We moved to a new neighborhood which means making new friends. Can be scary!! Instead of sitting back and waiting for invitations to come play, I decided we would be more proactive about getting to know people in our neighborhood and ward. So we blocked off the cul de sac by hanging colorful paper lanterns across both sides of the street & invited the neighborhood down to our own lil' family Carnival!
My nieces Karina & Aesha helped me pull it all together. We pulled out our family games like Bowling & Ring Toss, created a few new ones like Balloon Dart & Ball Toss Bonanza, constructed a Prize Station that Eric ran (kids won tickets at the different games they could trade in for prizes),
& even had a surprise "Ice Cream Truck" showing (Aesha & Karina made an ice cream truck out of our old moving boxes & handed out ice cream). Near the end we had a Balloon Toss game (that even the older teens in the neighborhood loved) & a Marshmallow Cheek Stuffing contest (the boy's request) that even the adults in the neighborhood really got into! gross!!
MY favorite part as we wound down was that we had set up the garage as a Drive-In Movie by setting up our TV with Pixar shorts playing. We set out old moving boxes, markers, & tape & all the kids created their own cars. Then they "drove" them into the garage where they parked & we served them popcorn & lemonade as they watched the films. It was kind of a feat for parents to get their kids out of the boxes when it was time to go: they ended up taking their "car" home with them. ;)
The next Sunday at church & all week in the safe streets of our new neighborhood the boys could go confidently and it wasn't as scary now because they had made some new fun friends.
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