Will You Come Out to Play?

Do you remember knocking on a neighbor's door to ask if your bestie could come out to play? Do you remember so sad to find out they were on punishment and couldn't come out? This week we are kocking on your door... well inbox... to invite you to play. Dont put yourself on punish; I bet your crew wants to play too!  

Play Dates

Cramping My Style by Jenny Booth Potter

I don’t remember how old I was, maybe 4th grade, when I declared to my mom that I didn’t want to have “playdates”anymore. I wanted to invite friends to “hang out.” Gone were the days where my best friends and I would play make-believe or tag. We had graduated to hang time- and hang and watch tv, or hang and listen to music, or hang and make up choreography in each others basement. You get the idea.

I was so eager to grow up, and in my mind, grown ups didn’t play.
The last few years I’ve found myself missing those days. Days when the whole object of a free time was to get lost in your imagination or to play a game “just for fun.” I’ve gotten tired of being a grown up and dealing with grown up things. I needed a break. I was hanging in there, and what I needed was a play date.

So one night, my husband and I went and played Top Golf just for fun. We were silly and danced around between our turns. We played together. And it was wonderful. It provided a moment of respite that my grown-up life needed! Now, the next time I do something with my friends, I gonna call it a playdate. Kids aren’t the only ones who need to play.

Pregnant Pause

by Brooke Campbell

I will play. Not as a means to an end. But the end to mean whispers that try to convince me that I'm too old for this shit. The voices that say my joyful days are behind me, must cease.

Playgrounds for Adults

The Flow by Stephanie McBee

Adulting is overrated. Don’t get me wrong, I know it has its occasional perks, but I feel like I was bamboozled, hoodwinked, led astray into thinking the playground of adulthood was organically going to be lit. The older I get the more I find myself longing for the joy and limitless fun of my youth. Im not trying to revert back to being a kid, but I am exploring what playfulness can look like for me now.  How can I recapture the mood of  9-year-old Stephanie launching herself into a cannonball from the top platform of the Discovery Zone ball pit?

Over the last year, with the help my beautiful colleagues at Herself Media, I’ve become intentional about “embracing an audacious joy.” And let me tell you, it’s been one of the most liberating and exciting adventures. Finding ways to reclaim my time and engage in activities that elicit playfulness as an adult was something I never considered or thought was necessary, but honey listen… it is giving me so much life.

This summer I found myself booking last minute flights to nowhere, hopping in a car with friends on road trips, and embracing adventures to the woods. Now, I understand this may not sound like fun for you or bring you joy, but for someone who fancies herself the modern-day melanin drenched Marco Polo with a bomb blowout, I have been living my best life. I also lowkey went on a bear hunt, line danced in a country western bar, swam in the Gulf of Mexico, got my circus act on at the Trapeze School flying over the Hudson River, hit the adults only fitness gym on South Beach in Miami, and even rode a bike for the first time in over 20 years.

As we get older, we’re expected to abandon our playfulness and embrace a life of hard work. There’s this belief that a life of fun is not deserved but earned. LIES! ALL Lies. I refuse to believe that this is how we’re meant to live. I’m unlearning some things, and the idea that I have to earn joy and playfulness in my life is one of them.

Life can be serious, and scary, but we don’t have to become consumed by it. Get your squad, call the girls, and plan a play date. There are some incredible adult playgrounds around the country that I recommend you check out. I’m grateful to be at the footsteps of New York City which is full of ratchet adult playgrounds from the flying trapeze at Chelsea Pier (which I highly recommend) to museums of ice cream, rosé, and even sex (just ask Austin about that last one!)

When’s the last time you set aside time to have fun? When was the last time you gave yourself permission to laugh, to play (without judgement and without fear); and let the spirit of joy within you fly free?

Body +

by Brooke Campbell

According to Scott G Eberle, Vice President for play studies at the Museum For Play,

'Defining play is difficult because it’s a moving target. [It’s] a process, not a thing.' He said that it begins in anticipation and hopefully ends in poise. 'In between you find surprise, pleasure, understanding — as skill and empathy — and strength of mind, body, and spirit.' -The Importance of Play for Adults, PsychCentral

The Erotic Carnival

She's Gotta Have It by Austin Channing Brown

Okay, so we usually reserve this space for a Black owned business. But I could not pass up the opportunity to tell yall about the Museum of Sex in NYC! Yall, this place is an experience, okay?! First of all, the museum itself is super educational. The history, the artwork, the artifacts will have your eyes wide one moment, cracking you up the next and trying to get a closer look to make sure you understand what you just read. It's fascinating.

BUT THEN. You must go play! Pay the extra dollars to enjoy superfunland. Go with your partner. Go with your girlfriends. Just make sure you go. It's basically an adult only carnival with multiple floors of sex-inspired games- and its hella fun. Leave your inner prude at the door and let your freak flag fly high in a place where it will be appreciated... encouraged even! Then come tell us all the juicy details!  

Play Dough

Cravings by Jenny Booth Potter

Every Friday night since my kids were little, we’ve struggled to figure out what to make for dinner. I mean its the end of the week; Ive figured out dinner for the previous week days and yet... I still have to figure it out on a Friday night, too. So when some friends told me they do pizza and a movie every Friday, we adopted that tradition faster than you can say “TGIF!”

Now, I have a pizza dough recipe that is super easy, and I wont lie- playing with the dough at the end of a long week is oftentimes good for my heart. This recipe is adpated from Smitten Kitchen’s Lazy Margherita Pizza: