I’m thinking the upcoming holiday really should be revised to NO Labor Day! I’m pretty sure my boys would agree. 
To quote one of James’ favorite children’s books: “‘I won’t work. I won’t work. I won’t work today!’ hissed Digger Dan.”(1), and while the day is billed as a day to honor the contributions of American workers, most of us just want to join Digger Dan and take an extra day off! By the time we reach Labor Day in the South, we’re exhausted from relentless heat and humidity. The kids are back in school along with a bazillion activities and we won’t have another break until Thanksgiving. I’m with Digger Dan too – some time off seems right!
I always think it will be fun to spend some time with my friends during a long weekend, but I’m well aware that if I plan a big party or trip, my time off can quickly turn right back into work. Having faced this dilemma many times, the kids and I have come up with a few fun ways for the gluten-free crowd to enjoy the holiday with friends without a lot of work and without breaking the bank! Perhaps you’ll want to give them a try. Here are a few ideas:
A neighborhood parade.
Be sure to divide up all the duties so that no one has too large a task and communicate via group texts.
If you want to go big – One person can get permission from the city to block off the street for a couple of hours.
One person can be the grand marshall for the parade. The grand marshall will decide what time the parade starts and the order in which the participants will appear. One person can be in charge of “floats”. Keep this simple. Have the kids who have wagons bring them already decorated (or not). A few balloons taped to the side or some streamers or paper signs work just fine. If you have some soccer players on your street, they can wear their soccer uniforms and march along together. Taekwondo students can wear their uniforms and much like bands perform in parades, they can stop along the route to perform a basic routine. Another idea is to have everyone dress as what they want to be when they enter the workforce. If someone has an easy way to broadcast music, add music. If not, leave it out. At the end of the route, set up a folding table and lawn chairs and let everyone bring one food item chosen from this list that requires no research of gluten-free food:
Baby carrots
Celery sticks
Cucumber slices
Squash slices
Raw broccoli
Athenos Hummus
Grapes
Strawberries
Bing or golden cherries
Watermelon slices
Honeydew cubes
Cantaloupe cubes
Sliced kiwi fruit
Potato chips
Tortilla chips
Salsa
Wholly Guacamole
Pickles
Olives
Cheese cubes
Popcorn
A sprinkler parade.
If you really want to keep things simple, this is a fun variation that’s especially good for a scorchingly hot day! Get all the neighbors to synchronize their automatic sprinklers or drag out the hose with a sprinkler attachment and parade from yard to yard through the spraying water. End with a Slip’n Slide in someone’s yard. In a dry yard, provide a couple of ice chests filled with cold bottles of water and an assortment of single serve gluten-free ice creams (they even have a spoon included), tapioca pudding and rice pudding like these:
Haagen-Dazs Single Serve Cups in Vanilla, Chocolate, Chocolate Peanut Butter, Coffee, Strawberry, or Dulce de Leche
KozyShack Original Recipe Rice Pudding
KozyShack Original Recipe Tapioca Pudding
KozyShack Original Recipe Chocolate Pudding
If you’re not a fan of parades, invite a few friends over for a Tent Movie Festival. Take the mattresses off your beds and drag them into the TV room (or use air mattresses). Create tents over the mattress area using sheets. For this event, you can even wear your pjs!
At one of these parties, we drank Blake’s fresh jalapeño juice. I’m not going to recommend it as an option for the average consumer, but it was interesting and not as overpowering as I expected. It’s probably a better idea to choose some snacks from the above lists for your menu and then watch movies for hours in your festive movie tents. That’s about as much non-work as I can imagine.
If you don’t want to bother with the tents, have a Documentary Film Festival with a food theme. Cue up Fed Up; Bite Size; Food, Inc.; Fat, Sick & Nearly Dead; Just Eat It; Super Size Me; and Food Matters. In an ironic twist, James worked as the colorist on several of these movies – so much for having Digger Dan as a hero.
For your film festival, buy an assortment of teas – green, white, rooibos, pu-erh, chai, and passion. Serve them hot, cold, and/or blended into smoothies or milkshakes. Don’t drink too much passion tea in one day. It will make you drowsy and grumpy, not passionate at all. Seriously, I’ve done it and I felt awful!
Of course, your Documentary Film Festival doesn’t have to have a food theme. Cue up Happy; I Am; Print the Legend; Citizenfour; Dancing Outlaw; I Always Do My Collars First; and Naked States. With all the online streaming services, you can stretch this idea into a whole lazy weekend and never run out of options.
Wear a mustache and act surprised!
Sometimes errands pile up and a holiday weekend is a great time to catch up. Of course, that doesn’t sound very fun. Make it fun by gathering friends or family, donning fake mustaches, and then running your regular errands looking surprised! Snap photos or video of yourselves and people’s reactions along the way. When you get home, look back at the photos. The laughter will do you good for a long time to come.
That’s it. Done. You have entertainment, social engagement, food, and fun without a ton of work and expense. Of course there are a million variations on these themes. Let us know what you come up with!
Have fun, and happy NO Labor Day!
(1)Digger Dan by Patricia Lynn (Author), Si Frankel (Illustrator), 1953
http://www.athenos.com/products/hummus/
http://eatwholly.com/
http://www.haagendazs.us/Products/
http://www.kozyshack.com/products/french-vanilla-rice-pudding
http://www.webmd.com/vitamins-supplements/ingredientmono-871-passionflower.aspx?activeingredientid=871&activeingredientname=passionflower
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