Fun in the Sun: Rules and Tips

Fun in the Sun: Rules and Tips

Summer is back in Santa Barbara!  While our Summer is nowhere near as hot as it is elsewhere in the state, it’s nice to keep cool and have a good time.  If your kids are ready for some fun in the sun, water play is common.  Graduating from their water lab, my children received their first water guns this year as well as a quick trial with water balloons.  It became clear that we needed rules to avoid some unnecessary tears.

Rule 1) No spraying the face.  This seems obvious, but perhaps only in retrospect.

Rule 2) No spraying someone that is unarmed.  An important corollary to the rule – if one is armed but out of ammunition, they are essentially unarmed.

Rule 3) No spraying someone filling their gun/balloon.  Similar to Rule 2, it is important to clarify for optimum fairness and fun.

Now that you have the rules out of the way, be ready with several buckets about the yard for easy-filling.  If you have made water balloons, take note of some additional tips:

Tip 1) Fill up as many balloons as possible.  Once you get throwing, it really ruins the pace to have to refill every three minutes.

Tip 2) Fill into several buckets.  Place these buckets around the yard for strategic toss and grab.

Tip 3) As you are filling up the balloons, bill your bucket with water as well.  This prevents the balloons from spontaneous explosion while filling and playing.

Tip 4) Use a small-head nozzle at the end of a hose for fill-up.  A number of water balloon-filling devices have come onto the market recently.  While I have had high hopes, they have yet to meet expectations.

Tip 5) Consider filling up a water balloon half-way and fully filling a regular balloon in order to keep everyone on their toes.

Most important of all, stay safe and have fun.  The summer is never long enough, so make every day count.