Ah, that first whiff of fresh pine air, tinged with a hint of insect repellent. Hoodies soaking up the smell of sunscreen and campfire smoke. Welcoming back the cottage, campsite, or simply rejoicing in the fact there’s an extra day to celebrate the unofficial start of summer with a low-key long weekend. The Victoria Day weekend is a special one indeed, full of anticipation. Here’s how to really enjoy it with some family-friendly May long weekend activities.
From tie-dying hoodies to trying out fat bikes or geocaching, there’s something fun for everyone.
Ideas for May Long Weekend Activities
Backyard Games
Got some nice weather but don’t feel like venturing far? Backyard games are a ton of fun and don’t require a PhD in logistics to figure out the set-up and rules. Favourites include bocce ball, ladder ball, and giant lawn yahtzee. Cornhole is also always a hit. Plus, if the family is handy and looking for a project, you can easily construct your own cornhole set for the ultimate bonding experience.
Tie-Dying Sweatshirts
Sure, there’s nothing particularly new about tie-dye. But break out on-trend crewnecks and hoodies to use as a white blank canvas, and suddenly everyone is very interested in crafting their own one-of-a-kind fashion piece. There are even few different methods of tie-dye that skip the need for big buckets of colour. Check out the ice cube technique or dye in squirt bottles for a novelty effect. The end results are sure to become cozy classics, for home or cottage wear.
Resin Art
Resin art is super cool and very satisfying to create. Pick a resin colour, choose some add-on materials, like gold leaf, and select a mould. This creative project produces beautiful works of art. After mastering the basics, try making coasters, key chains and even jewellery. Not sure of technique? YouTube is your friend, or try a complete kit.
- Complete resin kit, $99.97
Geocaching
Geocaching is a family favourite activity for a good reason – it’s so much fun. There’s bound to be some geocaches hidden in the area where you’ll be spending the May long weekend, and these days smartphones can be used to find the coordinates listed. Get out the bug shirts, put on the hikers, and away you go – once you find the general area specified by the coordinates you still have to find the hidden cache and open it to see if there are any goodies there for finders to take home as a souvenir (it’s a nice gesture to bring your own stash to help refill the cache). Don’t forget to sign your name!
Making Soap and Bath Bombs
There’s no guarantee of nice weather on the May long weekend. For when you need to be indoors, this is an activity that’s perfect for future chemists and beauty empire entrepreneurs.
Fat Biking
Fat bikes have oversized tires to allow riding on unstable ground, like sand, mud, and bogs. The increased stability makes them great for riders just getting started with off-road cycling. There are now many trails across Canada perfect for fat biking, and a variety of places that rent them, including parks, conservation authorities, and beach town surf/beach shops.
Check out some great bike trails at national parks here.
Tagged under: may long weekend,victoria day long weekend,long weekend activities,victoria day weekend
Category: family-life,games
