Baja Bob's Low Carb Margarita and Pina Colada Drink Mixes
Just one sip... imagine island music and coconut palms swaying in the breeze. Only 3 grams of effective carbohydrate per 4oz. serving, even with Rum...Ya mon!

Summer Pool Party Invitations

Summer Barbeques @ lillianvernon.com

Blue Floating Cooler

Bright Plastic Goblets-Set of 12

Flip Flop! Coasters

Our colorful 4" plastic flip flop coasters are great for your beach, barbecue or luau party. Each pack comes with six assorted coasters.

For summer party theme ideas, general party planning tips, decorating tips, recipes, drinks & food ideas and more

Return to: Planning a Summer Party: Main Index

Beach Party & Pool Party Ideas

Beach Party Supplies (MakesParties.com)

Whether you are planning a beach party, or planning a pool party, you'll find everything you need right here to ensure a fabulous and safe time for you and your guests. A swimming pool party or beach party means summer is here, and a pool party is a popular choice for a girl or a boy as a birthday party, generally from 7th or 8th grade and up, and a teen pool party or teen beach party is always a huge hit. I had a graduation pool party my senior year and for my college graduation and it was a blast on both occasions. An adult pool party calls for a bit more sophistication and elegance, but we've got that covered here too. Here you'll find many pool party ideas, suggestions for pool party themes around which to organize your event, pool party invitations & pool party decorations as part of our pool party supply store, pool party games and pool party food and menu options. Beach party ideas abound here too for either a party actually held on a beach, or an infdoor party with a beach party theme.
Beach party invitations, beach party decorations, beach party favors all can be had in our beach party supply store. You'll find ideas for a kids beach party, beach birthday party ideas, suggestions for beach party food, beach party music and more.

Beach parties make great ideas for kids birthday parties but are equally good for adult gatherings or family events. Island themes are fun themes for either a beach party theme or a pool party theme, and if you are thinking about using a theme like that for your party, you might want to consult our sections of this party planning site specific to Planning a Luau Party theme party, Planning a Caribbean Party theme party, or Planning a Tropical Island party theme party for decorating tips and food ideas specific to those themes.

Generall Planning Tips for Pool Parties and Beach Parties

Be sure to find out what the regulations are about having parties on your beach. Call the city, town, or county in which the beach is located. Ask them if reservations are needed, what hours the beach is open, if alcoholic beverages are allowed, and if you need to get a permit to hold a party. Pack as much of the food and other items as you can the night before the party. Write down a checklist of everything you are bringing, so you won't be rushed and trying to remember everything the day of your event. A few things to be sure to include to cover things your guests may forget are extra napkins and glasses, a first aid kit, sunscreen, a flashlight (nothing is worse than trying to find all your stuff at the beach after the sun goes down). If you are hosting a pool party or beach party, remind guests to bring along their bathing suits, and towels, if you won't have enough on hand or don't want the extra laundry, but still, bring an extra beach towel or two along just in case someone forgets. Provide your guests with clear directions when you send out your party invitation, and plan on placing a big flag or other highly visible item in the sand that will make your party site easy to spot. If you are hosting a beach party or a pool party for kids, be sure to know the swimming level of each child attending and have adequate supervision on hand when any child is near the water. Have sunscreen and extra towels for guests who mght hae forgotten to bring these items.

Get to the beach early enough to allow for plenty of set-up time. If you have games planned (volleyball, paddleball, etc.), take all the items out and make them accessible to your guests. If your party is a pool party, make sure your pool s clean the day before your event. Designate a room as a changing room for people to change into or out of bathing suits, and put up a sign so people know which room that is. Outside,
set out patio chairs and tables around the pool area for your guests. It's easy to rent folding chairs if you need to have mroe on hand for a large number of guests, but be sure everyone will have a place to sit and eat. Set up two additional large tables, one for snacks, the other for beverages, and lay out plates, cups, napkins, and utensils on the serving tables. Set up a stereo and speaker system near the pool for some tunes. Surf music is always fun pool party music, I mean, how can you go wrong with the Beach Boys? Allow for clean-up time after your party to remove all of the trash left behind by your guests.

For either a beach party or pool party, plan a menu and purchase/make necessary food and beverages. Keep the food light - salads, fruits, veggies and dip - since your guests will be swimming or running around on the beach. Have sodas, teas, and juices on hand for swimmers who don't want to drink alcohol. If your party is going to run into the evening you may want to have some kabobs on hand for something a little more filling after the sun has gone down. (Consult our Summer Barbecue Grilling Recipes for pool party and beach party menu ideas)

Beach Party Activities

If you are having a beach party, organize a beach volleyball tournament for your guests, have a sandcastle competition if your friends are artistically inclined, or hold a limbo competition right there on the sand! If your party is at night, you might want to try some flashlight limbo, where you use the beam of the flashlight as your limbo stick. A Dress-up Relay is also a fun activity for adult parties and kids parties. Make 2 piles of the same type of clothing (easily found at thrift stores), being sure to include items that present a challenge such as buttoned shirts. For adult parties, be sure to include items that add humor like a brassiere large enough to be worn by men. Divide the group into teams. Half of each team stands facing the other half of their team, about 50 yards away. When the relay commences, the first players must dress as quickly as they can (over bathing suits of course) in all the clothes from one pile. When finished, he or she must run to where the other half of their team is located, then take all the clothes off so that the next player in line can dress up. The team that dresses and undresses all of its players first wins the game. A survivor party theme would decorate along the lines of a tropical tiki party theme, and Survivor party games might include some immunity challenges like a gummy bug-eating competition where whoever eats the most, wins, or a kombucha drinking contest (it's good for you, but if you've ever tasted it you'll know why this is a challenge!) to see who can drink a bottle the fastest. For an indoor beach party, just decorate the room with a sea them and use beach towels, colorful beach umbrellas, seashells or anything else that makes you think of the beach as accents. ask your guest to come dressed for sun and fun, suggesting beach attire, sandals, and of course splashy sunglasses. You may even want to have a costume contest to see who gets the title of "Surfing God or Goddess"Activities can include beach volleyball (using an inflated soft beach ball) or a crabwalking relay race.

copper fire pit

What followed the invention of fire? The party. That's because once man had a warm, inviting place to gather, everyone wanted to congregate in his cave. Not much has changed today except the quality of the fire pit. This one is made of heavy-gauge solid copper by artisans in Turkey.

A bonfire is also a fun activity for the beach, and at a pool party, you can simulate the effect by having a fire pit buring on a concrete patio, away from anything that will catch fire should sparks fly. If you have any friends who are musicians, have them bring their instruments along and lead a sing-a-long around the fire. And of course, roasting marshmallows satisfies just about everyone of all ages!

Pirate Party Supplies (Makes Parties)

Pirate Party Supplies (Oriental Trading Co.)

Pirate Party Kit-N-Kaboodle (Shindigz.com)

Another fun thing to do at a beach party is organize a beach treasure hunt. An example for this for a kids party might be to organize the treaure hunt around a pirate theme, and decorate the beach was decorated with pirate flags sticking in the sand to get kids excited about the treasure hunt. As each guest arrive, get the buccaneers ready to plunder and party by adding blood, scars, and some facial hair with easy to use Face Painting Crayons. Supply each child with plastic swords, a treasure map, sand shovel and a sack for collecting treasure. Each map should be formulated to guide the children to a treasure spot especially for them, (two popsicle sticks painted black and hot glued together with their name written in gold paint pen can be used to mark an X). Once children locate their treasure, they can use their shovels to dig for treasure buried in the sand dunes. "Treasure" can include plastic gems & jewelry for girls, toy telescopes & compasses, gold nuggets (rocks painted with gold spray paint) gold coins (real gold dollars), etc. Play a game of “Walk the Plank”, using a 6’ X 1” X 6” board from a lumber store. Set the plank on top of two cinder blocks, and arrange dark blue Water Gossamer under the plank. Alligators are optional. Have each child take a turn walking the plank. If this isn’t challenging enough for your age group, make them walk backwards or balance a book on top of their head. If the kids race through the activities you have planned, play Tick Tock Find the Crock (hide and seek), Black Beard Says (Simon Says), or Pin the X on the Treasure Map. Reward the bucaneers with some Pirate Funtoos for their timber shiverin' effort! If part of the party is indoors at a beach house, or in a backyard, you might want to consider keeping with the pirate theme by getting a treasure chest pinata or a pirate pinata, then having a cake that is decorated with some kind of treasure map of pirate theme. Just remember, a pinata is a fun kids summer party idea that's great for adult parties too.

Pool Party Ideas

	Pool Party Kit-N-Kaboodle
Fiesta Tableware	Island Party Theme	Fiesta/Southwest Party Theme
Swimming Pool Party Theme	Hula Girlz Party Theme	Tropical Beachware Party Theme

Pool party games such as "Marco Polo" are great for kids pool parties, though I must admit, just as fun for adults, especially after a drink or two. If you don't know how to play, basically on person is blindfolded and has to locate where people are by saying Marco, to which everyone must reply "Polo". After that, it's swim tag, with the person trying to get close enough to tag someone so that they take the next turn at being "Marco". (The person who is Marco can call out as often as he or she desires.) Children should only play this game in the shallow end unless every child playing is a good swimmer.

For an inexpensive daytime pool party activity everyone will love, how about making your own sno cones!

They sell sno cone machines and syrups at Amazon.com and you can also buy the snow cone machines at Target. As for activities to keep your guests engaged, if you have decided on a luau party theme, for example, you can get your party off to a fun start by handing leis and grass skirts as fun favors when your guests arrive at your party. You might also want to purchase or borrow a couple of hula-hoops. Let guests know on your party invitation that at a specified time there will be a "hula" contest and encourage them to practice prior to the contest. If you have a Latin theme to your party, or can find one to match your party's theme, consider having a pinata, a hit with crowds of all ages. After your guests hang up their towels, light up the party with beautiful floating candles.

Floating Water Lily Lights--ON SALE NOW!

To keep guests moving after things get dark, you might want to try some flashlight limbo, where you use the beam of the flashlight as your limbo stick. If you have space in your yard where there is not any grass, consider hiring a fire dancer for your party's entertainment. A good performance is truly magical, and all your guests will be mesmerized; this works especially well for a summer pool party held in the evening and guests can gather around to watch the poolside performance. Don't forget the Citronella candles. Pesky mosquitoes and biting flies can quickly put a damper on a perfect evening.