The chillier months of the year can be nice and cozy, sure, but let’s be honest — summer is when the real action takes place. From long, warm days spent outdoors to family BBQs in the backyard, it’s a time of year that encourages us to live our best lives.
In truth, you’ll probably have a great summer even if you’re operating on autopilot. But as with most things, the more you put in, the more you’ll get out. In this post, we’ll explore various tips to enhance your family plans for summer, ensuring a truly memorable season for everyone.
Here Are 9 Family Plans for Summer
1. Have a Family Meeting
The summer months can come and go pretty quickly. Before you know it, you might realize that fall is fast approaching and that you’ve barely done anything yet. One effective way to ensure that you make the most of summer is to have a family meeting during spring, during which everyone can propose ideas about what to do during summer. You’ll be amazed at what a little brainstorming can produce, and this approach can also get everyone excited about what’s up ahead. After a long and dark winter, we all need something exciting to look forward to.
2. Put Together a Great Backyard
You’ll have plenty of opportunities to go out into the world during the summer months, but it’ll be home base where you spend more of your time. You can ensure that you and your family can enjoy the warm months to the fullest by putting together a great backyard that encourages you to sink into relaxation and fun.
You don’t need to go overboard to create a summer-worthy yard. By clearing out any debris, sprucing it up with a few plants, and adding some outdoor furniture, you’ll have the framework for spending many happy hours in your outdoor area.
3. Limit Screen Time
When considering family plans for summer, it’s important to think about screen time. We all spend more time looking at screens than we’d like to. It’s hard to put limits on ourselves and our kids during the winter months when we’re more reliant on our screens for entertainment. But during the summer months? That’s the perfect opportunity to disconnect. By turning off the wi-fi for periods of the day, you’ll find that you and your family naturally come up with creative, fun ways to spend your time. If nothing else, it’ll give you all a welcome break from scrolling.
4. Off to Camp
You might want to spend your summer days going on an adventure, but alas, practical matters often get in the way. Unless you’re lucky enough to have unlimited PTO, the amount of free time you have during the summer will be fairly limited. As an adult, you’ll have to simply make the most of the warm evenings and your weeks off work. But your children? With school out, they’ll have much more time to play with.
You can ensure that they make the most of their summer months by sending them to one of the Got Game Summer Camps that are available. Most camps finish around 3:30-4 pm each day, which means your kids will be back home just when you’re finishing work and ready to have fun.
5. Outdoor BBQs
Looking for an easy way to give yourself a healthy dose of the good side of summer, every single day? Consider incorporating a quality BBQ into your family plans for summer. This will allow you to quickly prepare delicious BBQ meals in your backyard, ensuring you can enjoy the warm summer evenings during the week, even after a long day at work. A good BBQ will also open up the possibility of inviting your friends and extended family around for a Saturday afternoon get-together.
6. Camping Trips
Is there anything better than taking a family camping trip? Not in our book. It’s an opportunity to see the most beautiful scenery that the US has to offer, it’s a good way for the family to bond, and you’ll be teaching your kids that yes, there is a life beyond smartphones and the internet.
It’s also a relatively budget-friendly activity, which means you can probably go on multiple camping trips over the summer months without it negatively impacting your finances. Look at building your camping supplies, take a look to see what campsites you have in your area, and go for it.
7. Educational Trips
Your kids will probably be happy to be out of school for a while, but it’s best if they don’t switch off their brains all summer. They’ll find it easier to get back into the swing of school when they go back if their education has been slowly ticking along, even a little bit. Of course, it can be difficult to get your kids excited about learning during the summer months. The trick is to disguise education as fun. A trip to a historical site isn’t a day of education; it’s a fun family outing, seamlessly blending learning with recreation—a perfect element of well-crafted family plans for summer.
8. Backyard Fun
If you’ve taken one of our earlier tips on board, then you’ll have a great backyard that’s absolutely summer-ready. While you’ll be content with simply unwinding and catching the rays, your kids will enjoy your yard much more if you’ve added some fun touches. For example, what about getting some outdoor games, or adding a kiddy pool? Another fun option is to set up a backyard cinema for awesome outdoor movie nights. And if you’ve invested in camping supplies, then you can also think about camping in the yard, too.
9. Hikes and Adventures
When making family plans for summer, consider exploring the beautiful areas located near your home. Summer is the perfect time to get out of the house and into the great outdoors, and given how long the days are during this time of year, you might find that you can even go for evening hikes after work if they’re not too far away from your home. Look at taking a fun, adventurous approach to the summer months and you’ll find that you’re handsomely rewarded for your efforts — and that your kids have a summer they’ll remember forever.
