How to Host a Low-Key Yard Game Day

Maybe you’re introverted.

Maybe you’re tired of living in a pandemic that encourages social distancing.

Maybe you miss your people.

Maybe your people have been driving you crazy.

Maybe you want to have people over but don’t have much indoor space.

Maybe you want to get people together without it being formal or rigid.

If you agreed with any of those statements, I’ve got you!

Where My Plan Came From

I, likely similar to many of you, was really tired of being stuck in my house and not seeing too many people for the last year and a half. I’m an introvert, but I do highly value relationships, and they’re just not the same through a screen.

So many plans were altered or canceled that I wanted to do something that I could pretty much count on. Now, I know, if the last year taught me anything, it’s to hold my plans loosely. But I wanted something that would be less likely to get canceled. For our community, that means something outdoors and flexible. That way people can do what they’re comfortable with, and they can know they won’t be in confined quarters with strangers, which not too many people are comfortable with these days (were we ever really comfortable with that?).

I wanted something that people could look forward to. Too many activities and outings were canceled. I needed something positive on my calendar, and I knew my friends did, too.

I also wanted something that would give people a chance to interact with old friends and new people. My husband and I wanted to invite people from different circles in our lives— church friends, family on both sides, neighbors, and old school friends. A low-key outdoor event is the perfect way to encourage people to mingle without too much pressure or stress.

My husband and I both also acknowledge that we’ve been given what we have to share it with others, which includes (among other things) sharing our home and being hospitable. We love having people over, and we’ve truly missed it. We finished a sunroom and deck project a few months before, planted new flowers, and added a water fountain, so we wanted to make good use of the space.

The Planning Stage

Summer weekends fill up quickly, so my husband and I decided in early May to have our yard game day on a Saturday in late July. By Memorial Day, we had sent out the text invites to give our friends sufficient time to plan around it— or so we thought. Several of them had other plans that we wouldn’t have been able to prevent having conflicts with, most of those being weddings, which not only take precedence but also are planned so much farther in advance.

We also had to decide what games to have on offer. We have SO many yard games at our house (another reason we decided on a yard game day instead of just a grill out or picnic day). This is something to take into consideration when you’re planning your own— do you have games already? Are you going to ask people to bring their favorite game? Do you need to buy games? What kind of games do you have space for? Where is a good place to set up each game specifically? We had to consider the slope of the yard, tree placement, and shade availability. It was helpful for us to draw out a basic map of where the games could go so we could at least determine how many games we could set up. Another option would be setting up some games first and switching them out for other games later if you’re short on space.

What kind of event are you going for? A legitimate single- or double-elimination tournament with brackets and prizes for the winners? Or more of a come whenever you can, play whatever you’d like sort of situation? We had initially planned for a real tournament (I googled how to draw up brackets), but as we realized the group would be smaller than we had thought at first, it became clear that a more laid-back version would suit our group better.

As I mentioned, we also wanted to invite a mix of people. Do you want to invite all family, all friends from the same circle, or a mix of people? There’s no right or wrong answer, just preference. It might depend on who specifically is in each group, whether they’re more outgoing or more reserved, as well as the ratio of children to adults. Speaking of, it’s important to consider if you will make it a kid-friendly or adults-only event. That affects the time of day you host it, the games you offer, the food and beverage choices, and whether you need any kid-specific entertainment. It also affects the flow of the game-playing, as I’ll mention later.

We decided to make our get-together family-friendly, so we told our friends and family members that their kids were welcome to join. That meant planning some things around kids, and so I thought I’d share some easy things to include if you’re thinking of including kids in your yard game day— bubbles, sidewalk chalk, frisbees, soccer balls, playground balls… We had those, and the kids loved them! One of our friends also brought their t-ball set, and the little kids had a blast with it!

The Communication

I made a simple design on Canva and saved it to my phone so I could text it out to the people on our invite list. If you’re interested in doing something similar, you can use my design as a template. Or you can simply text the details to your people. I know some people like evite, punchbowl, and other websites that let you send evites as well. We also spread the event info when we saw friends in person, as a personal invitation goes a lot further than one in a text message!

Depending on the response level of your guests (many of mine initially said “maybe” or “I’ll have to let you know closer to the day of the event”), you can decide when and how many times you want to follow up for RSVPs. If you want to have a certain number of people present to play the games, it is helpful to know how many people are planning on coming. It also helps determine how much food to have and to know if you have to plan around kids. I followed up with all the maybes two weeks in advance so I could plan, and they were all able to give more definitive answers.

This was also how I communicated any other information, like whether kids were welcome, what they could bring, what kind of food and beverages would be provided.

The Day Of

We had less than an hour’s worth of setup to do, and it could be significantly less if you have games that are faster to set up. We had badminton (the bulk of the setup time was devoted to that), bags/cornhole, ladder ball, and Kubb. We had planned more games, but we scaled it back to match the number of people coming.

Our backyard doesn’t have too much shade in the early afternoon, and it was 95 degrees outside, feeling scorching even with the high winds. We set up a popup canopy, but it didn’t last long in the wind, so we ended up taking it down. We did pull out our patio table and umbrella, along with some camping chairs, so our friends had places to sit when they wanted to rest or enjoy some of the snacks. We also cleared out our garage (meaning we didn’t park in it and swept it) so we could use that space if needed as well. Make the most of whatever you have! And don’t be afraid to ask people to bring things or to borrow from others— our bags/cornhole game had broken, and we were still waiting for the new one to arrive, so we borrowed a set from friends. If we hadn’t had our own canopy, we likely would have borrowed one from our family.

We set up food on a workbench in the garage. My husband made meatballs and pina coladas, and we had a meat and cheese tray, chips and salsa, and veggies and dip. We wanted the food table to be sheltered enough to keep anything from melting in the hot sun, and close enough to the kitchen to refill anything if necessary.

I also made sure I pulled the weeds and watered the plants to make everything look presentable (I had cleaned the whole house and power-washed the siding the day before). Of course, you do you here! If you’re mostly keeping people outside, the inside of your house really doesn’t matter— maybe just make sure there’s a clean enough bathroom?

Then we greeted our guests!

How things played out

It was hot. And a busy Saturday in July for many people. We ended up with 12 adults and 7 kids ranging from infants to 6 years old. We knew right away that this was going to be more of a laid-back game day instead of a regimented tournament.

We started out inside sort of by accident. As our friends arrived, they came in to put some kid food in our fridge and freezer, and we naturally gravitated toward the living room after that while we waited for others to arrive. Once we had a solid group of people (and once the kids started trying to throw their soccer ball inside the house), we moved out to the backyard.

Everyone got snacks and spent some time getting to know each other, which was my favorite part. And then we sort of took turns playing games so that someone was always available to watch the young kids so they (theoretically; it didn’t work perfectly) wouldn’t interrupt the games too much. Nobody wants a toddler getting beaned with a Kubb block!

It was so much fun to see people again, to break out our games, turn up some tunes, and just enjoy a day outside! Once everything was set up, we just kicked back and relaxed, and cleanup was pretty simple, too. We just packed up the games and brought in the food!

Boiling it down

It helps to ask yourself some clarifying questions:

what kind of game day do I want to have?
who do I want to invite?
what games will I have?
what food will I have?
how will I set things up?
is there anything others can or should bring?
how will I get the word out?

These were the basis of all of our decisions, and once we took these questions and their answers into consideration, everything else fell into place. And this is where each person’s event will be different— smaller or bigger, with or without kids, more games or less, with fancier food or no food at all, etc. Make it your own!

I hope you found these tips useful if you decide to plan your own yard game day (or any get-together for that matter— this really can be widely customized!). If you do, let me know what you plan!