Greenhaven Father's Day BBQ and Potluck - June 16, 2007

Last Saturday (June 16) was the Greenhaven Neighborhood BBQ. There was about 60 people who arrived - bringing food and fun!
We fired up the grill at about Noon and Derek (the chef and grill-master ... AND the mastermind behind the gunbo ... ) started BBQ-ing hotdogs, hamburgers, brats and chicken. Sidedishes were brought by all those who attended and included pasta salads, lettuce salads, deserts and all kinds of delicious foods!
There were name stickers and pens – for many of the folks to get to know eachother better.
Everyone who brought Diet Coke (as asked in the invitation), was instructed to leave it on the picnic table in the sun, as WARM Diet Coke shoots much higher in the air than cold Diet Coke.

First, we gathered all the kids together and did a water relay. We split the kids into 2 teams and had them dunk a sponge into a bucket of water, run across the field to an empty bucket and wring the water into that bucket. The first team to fill the bucket was the winner. Winners received 2 raffle tickets. Those who did not win still received one raffle ticket. From there, the kids ran to the playground and the grassy areas playing with the balls and Frisbees that were available.

Next up was the M&M Guessing Game. See, the night before, I had filled a canister with M&M’s. I counted how many I had put in there. Yes. A lot of work! … But well worth it! After the water relay, people were asked to guess how many M&M’s were in the cannister. The prize for the person who guessed the closest, was to take home all the M&M’s. Needless to say, there was a lot of competitive interest in this game. There were so many fun strategies that people used in coming up with their guess! There were 728 M&M’s in the canister and the winner was the young lady who guessed 758. She was VERY excited!

From here, all the folks who brought Diet Coke went out onto the field with a roll of Mentos. Countdown … 3-2-1 … There were Explosions of Diet Coke went everywhere! Some as high as 20 feet into the air! How exciting!

After this event, everyone was handed a raffle ticket. After everyone had at least one (some of the kids had 2 or 3), we gathered everyone under the pavilion and started raffling off the bouncy balls, gift cards and a Longaberger latte mug (brought by our neighbor Deb!). (When this was first organized, people were asked if they wanted to help “sponsor” gifts for the raffle.)

Throughout the 2+ hours that we were there, everyone was talking, laughing and making new friends. This was such a fun time and we can't wait to do it again!

Posted By: Mariana Wagner - Greenhaven Neighbor