Are you looking for some fun ways to prepare your children to head off on a beach vacation, reminisce about your beach vacation, or trying to come up with ideas to have that beach vacation at home? Here are some simple ideas to get you started toward that goal. These ideas might be good to use for a small party, or simply a gathering of friends.

One of the things I have generally seen when thinking about beach celebrations are grass skirts. Now hopefully, most of us do not have grass long enough to cut and sew into a skirt! A very simple idea would be to lay out several layers of newspaper and let the children paint it green, or whatever creative way you may like. This would probably best be done outside so that the inside mess is minimal, and, if you are experiencing summer right now, the paint will dry much faster. Once dried, tape enough layers together to fit around the child’s waist, and to make the skirt full enough. Cut the paper from bottom to almost the top and you would have a skirt that will last for your party.

If you are making grass skirts, why not add a lei? These are relatively simple, but you could use whatever materials you have on hand. You could string flowers, colorful beads, or even small toys. The possibilities are endless, and fun!

There is almost always an abundant amount of sand at the beach. Why not try sand art? You can purchase this at the store, or I have heard of some who have colored their own. I never have, but it would be fun to hear in the forum if you have and how successful you were. You could use this colored sand to fill bottles by layering the sand to make designs, or you could make a picture. One way to do this would be to get a simple picture of your choice from a coloring book or website. Transfer this to paper that has adhesive on it, or simply use a school-type glue, fill in an area and sprinkle it with the chosen color. Then, dump the excess sand back into your container and move onto the next area.

Have some older children, and looking for a way to use up those shells from your vacation? Why not try making some candles using the shells for decoration? Another idea would be to make some cracked ice candles to cool things off. Making the candles is definitely a craft I would reserve for an older child and still have adult supervision. I did do this once with a Second Year Webelo-level Cub Scout troop, and we had the adults. It worked out well, but it was because of all the adult help we had.

I hope this gives you some ideas to use to get those memories of your trip, or the jitters of anticipation, going. Sometime, summer is a hard time to craft because all of those other activities are around as well. I hope you are enjoying all the aspects of your particular season right now.

PS Check out the article on edible crafts. You could make some fish/aquarium type foods for your snack that day!

PPS Here are some cool looking ideas to help you with supplies. I have not tried any of these, but you might find them helpful: