Last minute games – – with paper products!

So you’ve planned your 4th of July Festivities including food and fireworks – – and you’ve eaten a yummy BBQ dinner and are waiting for it to get dark enough for fireworks – – but you’re realizing you should have planned games to fill the wait time.…. Don’t Worry – – I’ve got some ideas for you!!  I also have ideas for fun printables for decoration and indoor games, so be sure to read til the bottom….

Bean Bag Toss – – take those leftover paper plates, use a marker to write points on the plates (mine are 10, 20, 30, 40, 50) and find some bean bags – instant game!  If you don’t have any bean bags, you could make some super quick – these took me about 10 minutes, and they even have a fun star on them.  I saw an idea like this over at Chica and Jo.

 Milk Jug Toss – Grab some empty milk cartons and cut off the bottom.  If you want to fancy them up, you can use some colored duct tape.  To make the ball I wrapped some tape around a wad of newspaper.  You can play catch one person to another, or you can throw the ball up and catch it yourself.  This is really fun!  I saw this idea at cub scout day camp, and you can see a similar idea at Lakeshore Learning.

Over Under – this idea was from my mom.  I want to get some pictures of it in action, so stay tuned for those – but for now you’ll need to use your imagination.  Take an empty pop bottle leftover from the BBQ, and poke a bunch of holes in it – you can decorate it with stickers like me, but it’s not necessary.  Fill it with water.  Obviously it will leak out the holes so you need to keep it in a bucket/cooler full of water to prevent that.  When it’s time to play, take it out and pass it down a line, over one person, under one person, over one person, under the next, etc.  To make it a relay, make 2 lines of people and use 2 pop bottles.  This will be fun in the heat….

Ping Pong Toss – – take some cups leftover from your cookout, and attach them to a board – I used thumbtacks, but you could use hot glue or anything you think will work.  Stand back and try to throw in pin pong balls – it’s harder than you think!  I saw a similar idea at Green Acres Hobby Farm.

Need some indoor ideas??  
I gathered these from around the internet:

Coloring Pages

Printable Decor from Landee See, Landee Do:

Printable Decor from This n That:

Matching Game from Family Fun:

Paper Lanterns from The Crafting Chicks:

And don’t forget – – use a few of those sparklers tonight to take photos while writing words – here’s a Photo Tip on How to Write with Light: