Back to School Water Balloon Party

We had Meet the Teacher Day at school and then invited the neighborhood kids over for a Water Balloon Party to celebrate the new school year.  In the garage/unfinished basement, I set up a ping pong table, jumpy, and lots of chairs and fans.  In the backyard, I had a sprinkler, slip n slide, and 10 shaving cream bottles to play with.  In the driveway, I had a basketball goal, a baby pool, and space for the water balloon games.

As everyone arrived, they played in the garage and backyard.  The kids LOVED the shaving cream and we got some cute pictures! 

Once everyone was there, we started the water balloon games!  We played water balloon toss, where the kids got into pairs and tossed a water balloon back and forth.  If the water balloon didn't break, then the kids took a step back and did it again.  If the water balloon broke, then they were out.  The last pair standing won!  We also played hot potato with a water balloon.  Kids were out if the water balloon broke or if they were holding the balloon when the music stopped.  Next we played a game where one kid was "IT" (I used the winner of the hot potato game as "IT") and stood on a side of the driveway by herself.  All the other kids stood on the other side of the driveway.  When "IT" hit someone on the other side with a water balloon, then they joined the "IT" side  and helped her until everyone was on the same side.  The last game was a free-for-all water balloon fight!  For the games, I used chalk to make 2 lines on the driveway that the kids weren't supposed to cross and I also told them to aim for shoulders and below (not heads!).  After that, I tried to tell them I had one more game where they used buckets to pick up the broken balloon pieces!  The kids helped clean up some and then the Moms there finished up!

(I HIGHLY recommend the "tie-not" tool to make all the water balloons!)

Then it was time to eat!  I had waters, juice boxes, lemonade, popcorn, cheese puff balls, grapes, and a make your own sundae station.  The sundae station had: waffle bowls, ice cream, chocolate/caramel/strawberry syrups, sprinkles, nuts, M&M's, Reese's pieces, crushed oreos, chocolate/peanut butter/butterscotch chips, whip cream, and cherries.  Yum!  I also had these adorable balloon topiaries on the table (see previous post for how to make them: HERE). 

It was such a fun party!  It would be a great annual tradition to start!