Fun and Games

One of the best parts of boating is beaching at the sandbar to hang out and shoot the breeze. But you’ve got to keep the kids entertained somehow—and let’s be honest, some of the adults as well. So other than eating and splashing around in the lake, what else can you do?

There’s actually quite a bit you can do to keep your crew laughing and having fun. What’s more, most of the fun and games you can play won’t break the bank. So let’s see what fun we can have off the boat at the beach!

Ice Bowling
This one’s sure to be a crowd pleaser. For this game, you’ll need to fill up some water balloons to around roughly the size of a bowling ball (maybe a little smaller), freeze them overnight at home and then bring them along with you in one of your coolers.

Additionally, you’ll need some bowling pins. There are plenty of options when it comes to bowling pins. You can get a cheap set of kid’s bowling pins at a local toy store or online, or you could go with the option of creating your own custom set with things you have lying around the house that you can bring along, such as bottles or empty paper towel rolls—really anything you can knock down.

Once you’re at the beach, find a good spot to smooth out your bowling lane, set up your pins, break out your frozen water balloon bowling balls, and you’ll be ready for a good old-fashioned game of ice bowling.

To piggyback onto that, since you’ve already got some water balloons, be sure to leave some unfrozen so you can have a little water balloon fight too if you feel like it. Just be sure to clean up afterward and not leave any balloon remnants behind. Nobody likes a litterbug.

Frozen T-Shirt Race
While you’re freezing your makeshift bowling balls, don’t forget to stick some t-shirts in the freezer… seriously.

For this game you’ll need to have one t-shirt per player. First get them wet, squeeze out the excess water and fold them as small as you can. Then put some waxed paper between the shirts so you can separate them and freeze them overnight.

Stick them in a cooler on the boat and once you’re at the sandbar, the game begins. Give each player a shirt and start the race to see who can be the first one to unfold theirs and put it on. This game works marvelously well in hot weather since all the players will be itching to put their nice frozen shirts on to cool off.

TowerBall Game
Don’t forget to get a TowerBall set for the beach. This is a four-sided, 360-degree toss game that’s great for all ages and group sizes. The casual competition game includes a collapsible tower, eight soft hackey sack balls and a backpack carry case that’ll fit snugly on your boat.

TowerBall is an all-weather-play game that’s 100 percent weatherproof, making it the perfect sandbar game to entertain your friends and family. You can have as few as two players if there aren’t that many who feel like playing, and it can also have as many as 16 players so nobody is left out.

Easy to learn, easy to stow, easy to set up, TowerBall has all the necessary components for a fun and fantastic beach game. Be sure to order one for your next boating trip because you’re not going to want to miss out on this fun. You can find it at www.calibergames.com.

Duck Duck Splash
Ever heard of Duck Duck Goose? Of course you have. Chances are you’ve played your fair share of this classic game as a kid. Speaking of kids, if you have some on board your boat, they’re going to love this fun rendition of the game. And the best part? All you need is a cup of water to pull it off—or a bucket if you really want to soak that goose.

In this game, all the players sit in a circle while one walks around the outside with the cup (or bucket) of water. They pat the head of the participant, saying “duck” for each one until—SPLASH! They let one of the participants have it by pouring the water over one of the player’s heads. The splashed player proceeds to chase the splasher around the circle to try to regain their seat.

This game is sure to elicit some great laughs from the players. In the end, everyone will probably end up getting splashed which should be pretty refreshing on those sweltering days at the lake.

These fun new ideas for games at the sandbar will shake things up for you and your party. Give some (or all of them) a try the next time you take your pontoon or deck boat out. You won’t be disappointed!