5 Family Fun Ideas for the Summer Solstice

Three cheers for summer! This week was the Summer Solstice, the official start to summer (June 21 every year), and the day when the sun is directly above the Tropic of Cancer. What does that mean? Sunset doesn’t touch down until 8:25 PM, which means we got a magical 16 hours and 38 minutes of sunlight. Score! After a long winter and springtime of odd weather, my family was pretty jazzed to celebrate the Summer Solistice–which we did, old-school style with some classic summertime activities. And while Summer Solstice has passed, summer is officially here and there are loads of sunlit hours there for the taking! Try some of these family-friendly ideas to kick up the notch on your summertime fun!

5 Family Fun Ideas to Celebrate Summer Solstice:

1. Campfire. Nothing beats family time like sitting around a campfire on summer evening. We love to tell stories, or my husband and I will kick back and relax while the kids play in the yard.
2. Mountain pies! While you are hanging around that fire, grab some quality camping pie irons (we learned after many burned pies that quality really does matter here!). Growing up, at camp we made simple ones filled with pie filling, but lately my family has been experimenting with some fun twists–like cheese and tomato sauce for pizza pies and Reeses cups and marshmallows for peanut butter smores! Grab all the ingredients, head down to the fire, and cook up some treats.
3. Catching fireflies. After enjoying all those hours of sunlight, catch that sweet spot when the moonlight starts to nudge in and chase after fireflies. And go ahead and join in, mom–no better way to make memories with your kiddos while racking up those steps on your Fitbit!
4. Lawn games. We love the newer ones on the scene, like yard dice or Kan Jam, but an old classic like croquet never goes out of style. Pick up a few of your favorites and keep them on hand to for family game night–the outdoor version!
5. Sprinkler. All those fancy bouncy water slides are great, but remember the good old days of just running through a sprinkler? Give it a try–just make sure mom and dad take a few passes through the spray too to ensure lots of family giggles!

These classic ideas for family summertime fun are some of the ones we most enjoy–what are your family’s favorites? I’d love to hear!

However you celebrate summer now that Summer Solstice has arrived, I hope it’s filled with loads of laughs and special memories, friends! Enjoy!

First image credit: depositphoto.com, Image ID:65943401, Copyright:fcscafeine

Last image credit: depositphotos.com, Image ID:9939133, Copyright:tomwang

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Meredith

Meredith blogs at The Mom of the Year, where she dedicatedly earns her title one epic parenting fail at a time, offering quick, relatable laughs for fellow parents and all their empathizers. She has been part of several best-selling anthologies, featured on prominent sites such as Huffington Post, In the Powder Room and BlogHer, and loves her role as the Executive VP/Operations Manager of The BlogU Conference. When she's not breaking up fights over Legos and juice boxes, she remains fully committed to sharing a less serious look at the world of parenting.

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