A Slam Dunk Family Outing

One of the hardest parts of having a family as diverse as ours – “blended” family with kids 7+ years apart – is trying to find a way to have meaningful quality time where no one feels left out, and no one feels pandered to.
(This goes for us as adults, too.)
Because if we attend a live-action show that may appeal, say, to the five-year-old… well, the twelve-year-old feels a bit too old to be there. But if we aim for a movie that the twelve-year-old would enjoy? Yeah, we lose the five-year-old pretty quickly.
And let’s not even get started on trying to keep the forty-year-old interested.
The one common ground we’ve found: sporting events.
We’re pretty fortunate here in the Rocket City; we have several teams that realize that the family-friendly market is an extremely viable one. They specialize in fast-paced, highly structured action… with a good dose of costumed mascots. (Make no mistake: that’s MY favorite part.) There’s tons of memorabilia to choose from to “treat” the kids, and you can pretty cheaply take the family out for a memorable evening.
To this day, the five year old will recount meeting an inflatable astronaut mascot at an indoor football game. He was three when this happened, but he remembers it as vividly as it was yesterday.
All boys – ages 5, 12, and 40 – are equally stoked to sit in the stands and smell the popcorn and pretzels as we cheer on a team. (Not even OUR team, just A team. Any team will do.) It’s a special “night out”, one that they all remember for weeks or months or (obviously) years to come. I always enjoy the photo opportunities!
So, really, if you have the same problem I do (“What would we ALL enjoy?”), I highly recommend a sports outing. The actual sport doesn’t really matter (as you can see, we’re not picky), but all getting out together and finding a common cause to root for? Totally priceless.
Win Globetrotter Tickets
Feeling Lucky? Enter to win one of three (3) family four-packs Rocket City Mom is giving away by following the instructions below.
Wrangler of Rocket Scientists, Sarah Lena; has been beguiling hearts at The Anvil Tree; for over ten years now. Mom and StepMom to the masses, she proclaims herself Defender of Underdogs Everywhere as well as The Queen of Snark. You can also follow her on Twitter at @SarahLena.
Hi, we’ve only ever taken our older son to a Phx Coyotes game when he was <1 yr old, he liked it even then! I think now that we have 2 boys they'd love to see hockey, baseball or basketball.
I have always wanted to see the Globetrotters. I know my boys would love it!!
I couldn’t agree with your article more!!
My kids are 11 years apart and it is a constant struggle to find the right venues as a family. I can relate!
You are right! This would be a great event to take children to and them enjoy every minute!!
We haven’t taken our 3 year old to a live sporting event yet, but I know she would love it! She loves watching sports on tv with us.
Would love to win this!
Sporting Events are a wonderful way to make memories!
The kids would enjoy this event a lot!
This would be a lot of fun!
That looks like it would be a lot of fun! Our boys have loved the few sporting events we have taken them to!
We are a football family for the most part but if we are going in person I think most sports are fun to watch.
Just commenting to say I love the Parental Photobomb pics 🙂
We love to go to Auburn football games together as a family but my boys started playing basketball this year and love that sport too!
We love going to sports games as a family, the crowd, the stadiums!!
Never been to see them, but would love to win tickets! Thanks for your great blog!!
My sons would love to see this!
We love sports for the same reason. Each of us can find something fascinating 🙂
We love the Globetrotters, our favorite family sporting outing would have to be swimming!!
My son loves any and all sporting events because of the mascots! He will hunt them down for a hug and a high five!
Our favorite family-friendly sporting event is hockey. We love going to see the Huntsville Havoc or Nashville Predators. The Harlem Globetrotters sounds exciting, too!
can you believe we have never taken our son to a sporting event? I bet he would LOVE this and so would daddy!!
Our family loves soccer because we have always had so many little ones in the sport! We have 8 children between ages 3-11. I am hoping to get to take my boys to this event because they would just love it! I have three boys so this is a perfect time to spend some time with just them 🙂
Our family would love to win these tickets!! What a great family time!
My husband is a huge baseball fan, so our favorite family sports events are baseball games! 🙂
Football is our favorite! Softball/baseball is next!
My boys are just getting into sports and LOVE basketball! This would be perfect for them!
Pick me ! Wendy 🙂
We love to go to games and we love to participate in runs together.
Would love to win!
My son loves UAB basketball games. Someone gave him a free basketball last night and he was in heaven!
My kids are all still young, but thanks for the great insight into a solution to the age gap activity problem.
I always love when they come to town.
Baseball is our families event for the spring and summer.
My family would love to see the Harlem Globetrotters
I am recently engaged, set to marry this summer. I love all the information Rockey City mom provides for my new blended family to perform together. Getting the chance to see the Harlem Globetrotters would be a great experience for us all.
With a new blended family (me and my fiance are set to marry this summer) I love all that rocket city mom has to offer for our new family to do together. To win a chance to see the Harlem Globetrotters would be wonderful, as we don’t get many times to do things together with my fiance working weekends (night/shift)
I have never have seen the Harlem Globetrotters , so i hope i win these so i can finally see them and let my 3 kids see them!
We are active catfish noodlers on the Flint River. That’s our family fun event!
Love, Love, LOVE this site! So many great things to do…makes me even happier to be a mama!
Pass those Globetrotter tix along! 🙂
The popcorn is always a big sell for our family whenever we go to an event! Also, the music and ‘people watching’ make it fun even if the kids aren’t following game.
My boys would like this!
Would love to see Flight Time and Big Easy with the Globetrotters!
Oh how fun!! I love baseball games.
We don’t really have a favorite event. I think my kiddos would like the Globetrotters though. 😀
would like to take the kids to see the Globetrotters
We haven’t ventured to sporting events yet, but are looking forward to giving it a try.
The Huntsville HAVAC
I always wanted to see the Harlem globetrotters as a kid, and never got to! I want to win. I suppose I’ll take my family if I do. 🙂
We’ve never taken our two boys (5 and 7) to a sporting event. This would be a fun first!
this would be great family fun!!
I’ve been wanting to take the kids to see a basketball game. This would be perfect. I saw the Globetrotters once, about 10 years ago. It was a blast!
I would love to take my kids to see the globetrotters!
We love baseball of all kinds! Little League, college, pro – whatever 🙂