in the same format until all of the tiles have been chosen and someone uses all of their tiles. That person is the winner.
➤ Zip Code Day – Pick someone you know in another zip code who might need a helping hand for the day or a special treat. Take that person a gift card, bouquet of flowers, sweet treat from a bakery, homemade casserole or another gift to make them feel special and loved.
Make plans to celebrate the second half of 2024 with even more gusto than the first half. Be intentional with fun and adventure to make treasured family memories. Make every day a holiday with the ones you love!
Statesboro native Julie Lavender loves making memories with her family. She is the author of “Strength for All Seasons: A Mom’s Devotional of Powerful Verses and Prayers,” “Children’s Bible Stories for Bedtime” and “365 Ways to Love Your Child: Turning Little Moments into Lasting Memories.”