Tuesday, June 17, 2008

Summer Summer

Friday is the First Day of Summer and I'm wanting to start some fun traditions for our littles on this day. I want to take them to the pool, make these homemade bubbles, and make popsicles. Any other ideas? I'm drawing a blank on themed foods for breakfast or lunch and would love to hear your ideas! I even considered letting my girls eat ice cream for breakfast - but, would I be sorry to start that?! I can't wait to hear all of your thoughts and ideas!

21 comments:

Anonymous said...

A recent tv show talked about how once a summer the parents let the children have ice cream for dinner. They started doing this after some other parents said that was the one thing their grown children remembered best. I say go for it. Perhaps you can make it a tradition of doing that each year at the start of summer.

Wendi said...

You could grill hot dogs and have a make your own dog bar. You could let the girls top their dogs with chili, cheese, ketchup, mustard, relish, onions or whatever they desire. Then for dessert you could serve watermelon slices and have a seed spiting contest.

I think ice cream for breakfast sounds fun! You could always offer a topping of sliced banana or fresh peaches to make you feel a little better.

Whatever you come up with I am sure it will be fun!

Anonymous said...

Yes, an ice cream bar of sorts for breakfast sounds fun, and as another said, you can have healthy toppings.

Dianna said...

How about an oatmeal bar for breakfast with ice cream toppings and a scoop of ice cream on top?

I think melon, especially watermelon, is a great summer food. Also pasta salad and BLTs.

Sheila said...

I'm not sure ice cream for breakfast is any worse than a cinnamon roll (which I made for Father's Day!). :) If you really wanted it to be more healthy, it could be like a banana split with yogurt rather than ice cream, and strawberry sauce over the top. I totally agree with My Heart is Always Home - nothing says summer like hot dogs and watermelon. How about a traditional 'picnic' meal, with oven fried chicken and potato salad (and lemonaide)?

Tracey said...

how about making those funny stick people with raisens, celery, peanut butter and manderine oragnes.

Tamara said...

You could do a "hot" theme: hot dogs, hot fudge sundaes, hot potatoes, etc.

Or a "water" theme: water chestnuts, watercress sandwiches, watermelon, etc.

Or serve Summer "S" foods...sausage, strawberries, etc.

Sheila said...

Breakfast suggestion :
Frozen chocolate covered Bananas! MMMMM

Molly said...

How about making ice cream? That is one memory that I have from childhood that is super special...we LOVED it! We would get together with our next door neighbors who were good friends and would all take turns cranking the ice cream maker...good thing we didn't know that electric ones already existed at that point or we might have complained. :) Also, sun tea or homemade lemonade are very summery drinks, but maybe not at the same time as the ice cream. :) Have fun!

Unknown said...

Waffles with ice cream and choices of sprinkles and syrup or fruit toppings on top of the ice cream was our favourite summer special "supper" growing up, but it would be *spectacular* for breakfast :D

We just had a "lilac" picnic yesterday with fresh cut lilacs and lavender plates and the first rhubarb crisp of the season, great hit with my kids and I so enjoyed it too. Cold, sweet watermelon is always a big summer hit here too.

Have fun!

Susan said...

When I interned in the Domincan Republic, we ate strawberry ice cream for breakfast. It was so hot and it was so lovely! Go for it. Why not? They will not forget it.

Susan P. said...

How about a beach theme? The girls could wear their bathing suits for the day and take a nap using a beach towel under them. Hide some shells in the back yard and when all have been found you can give them a big beach ball to play with or sunglasses to wear. You could finger paint using blue paint for ocean and place goldfish crackers so it looks like they are swimming. You could even take some sandpaper and they could glue that to the bottom of their ocean pic. For some snack suggestions, make some blue jello(water) and put on one side of the plate, crushed up graham crackers on the other side (sand) Place gummy sharks and fish in the water. You could also made boat sandwiches by taking crescent rolls and hollowing them out and filling with tuna fish. Take a slice of cheese and cut on the diagonal and with a toothpick afix to the "boat" and you have a sailboat! For another quick snack you could make "sand dollars" by using two crackers with peanut butter in the middle and then roll in graham cracker crumbs. You could even serve these in sand pails:)

Amy said...

Thanks so much for the link, Monica! I hope that you guys enjoy the bubbles and I can't wait to see the pictures from your fun day. Ethan & Emily adore those bubbles and we will never buy those store-bought ones again!! Thanks again for including me in your links!

Ann @TheAssetEdge said...

You could make chocolate milk popsicles in the little freezer tupperware containers. Totally fun for little ones, but almost totally healthy too!

Anonymous said...

Breakfast-fresh watermelon or other melons, granola bars, eggs-sunny side up (get it? ha, ha)

Lunch-what says summer to me is BLT (bacon, tomato, and lettuce) sandwiches! Picnics are fun too.

I like to make smoothie pops-apple juice, raspberry sorbet (gives great flavor) frozen berries, and a banana. Blend in the blender and then pour in molds.

Anonymous said...

try frozen yogurt for breakfast! or fruit smoothies made with fresh fruit from the local market. And don't forget the watermelons - my personal summer favorite!
~anissa

Elise said...

What if you made parfaits out of yogurt and fruit, sprinkled with granola? Or some sort of healthy milkshake?? I don't know that it would have occurred to me to celebrate the first day of Summer, other than to wear black...Hee, hee!!
Not a lover of hot, humid weather.
I'm sure whatever you do will be super-special.
Elise

Anonymous said...

Let the girls decorate a large piece of butcher paper to use as your summer-dinner tablecloth. They could draw yellow suns, blue waves, orange fishes, etc.
Make your own popsicles are fuss-free and pretty healthy if made with 100% juice.
I recently made a sand dessert using pudding, vanilla wafers, cool whip, etc. Serve it in a sand pail.
I think the more you get kids involved in the preparation, the more they will enjoy the celebration!
Angie

Unknown said...

We like to have ice cream for our Sunday night dinners!!!

:-)

Kelly

Michie said...

I would also like to start some summer beginning traditions. I like the idea of having a barbeque. I have also been wanting to try making a lemonade pie for awhile now. I looked up lemonade on www.recipezaar.com and found lots of different recipes. I also thought maybe we could make lemonade. Have you ever made ice cream in a bag? That might be a fun thing for your little ones to try too. :)

The Thompson Family said...

Monica,
You have inspired me to start having fun with my kids again. We used to do lots of fun themed days and then things got busy and we kept putting it off. So, here's our first day of summer plan:
Fruit smoothies and yogurt for breakfast
Selling lemonade for a charity
(We'll take along a picninc lunch)
Waffles with fruit and ice cream for dinner.
We're going to try making a solar oven to cook s'mores in too. http://jas.familyfun.go.com/crafts?page=CraftDisplay&craftid=11954
Thank you for sharing your gift of hospitality with all of us.