
Am I trying to force fun upon you? Absolutely. It’s what I do. It’s who I am. My nephews call me “Fun Kitty”, so giddy-up here we go.
You know that episode of Full House where they all go to Hawaii, meet menehunes, and Uncle Jesse sings “Rock a Hula Baby” to an audience full of people with no preparation? You do? Wonderful. Then you’ll understand that I feel a little bit like Danny with his clipboard of fun giving you a scheduled itinerary for your days in quarantine.

At my school, we are trying our best to keep families engaged and kids focused, while understanding the fact that it’s difficult to keep a positive attitude all the time. We are in Groundhog Day. We eat. We drink. We try to be “Murray”. #nailedit

Every Friday in May we have declared “Family Fun Friday”. Each Friday is a different themed day, and we will send home a list of challenges at the beginning of the week that the families can compete in. Each week will have these categories of challenges:
-a costume challenge
-a food challenge
-an athletic challenge
Our first week is America themed. Because #duh.

We uploaded this video to the class websites along with written instructions for the events.
Costume challenge:
Families must dress up in their most spirited American attire. See below. OR they can dress up as famous Americans. American landmarks. Pinterest the heck out of it.

Food Challenge:
Make an American classic: a hotdog, a funnel cake, an apple pie OR something America inspired: a flag, Mount Rushmore, a bald eagle
True story: One 4th of July my sisters and I held a “patriotic bake off”. We are a competitive bunch. My oldest sister, Saralyn, went to the garage to get her dessert from the outside refrigerator. All Southern homes have one of those, right? Well, she came back in and had lit sparklers on top of the cake and was carrying it through my parents’ house. It smoked up the kitchen. It was the rocket’s red glare. The bombs bursting in air. We will do anything to win.
Athletic Challenge:
The families will be competing in three “Olympic themed” events.
-a mile run/walk IN the patriotic attire
-a long jump
-curling using household items: a mop, a broom, a vacuum, etc.
Families each have a designated folder in a Google Drive folder that they have to upload photographic evidence of competing in the above challenges. They will be scored by a group of teachers based on their creativity, spirit, and the number of events they participate in. Three families will win at the end of May and will have Jeni’s ice cream delivered to their homes. Yes, they could win fancy, bougie ice cream for showing their love for their country.
Sidenote: if you have never had the biscuit and peach jam ice cream from Jeni’s then I don’t care how much it costs you to ship it to yourself, your quarantined soul needs it.

The following Fridays are themed: Beach Day and School Spirit Day

Now, why did I spend part of my evening writing this out for you? Chances are you are not a student at my school, and if you are, you probably already know about Family Fun Friday. I know SO many of us are trying to break up the monotony of our days. Could you do something like this with the people at your office? Absolutely. Could you do it with your small group at church? For sure. Could your family have themed nights just to create some fun memories? 100 percent.
Get out your clipboard and start scheduling the fun.


Every child in America who is missing out on the last months of school needs Fun Kitty right now. This is such a GREAT idea, and I’m sure that your parents are excited for something like this to enjoy as a family. I how that you will keep us posted on how it turned out for your students.
I have been hearing all about Jeni’s ice cream. I need to make the trek to get some once we are opened up for travel. 😉
I am loving all the themed days! You’ve got to mix it up because it is Groundhog’s day around here. #alldayeveryday
I would advise against sparklers in the house. Go big or go home with fire desserts outside. Trust me.