Four Ideas for Your Next Themed Summer Party

Summer is a great time to get a group of your friends and family together for a party. The days are longer, weather warmer and for many people, a good time to take extra days off from work. Most get-togethers involve cooking out and hanging out around the patio or grill, but with a little extra planning, you can make the ordinary backyard barbeque into something extraordinary. Can't think of something a little different from the ordinary? Why not try one of my four favorite themed-party ideas for summer?

It may not be a Summer Olympics year, but it may be a different case at your house! Plan an entire day of your own Olympic events. Relay races in the pool, a game of hide-and-seek, the long jump, three-legged races or any other event you can come up with. As the host (or hostess), you'll want to have gold, silver and bronze medals to hand out to the winner of each event. You can buy cheap look-alikes at a party supply store, or just pick up a pack of construction paper and ribbon to make your own. Not into the physical games? You can always substitute any - or all - of the events with your favorite board and card games. This is an easy way to incorporate both children and adults in one big event.

Looking for something music-themed? Ask all of your guests to bring all of their unwanted CD's. Lay all of the CD's out on a table and allow your guests to pick and choose over everyone's "unwanted" music. Any CD's leftover can be donated to your local Goodwill, or sold back to a used music shop. Donate any earned money to a local charity, or put it in your "party fund" for the next get together. If you can't come to part with any of your old CD's, ask all of your guests to bring their favorite CD's. Play a mix of everyone's music so that all of your guests can hear new artists, songs or albums. Make sure to have a list of the music played so that your guests can identify the artist or song title of new music they like.