Category Archives: Backyard Fun

Backyard Fun, Outdoor Entertaining, Outdoor Safety Tips

Plan Ahead for Successful Swing Set Installation

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Spring is the perfect time to install a new backyard swing set or playground set for the kids, but don’t wait until spring to get started.  Installing a backyard playground properly requires some initial planning before the equipment is ever purchased.  Spend time now thinking about important details, and you’ll be ready for installation when spring arrives.

  • Equipment Choices — What kind of backyard playground will your children enjoy most?  Play sets come with a wide variety of equipment options in any number of configurations, so get together with your kids and make a list of the types of equipment they’d like best.  Swings, slides, and monkey bars are generally standard on playground sets, but swings and slides come in a number of different designs and colors.  Additionally, you can choose from climbing walls, tire swings, club houses, and rope ladders, which are just a few of the other playground accessories available for backyard equipment.
  • Best Location — A number of considerations must be made before choosing a location for your backyard playground set:
      • Avoid ground that slopes or is uneven. Level ground helps prevent playground equipment from tipping.
      • Select an area that is away from potentially dangerous obstacles such as trees, low branches and wires, stumps, roots, large rocks, fences, bricks, and concrete.
      • Plan for a safety zone of at least 6 feet around all playground equipment; set aside even more space in front of and behind swings.
      • Think about where you plan to position any metal or dark-colored slides or surfaces. Placing these out of direct sunlight can help prevent burns on hot, sunny days.
  • Safest Surface — What material do you plan to use underneath the backyard playground?  Grass and dirt do not provide adequate protection from injuries due to falls from equipment.  Pea gravel, sand, wood chips, and shredded or recycled rubber mulch are some of the recommended protective playground surface options available. 

With a bit of planning now, you can ensure that your backyard playground equipment is exactly what your kids want and that it’s installed in the best location possible when spring arrives.

Backyard Fun, Environmentally Friendly Ideas, Portable Fun

Thinking Outside the Picnic Basket

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Picnic Baskets and Picnic Totes

When you think of the word “picnic,” do you automatically associate it with warm and sunny outdoor excursions to the park or the beach?  If we open our minds a bit, though, we can quite easily visualize picnics happening anywhere, at any time of year.  

Picnics don’t have to take place out of doors.  A picnic meal can be set up on the living room floor, at the office, or in the treehouse out back.  All it takes is a little imagination and a bit of whimsy.  What really makes a picnic a picnic is a thoughtfully packed snack or meal, a blanket for sitting on, and good company.  It doesn’t require sun, warmth, or outdoors if those three ingredients are not available. 

Consider using a Picnic Basket or Tote that includes cloth napkins and washable, shatter-proof dishes and utensils.  Not only do these picnic sets give a picnic style, they make the experience environmentally friendly, too.  Here are a few tips to ensure a perfect picnic:

  • Packing a salad?  Take your dressing along in a separate container and add it to your salad just before eating.  Your lettuce and veggies will stay crisp and delicious.
  • Avoid bringing foods that need to be reheated if you won’t have access to a microwave or other cooking device.
  • Hard cheeses, fruits, hummus, crusty bread, and chopped veggies like broccoli, carrots, and cucumbers make excellent picnic fare.  They’re healthy and don’t require refrigeration if they’ll be consumed that day.

 

Backyard Fun, Environmentally Friendly Ideas, Holidays & Gift Ideas, Outdoor Entertaining, Outdoor Lighting Ideas, Outdoor Living Spaces, Portable Fun

Thoughtful Gifts Combine Fun and Function

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Finding fun gifts that are also useful can present a challenge.  Gifts that are purely fun can quickly become space hogs when they lose their appeal.  Gifts that are purely practical in nature are, frankly, pretty boring.  There are quite a number of great gift ideas out there that successfully combine the fun with the practical, but the key to choosing the right gift is knowing the recipient.

If you have a football-loving friend who also loves to cook out on the grill, it would be hard to go wrong with a gift like the Portable Football Grill.  Shaped like a football, it definitely offers a unique and fun spin on grilling out.  Because it is portable, this grill can be used on the back patio and at the tailgating party.

Football Grill

If, on the other hand, you have a friend who is environmentally conscious but also enjoys fun home decor, a smart gift idea would be a Solar Mosaic Glass Lantern.  These colorful and casual lights are solar powered, so no wiring is involved, and there are no operating costs.  Solar lanterns are ideal for illuminating backyard patio tables since they require sunlight to operate.

 

How about the friend who loves spending time outdoors, but who also appreciates quiet time in front of the television watching movies or shows with the family?  The ideal gift would combine the fun of watching TV with the ability to enjoy the fresh, clean air of the great outdoors.  The solution comes in an Outdoor Weatherproof TV.  Outdoor TVs are designed to withstand weather exposure, and they make a welcome addition to outdoor patios, sunrooms, pool areas, and covered decks.

SunBriteTV 22 In Outdoor LCD HDTV 2220 PRO

Fun and functional gifts are everywhere, but they provide the most joy to the recipient when you take time to consider your friends and what characteristics they would most appreciate in a gift.  It really is the thought that counts.

Backyard Fun, Holidays & Gift Ideas, Indoor Living Spaces, Outdoor Entertaining, Portable Fun

The Key to Bringing the Party with You

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New Year's Eve Party

Photo Credit: Getty Images

So many exciting events are coming up…New Year’s Eve and the Super Bowl are two in particular that rank high on our family’s “Best Excuses for Hosting a Get Together” list.  Frankly, the best part about get togethers, aside from the wonderful company, are all the yummy eats and lip-smacking drinks.

Whether or not you like to spike the eggnog at your party, you’ll want to have plenty of beverages on hand for thirsty guests.   At our house, there’s no room for a stocked bar, so we keep our GoBar Portable High Top Bar tucked away until we need it for special occasions when drinks will flow continuously.  Once we set up the bar in a convenient spot near the food table, we stock it with whatever we’ll need for the evening ahead.  Beer, wine, soda, juices, blender, ice buckets, and glasses can all be kept on the bar and on the sturdy storage shelf, which remains hidden behind one of three festive skirts.

What are festive skirts, you may ask?  This is one of our favorite features of our portable GoBar.  Depending on the theme for the party, we dress our GoBar in one of the three skirts that are included with the bar.  For the New Year’s party, we choose the formal skirt, the Super Bowl party features the football field skirt (of course), and our summer beach party requires the tiki-themed skirt.  They add an extra touch of fun and flair to each of our parties.

Now that our friends have experienced the GoBar, they ask us to bring it with us to their parties.  Because it is lightweight and portable, it’s never a problem.   We’re not planning to stay up until midnight this New Year’s Eve, nor do we care which teams finally make it to the Super Bowl — what we love about these events is spending them with family and friends and having a memorable time.

  

Backyard Fun, Holidays & Gift Ideas, Outdoor Entertaining

Gather ‘Round the Fire for a Memorable Family Holiday

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Fire pits and Fire bowls

As families gather together for holiday happenings, take advantage of any unseasonably “warm” weather you may be experiencing, and gather your family in your outdoor spaces.  Chicago, for example, has experienced temperatures in the 40s over the past few days, unusual for this time of year.  What a perfect opportunity to stoke up the fire in your fire pit or fire bowl.

Even on chillier days, there’s something so cozy and inviting about gathering around a roaring fire burning safely in an outdoor fire pit or fire bowl.  The crackle of the burning logs, the aroma of the wood, and the early fading sunlight inspire many families to pull out their best stories and tall tales for multi-generational entertainment.  Only hot chocolate and marshmallows could improve the experience.

There really is nothing that can adequately compete with a gathering of family and friends in the cozy comfort of your outdoor spaces when those spaces are lit and warmed by a toasty fire.   The cherished memories created in these moments when loved ones come together make the best gifts of all.