How to Host a Labor Day Party on a Budget

As summertime nears an end, many people think about having one last hurrah before heading into the fall months. For some that means giving a Labor Day party. The following ideas will provide a starting place to hosting a terrific party, without spending a fortune.

Set a budget. Determining how much money you have to spend for the Labor Day party is probably the first thing to do. Think about what you’ll need:

• Location
• Invitations
• Food and beverages
• Paper goods and utensils
• Decorations

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Decorate Your Garden for a Labor Day Party

Are you thinking of hosting a Labor Day party? There are no set rules for how to decorate for Labor Day so use your imagination. Here are some great ways to decorate your garden once you decide upon a theme.

Many people who host parties during the year have leftover party decorations. If you have some taking up space in your cabinets or closets, why not take this opportunity to use them up? Look to see what you already have on hand and then use home-made items to complete the garden decorations.

Start with lighting. If you’re out in your garden or on the patio, you’ll need to have some type of lighting. This can be as simple as using leftover Christmas strands or a lighted garland in patriotic colors. You can also use votive, citronella or other candles placed in conversation areas. If you’re looking for a more rustic theme, try using hurricane lamps.

Carry your theme through to your food table. Colored table cloths are inexpensive; most can be found at dollar stores. Colored sheets would also work, but they may become stained if food or drink is spilled.

If you’re using a patriotic theme, it’s easy enough to find colored buckets which can be partially filled with sand. Use red, white and blue streamers taped to a straw which is then placed in the sand. You can also use potted plants in patriotic colors. These can be added to a table centerpiece or used to hold the table cloth down.

Maybe your garden doesn’t match with any particular theme. However, if you’re keeping with a patriotic theme, you could also place potted flowering plants in red, white and blue colored buckets around the garden’s seating area. This will help with decorating according to the theme, as well as fill in flowers around an area which may not have as many plants.

A luau theme is another popular party theme for summertime parties, even if they are for Labor Day. Find Tiki torches to light the party and add to the ambiance. Create a beach out of a sandbox and provide paper or plastic leis for the guests. You could also ask everyone to dress according to theme by wearing Hawaiian style shirts and shorts or plastic hula skirts.

If you have room and the time to do so, try to make a fake palm tree or two. This will help decorate your patio or garden. It will also keep with the theme and can be used as a location to set a couple of stuffed parrots. Think of things which are typically associated with the Hawaiian Islands and then try to create something similar for your party.

Don’t forget the music! No matter what theme you choose when thinking of hosting a Labor Day party, music will help set the stage. Bring out a portable CD player with music associated with the theme. You may even want to clear an area for guests to dance, if they feel so inclined.

When you’re thinking of hosting a Labor Day party, you want to decorate your garden or patio rather than leave it as it is. The decorations don’t have to be expensive – in fact you may want to use up leftover decorations from other parties. Using up decorations you have on hand will help keep the costs of the party down, as well as clear your storage area for new decorations for next year’s parties.

Teaching Young Children about Pond Life

Ponds are fascinating places. They can be small ecosystems, with all life forms supporting and dependent on each other. Young children enjoy discovering interesting things in nature, and finding a pond to explore can be the first step in developing a love for nature.

Ponds are more accessible than you may think. Hiking in the woods will often reveal puddles or other areas of still water that can certainly be classified as ponds. You may have a neighbor with a pond on his or her property, or you may have one available in your own yard. Even urban dwellers can create a pond by putting a container out to catch rain water and leaving it undisturbed for a week or more. Wind, rain, and visiting creatures will deposit some sort of life form (eggs, spores, etc.) as the water sits undisturbed.

Before beginning to teach young children about pond life, check out some good books at your local library that are appropriate for your age group. Depending on the age of your kids, notebooks and other means of recording observations are helpful. Regularly visit the pond and record what you and the children see, keeping an eye out for those creatures you have read about already.

Bring the Pond to You – Dipping

Pond dipping is one way by which you can bring a portion of a pond into your home or classroom. An aquarium is ideal, but you can use any clear container. Even white plastic containers will work for small projects, as you can view small creatures well against the white surroundings. If your indoor pond begins to dry up, you will have to collect more water from the same pond or use rainwater. Tap water could kill your critters.

Here are some creatures you might collect in your pond dipping or find in your observations.

* Horsehair Worms – Worms can be rather freakish to look at, but many worms are completely harmless to humans. An example of such an aquatic dweller is the horsehair worm. It looks like a long, usually dark piece of horse’s mane that waves gently in the water. They tend to show up in bowls of rainwater that are left undisturbed. Horsehair worms actually eat more harmful or annoying creatures, such as mosquito larvae. If you see one, leave it alone and observe.

* Tadpoles – Many of us remember a tank of tadpoles in our preschool or grade school classrooms. Watching the transformation from tadpole to frog is remarkable, and since frogs’ numbers are dropping in many areas, adding more frogs to the environment is a good thing to do.

* Fish – Fish are always popular with children. You will find interesting (and sometimes ruthless) behavior between fish and other life forms in your pond.

* Water Bugs – It’s fun to watch water bugs skate over the surface of the water. They make a perfect visual example for teaching children about surface tension on water.

* Microscopic Creatures – Pond water is teeming with protozoa, diatoms, and microscopic plant life. Children are fascinated by these little critters, but you need a microscope to view them. If you have access to a microscope with a screen, the wiggling, tiny life forms can be seen by more than one child at a time. Your local college, university, or high school science department might be willing to work with you to arrange some pond-water viewing time if they have such equipment.

* Plants – Aquatic plants like bladderwort are fascinating. Bladderwort is actually a carnivorous plant, opening up the possibility of a whole study on the subject.

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