How to host a successful "Field Day" event

First of all, let me tell you that I did not host the "Field Day" event for our homeschool group.  I sat back and watched while my children enjoyed 3 hours of fun.  I brought the Otter Pops.

How was this possible?  Aside from having a fabulous event organizer and I don't mean to take away any of her awesomeness, I think a good measure of success can be credited to:

Volunteer Spot.com

            

After RSVPing for our homeschool field day, the organizer directed me to volunteerspot.com where I could choose from "To Bring" and "To Do" spots.

When I saw it, I thought "where have you been all my life?!"  After being the troop Cookie Mom and organizing two encampments for our service unit, this free internet resource would have been a life saver.

It is such a great way to recruit others and avoid "doing it all".  You don't want to be the event organizer who is running around with your hair on fire. (insert picture of me 6 months ago).

Here are some things that our organizer did that made the day wonderful...

1. Recruit help.  Don't do it all yourself.  See above for my shout out to volunteerspot.com
   
2. If weather permits as it does in Southern California, start your field day early at end around lunch time.  Not being a morning person, I grumbled that 9:30 a.m. was just too early to play with water balloons.  Boy was I wrong.  The weather was great and field day wrapped up in enough time to either picnic with friends or head home for lunch.
   
3. Have a snack station set up so the kids can get out of the sun, get a drink, and keep their energy up.  Water is great, but offer watermelon, grapes, orange smiles and popsicles as a way to encourage the kids to stay hydrated.
   
4. Bring a first aid kit.  I always have a first aid kit in the car, but if you're organizing this event, make sure you have several cold packs, antibiotic ointment, adhesive bandages, tweezers, and the like.  During our 3 hour event, 1 child got a metal sliver in his foot which I thought was a bee-sting since their were lots of bees on the grass and 1 child got elbowed in the eye.  Since I brought Otter Pops, I had extra ice for the ouchies.
   
5. Get creative with the games.  Here is a link to some great games.
   

Have fun!