It's summertime and time to put your plans for all of the great outdoor activities you've been looking forward to in motion. As a Liv resident, you have access to many features and amenities of outdoor areas that make having fun in the great outdoors easy.
Whether you enjoy spending time at the community's bark park, picnic areas, barbeque areas, or your own private balcony or patio, this article offers some great ideas for small outdoor area activities that can have a big impact on you, your family, and your neighbors.
Host a Doggy Birthday Party
Whatever season your dog was born in, you can still get away with hosting a party for them this spring. Invite your neighbors with dogs to join the fun. You can set up games the dogs will enjoy, like Frisbee catch or yoga ball soccer, and fun activities for the two-legged attendees, like Frisbee golf, horseshoes, or croquet.
When creating the guestlist for this soiree, be sure that the dogs invited are compatible. Bullies or aggressive dogs can ruin the fun for everyone, including the human attendees. It might also be wise to try to keep the size of the dogs invited somewhat uniform. Even the gentlest of Great Danes may be terrifying to a teacup Yorkshire Terrier.
Don’t forget the refreshments. Be sure to have plenty of fresh drinking water available for the dogs and send each home with a doggie bag filled with snacks appropriate for their size. It is a good idea to distribute these bags to the dogs’ human companions to be enjoyed later at home so there are no spats over treats.
Most humans share better than dogs, so feel free to provide food and drink for the people in attendance. If the barbeque area is close by, you can even throw some burgers and hot dogs. If not, then provide handheld snacks and coolers of cold drinks for people to enjoy while their dogs play in the bark park.
Hold a Themed Potluck Picnic
Picnics have been a common pastime for generations. Set a date and invite your neighbors to bring their favorite picnic foods. For added interest, choose a theme, like a beach day, the American flag, or a specific nationality to celebrate, and encourage your guests to bring foods matching the theme.
You might want to provide some sort of entertainment, as not everyone is good at making small talk or mingling. A Bluetooth-enabled karaoke machine may be just the thing to break the ice and get people interacting with each other. For those who don't enjoy the spotlight, a table set aside for board games or cards could be just the thing to help them move past any initial shyness.
Whenever hosting a potluck of any kind, it is always a good idea to have a signup sheet or email chain so that you can ensure a good variety of foods and drinks. Because no matter how good the five-layer dip is, you don't want that to be the only hors d'oeuvre on the table.
Cards on the Deck
For a more intimate gathering, set up a card table on your deck or patio, invite a few friends over, and spend the evening playing cards or board games under the stars. This is a perfect low-key way to introduce yourself to new neighbors or to introduce yourself to the community in small batches.
Provide food and drink for the players and other forms of entertainment for those who are waiting their turn to play. For best results, try to keep the competitive nature of the games turned down, at least until everyone knows each other better.
If the night goes well, see if you can convince one of the attendees to host a similar gathering the next month. It may be the start of a wonderful tradition and it will certainly give you the chance to get to know your neighbors better.
Don’t Forget the Kiddos
Children are very good at having big fun in small outdoor play spaces. While all the children who live in Liv communities have easy access to a play area and free outdoor space to run and play in, they can still benefit from an organized active game or educational natural play.
One great way to get kids out to enjoy the great outdoors is to distribute magnifying glasses and encourage them to take a closer look at the natural world around them. Whether they discover the inner workings of a blade of grass or study the wings of a butterfly resting nearby, looking through a magnifying glass will give them a whole new perspective and ignite their innate curiosity.
Of course, there is almost nothing children love better on a warm summer day than some water. You can fill buckets with water and distribute water guns to the kids. They can fill them in the buckets quickly and easily without the need for a running hose or the waste it causes.
Water balloons are another good option, but perhaps only for older children. Have them prefill their balloons before the water balloon fight starts so there is no need for them to keep running inside. Also, be sure that they are aware that the last part of the fun is gathering up all of the pieces of the popped balloons and disposing of them.
A Sense of Community Outdoors
These are just a few of the many ways that you can take advantage of your Liv community’s outdoor spaces to entertain your friends and family and create a true community of people who actually know each other.
To find out more about the outdoor fun you can have in your Liv neighborhood or to learn how to become a member of one, contact us at Liv.
