6 Ideas for Having a Summer of Friends and Fellowship
It’s the first week of summer over here and it’s amazing the weight that I feel has lifted. As a homeschool Mom to four boys it’s a lot to school them, make meals, and try to maintain some form of peace and cleanliness in our home. The house is never fully clean and the meals are definitely all not blog-worthy so please don’t think we have a well-oiled ship or a home that’s super tidy. We don’t!
Schooling them at home these past years has been the hardest job and biggest joy of my life. It’s a full time job and the reason I wake early to have a minute to myself before we’re schooling all day. With a toddler, eight year old, tween and teenager i’s a full house.
With summer upon us I know we’re all looking for lazier days but I often find we miss out on seeing friends as often as we have hoped. We start the summer imaging camping trips, evenings at the pool and last minute cookouts, What happens may be just the opposite. We miss seeing our friends for months thanks to travel and lack of keeping in touch.
I know my kids get a little grumpy when they don’t see friends and I do as well! This year I’ve got a few reasonable ways I’m hoping to fix that. Let’s have a summer of fellowship I say! Invite friends into your busy days, be the one that invites them over and have a summer growing in fellowship with others.
Before Summer Starts, Do This
I need to get a big picture of how summer is actually going to look. How many down weeks will we have between travel or camps? When can I actually host and feel filled up enough to do so? Looking at the calendar helps me realistically think about what I’m able to host, be it at my home or elsewhere.
If the summer is more full and realistically I know I may only be up for hosting friends one or two days a month, that’s ok. I’d rather know that ahead of time than put an expectation on myself of weekly barbecues, all during a season where I’m hopeful of rest as well.
1. Shared Calendar
This is a new concept for this summer but I think it’s one many of you will like. Start a shared calendar with friends where everyone can post music festivals, local homeschool conferences or book sales, or even field trips you hope to make. After lots of talk a few of my friends from church and I decided to do this. We can all put things on the calendar that sound fun and closer to the date we can see who is up for the event or field trip.
I’m finding as my kids near the age of high school students they want often to do things with friends. This calendar is also helping me learn about new things around the area and new opportunities we have for getting together! Hiking is always more fun with friends so I’m glad for the opportunity to go with friends on local adventures too!
2. Host a Book Club, but This Way
It always sounds like a good idea to host a book club over summer, but here’s how I’d do it. Pick a date that works and tell everyone to come with the book they’re currently reading and share why they like it. Book lovers will feel no pressure to have finished a book by a certain date, you’ll get more attendance, and hopefully everyone goes home with some new ideas of what to read over their summer break.
Confession. I love this idea but I also want to read Ginny Yurich’s new book Homeschooling and may throw out a date in a month or so to discuss it with friends! Much like Teaching from Rest I could see how it will be a great book to read and be encouraged by over the summer!
3. Cookbook Supper Club Night
I love summer food and if you’re reading this, I have a feeling you may like it too. Something we’ve done in the past is that everyone had to cook out of the same cookbook. The dinner was delicious and fun to see what everyone created! We did discuss ahead of time if we were doing a dessert, appetizer or main dish. This helped make sure there weren’t any repeat dishes and we have a well balanced feast!
You could easily do this by cookbook or cookbook author if you want something more broad. I could see having a night with all Ina Garten recipes, Gaby Dalkin, or Half Baked Harvest. I’m sure your friends would love this and the great thing is people are bringing food so you don’t have to worry about it all! If friends don’t have the cookbook, look at the library! Many carry amazing current cookbooks.
4. Game Night, Kids and Adults
This is another one that is surprisingly fun for all. Our family doesn’t gravitate towards games as much as I may like, but we have friends who I’d consider big gamers! When our kids are with theirs they always have a new fun game to play and even games for the adults. If this isn’t something you find yourself great at, I bet there’s someone in your friend group who loves games.
5. Outdoor Movie Night
Something that my kids bring up is how fun it was to see a movie at an outdoor theater. If you have one near you, go! If not, maybe a friend has a large blow up screen they like to do in their backyard or you decide to all go in on one together. Of course movies can be inside too, but outdoors is always more fun.
Often places near you may host these as well too so look at local events calendars and try to find when those may be happening!
6. Evening pool meet ups
This is probably one of my favorite things. Kids play endlessly and tirelessly for the hours before bedtime. Everyone packs a simple meal and dinner is done and not in your kitchen! I’ve said it before but I’ll say it again, kids are really fine with wraps or sandwiches in the summertime and care much more about the fun they’ll be having with the friends.
If your kids are proficient in swimming and your pool allows for enough guests, this is such a fun option on a summer night.
I hope these six ideas help you as summer kicks off to think about ways you’ll want to remain in fellowship. It’s so good to see people and not go on a three month break from seeing everyone! If you try any of these or have something to add, will you let me know? I can’t wait to hear what you think!
