We may share our “backyard” with 8M people, but we know how to throw a yard party.
My family and I live in StuyTown/Peter Cooper Village. If you’ve ever lived on a college campus you can relate. All the buildings look exactly the same, your best friends live 50 yards away and there is a giant grassy “Oval” that moonlights as an outdoor movie theater, concert venue, sun-worshipper mecca and ultimate green space to set up camp with your crew in the summer.
Every Wednesday evening in the summer StuyTown throws a double-feature movie night in the Oval; 5pm-7pm is the kids movie, 7-9pm is the adult movie (think PG-13). By 4:45pm parents have raced from work to the oval to claim their plot of grass in front of the big screen with a picnic blanket. Shortly after 5pm, the lawn has been transformed into a patchwork of blanket camps flanked by lawn chairs, open pizza boxes half devoured and a sea of little kid bodies running around like a scene from Lord of the Flies.
I love movie night in the Oval. We cozy up with at least 4 other families, rotate pizza take-out responsibilities, let the kids run wild and frantically socialize like we haven’t seen each other in years. I usually pack up our gear in the morning before work so we can get right to it. Here are our Yard Party staples.
Click to see why this gear made the cut.
This has really made me homesick for movie nights on the Oval, and being in close proximity to my NYC framily. My son just reminded me he saw Beetlejuice there for the first time. Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice, BEETLEJUICE! Worth a shot…go get em, moms.
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SunnyLife Picnic Blanket
Tommy Bahama Folding Backpack Beach Chair
Fresh Market Thermal
Pop Up Soccer Goal
Melissa & Doug Butterfly Bug House Toy
JBL Waterproof Bluetooth Speaker
Triple-Insulated Stemless Wine Tumblers
Wide Brim Straw Panama Roll up Hat
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