Not all family get togethers mean laughing, smiling faces over homemade potato salad. As a matter of fact, many families are finally taking their ideas for fun in different directions. Paintball skirmishes are thrilling in the day time, but at night, the fun takes on a whole new tone. Friends and family, hunting each other in the middle of the night with glow in the dark paintball ammo, is fun for everyone.

Families and friends can travel to paintball parks, which provide the paintball guns, and ammo, as well as free safety classes and gear. Or, for the seasoned paintball participants, who have the guns and glowing ammo, it’s just as easy as clearing out your backyard, or booking a private campground for a night. Remember to make sure everyone is well versed in safety though!

For extra fun, you can use glow in the dark uniform vests, or paint, to make your paintball guns glow. Multi-colored glowing paintball ammo is also available from retailers. Don’t forget to grab accessories for your paintball guns, as well; for example, the best tactical flashlight, which you can use to seek your prey in the night! Good luck, and happy hunting.

Many people find that getting elderly family members interested in craftsisn’t very difficult; however, finding crafts for elderly family or tenants with limited mobility isn’t the same. After finding an electric mobility scooter that suits your family member best, many crafts are fun for seniors. Try this one:

What You Need:

2 Pine Cones

Yarn

Shortening

Cornmeal or Oatmeal

Bird Seed

(Optional) Dried Fruit, –raisins, dehydrated fruit.

What To Do:

Step 1. Tie a few feet of yarn to each pine cone, allowing for however low or high you want to hang the bird feeders, and in which tree. You can make a lot of these around Christmas, and the look especially attractive in fir trees.

Step 2. Mix  1 cup of shortening with five cups of cornmeal, or oatmeal, and spread it thick over the pine cones, using a spatula, or spoon.

Step 3. Fill a bowl with dried fruit and bird seeds, and mix well together.

Step 4. Coat each pine cone well in the the seed and fruit mixture, being sure the seeds and fruit are packed well into the shortening mixture.

Step 5. Hang each or many pinecone bird feeders wherever you like, in trees, off the porch, or near windows. Birds love high energy foods like sunflower seeds especially.

I am looking for new inspiration for future posts, and am inviting you to enter my “Christmas in July” Give-Away. It’s easy to enter…just comment to this post with a craft project for which you would like to see a tutorial.

It can be any thing! Something you have wanted to learn for a long time, something you just saw yesterday!

All comments which include a future craft post idea or request, and are posted before 11:59pm on July 31st, will be eligible. Winner will be chosen and notified on August 1st. The project suggestion that is chosen will be featured in one of my future posts, and on my personal blog Creative Origins (entries accepted there, also). PLUS! The submitter will receive a “Homemade Holiday” Gift Package filled with handcrafted holiday gifts.

See a sneak peek of gift package you will receive here.

Since I’ve been talking about baby hats lately, I thought I would share this awesome way to get involved and make a difference in the life of a child.

Save the Children is calling on knitters (and non-knitters willing to learn) everywhere to knit newborn baby hats to send to newborns around the world. A hat protects infants in other countries from getting pneumonia and potentially helps save their lives.

So check it out. If you’re a knitter, perfect! And if you’re not, they even have a section dedicated to teaching us non-knitters (I don’t know how to knit yet, either) the basics of knitting. Pretty cool. Let us know if you decide to do it - I’d love to see your pictures.