Simple Party Ideas for a Fun Labor Day

No one wants to see another summer coming to an end so the holiday of Labor Day is usually a bittersweet one with the chance to have a final outdoor celebration with friends, family, neighbors and plenty of food, fun, and good times.

The Perfect Pool Party

Even if you don’t have a large in-ground pool in your backyard you can still have the perfect pool party for Labor Day. Kiddy pools are incredibly inexpensive so fill up a few, add the hose and sprinkler and be sure to have plenty of beach balls and outdoor summer toys for everyone to play with. Have a radio playing with beach or surfer music and serve your guests some light snacks before they dive in.

Fiesta Time

Create a complete Mexican fiesta in your own backyard that will wow your guests. Decorate with piñatas, a few sombreros, colored lights, and play mariachi music on the radio to get everyone up and dancing. As far as food and snacks are concerned, there are many delicious foods to choose from including tacos, nachos, taquitos, and your favorite type of salsa. Create your own tasty dip with crumbled breakfast sausage, melted cheddar cheese, salsa and a can of either cream of mushroom or chicken soup.

Sock Hop

Have your Labor Day party in the evening using colored Christmas lights to decorate and tell guests to prepare for a fun blast from the past. Play sock hop music from the 1950s, ask everyone to wear their jeans and poodle skirts and serve food such as milkshakes, fries, hamburgers and hotdogs.

A Crafty Celebration

Create an outdoor space where crafts of all kinds can be done during your Labor Day party. The messier the better as you won’t have to worry about clean-up or stains on the carpet if you’re having your party in the yard. Crafts such as paper mache, homemade dough, and of course, finger paints are always a big hit. The kids can create shapes from the dough, let them set in the sun to dry and harden, and then paint as they like. Have them collect leafs from the yard and use them to make pages of leaf prints that can be used to decorate for the upcoming fall season.

Another World

Why wait until Halloween rolls around to have a fun costume party? Inform your guest of the sci-fi theme and ask them to dress up as aliens from other worlds giving out small prizes for the best, silliest, or scariest costumes. Carry the theme over into the food you serve using gelatin, fruits, and plenty of food coloring to create fare fit for an extraterrestrial. Play the theme songs from sci-fi movies and gather everyone in the evening for a showing of a movie featuring aliens.

Regardless of the type of Labor Day party or picnic you have, reveling in the end of another beautiful summer is more than enough reason to celebrate.

photo credit: Luciano Meirelles