This post was created in partnership with Evite, and we’re pleased to share our own views and perspective as part of our sponsored story.
With two teen daughters in our house, we’ve had to establish some rules about family time – rituals really. Ever since our girls were very little, we’ve worked hard to remain present and focused during the times we spend together. Now as their phones have literally taken over their lives, it’s nice to have those rituals to depend upon.
One of those rituals is setting aside time in our busy family schedule to just unplug and enjoy each others’ company. For as long as we can remember, these moments have been some of our most fun because they are uncalendared and unscripted. There is no agenda. Sometimes we let the kids decide what family activity they’d like us to do, and other times we set up something fun in advance that we can do together.
The important thing is that we spend time together as a family, not staring at our mobile devices.
And Evite® is all about it. In fact, Evite is hosting the Take Back Summer sweepstakes inviting families to enter for a chance to win $2,500 towards a family getaway, where families can spend more time face-to-face and device-free!
We’re planning on having some of the girls’ friends over for a backyard party soon, and have found the perfect Evite invitation to spread the word. There’s lots of designs to choose from at evite.com, and we had fun looking through the summer invitation options together to choose one we all love.
Invite the gang over to enjoy the summer with your family – and leave the devices at home!Hands-on Family Summer Activities
In a family full of artistic types, we end up doing some pretty fun and creative projects together. This summer we’re concentrating on activities both indoors and outdoors.
Outdoors: Planting a Vegetable Garden
As the winter chill subsided and the rains turned to bright and sunny days, we tilled the soil in our raised redwood planters in the backyard. While the dads prepped the soil with compost, worm casings and organic fertilizers, the girls brainstormed what we would plant.
Letting the kids help pick vegetables to grow in the garden.Maximize Sun Time
There’s a certain pattern to planting vegetables in the garden to maximize time in the sunlight. We watch the arc of the sun as it rises and sets, plotting the pattern of shadows to make sure the new plants have the greatest opportunity to grow and prosper. It’s a lesson in astronomy disguised as a fun gardening project!
Let the Kids Choose Plants and Seeds
One year, we planted only seeds and the kids lost interest waiting for the plants to grow. Now we’ve learned to choose a mixture of seeds and seedlings, so plants are growing at different rates. We let the kids each choose a couple of their favorites, and the parents choose the rest – mostly tomatoes. The kids have tried to grow corn (nope), watermelon (kind of worked), blackberries (a horrible mess), and even jalapeños (bumper crop)! Also, sunflowers are a nice addition and it’s fun to watch them grow so tall and blossom so enormously.
Picking out plants at the nursery can be big fun.Field Trip to the Plant Nursery
We all pile in the SUV and head to the nearby nursery, known for their great selection of organic vegetable plants. Since we try to eat healthy, we look for non-GMO labels on the plants and seeds. Wandering the aisles of greenery is so fun, because we always discover some strange and unusual new thing to bring home. This year it was fava beans.
Planting as a Family Tradition
While the dads space the tomato seedlings strategically to avoid overcrowding when they grow big, the girls make straight little rows to plant the seeds. This summer, we focused on onion and lettuce seeds. Lettuce, because it grows quickly for immediate gratification. Onions, because they grow slowly and we can watch their progress over the entire summer and into fall. We also brought home some natural pest control – ladybugs and baby praying mantis to eat the harmful bugs that can eat all our crops before we can!
Each year we buy a mess of ladybugs and praying mantis to help keep the bad bugs away.Plan for a Quick Harvest
One of the plants the girls like most is strawberries, and we intentionally buy the more mature plants in bigger pots. These usually have strawberries already forming on the vine, and sometimes even starting to ripen. Even so, within a week of planting we are already harvesting the berries, sweet and red. Kids lack patience, and giving them something they can almost immediately enjoy is an encouragement for what’s coming next.
Natural pesticides in the form of insects like ladybugs are a healthier way to control pests.Indoors: Making Cupcakes
When the summer weather outside is inhospitable, we turn to indoor activities. Sometimes this can be an even more difficult process to manage the kids away from their phones. To combat their phone addiction, we have a central charging station in our house where all our phones must be placed when not in use. Out of sight, out of mind!
Cooking has always been a family activity in our family, and Ava and Sophia are obsessed with cupcakes. When the whole cupcake craze was on the rise, we invested a small fortune in all the equipment to make professional-looking cupcakes.
Everyone gets into the act when we make cupcakes as a family.Shopping for the Right Materials
To make the most beautiful and exotic cupcakes, you need your kitchen outfitted with all the right materials. An outing to the mall made the girls very happy, and we made a bee-line for the cooking shop. Huddled in the baking aisle, we looked at a zillion doodads and what-nots before choosing a few select items to make fancier cupcakes. Now we have the apparatus to make a swirl in frosting that would rival any fancy bakery!
Starting with the right cupcake ingredients is half the battle.Looking for a WOW! Recipe
The thing about cupcakes is that they all taste pretty much the same. Sure, some are chocolate, some are spongey, some are light and fluffy – but they are all basically cake. The frosting is where the differences come into play, and you can get really crazy. We peruse dozens of recipes to zero in on a choice for each daughter. Sophia usually goes for the flash, choosing a cupcake recipe that is visually stunning. Ava likes a pretty cupcake too, but always thinks about what will go into the flavor combinations. Either way, we end up with delicious treats.
Careful measurement is critical (just ask Triton about the baking soda episode!)Decorating Together
It’s fun to make the batter and frosting together. Measuring out the ingredients in very exact portions is basically math, another hidden lesson amid all the fun. The girls help gather up all the ingredients and measuring cups and spoons, and we set out to make things turn out the way they look in the book. Yeah, it never turns out that way but we have a blast trying!
Literally putting the cherry on top!Sampling the Wares
After all that mixing, preparing, baking and decorating comes the feasting. I mean, what’s the point if we don’t get to enjoy the results?! After everything is decorated, we all hover over the display platter and ogle the beautifully completed cupcakes. Some are lopsided, some are too big or too small, but all are beautiful because we made them as a family. And they taste even better because of that reason!
Summer Time is Family Time
Regardless of the activity, it’s just really fun to spend time together. Your family might prefer crafting projects, or playing softball on the lawn, or building model airplanes in the garage, or painting murals or really anything! The point is to make family time.
For us, it’s wonderful to find moments when we don’t have to rush to the office or school, feeling the pressure of homework or work assignments. We can just relax, laugh, do fun things and leave our phones in the charging station for a nice long rest.
And who knows? We might end up enjoying a cupcake while sitting among the tomato plants growing in our backyard vegetable garden!
PS – Don’t forget to enter the Evite Take Back Summer sweepstakes for a chance to win $2,500 towards a family getaway, where families can spend more time face-to-face and device-free!
