How To Make a Redneck Slip N' Slide

Sometimes I impress even myself. This wasn't even a Pinterest project, just something that randomly popped in my head. I should give myself a raise! Or something.

Slip n Slides are fun.

They've been fun since I was a kid. Now, they come in various shapes, lengths, styles etc and some even come with accessories. 

Usually though, store-bought Slip n' Slides are cheap, but mediocre, short and boring. And they usually don't last more than one summer anyways. 

We totally have a store-bought Slip n' Slide and it's awesome only because it's Disney Cars themed. Otherwise It's kind of blah, at least for big kids (it's still amusing for my 3 year old). Why don't they make BIG Slip n' Slides for grownups or BIG kids?

Which got me thinking, why the hell shouldn't I MAKE my own Slip n' Slide? How hard could it be? It should only take a few simple steps to make your own epic slide. 

Step 1: Find a hill. So you don't really need a hill. But a hill makes it faster and easier to slide. Which is more fun. Conveniently we have a nice little hill or landfill or something on the side of our townhome.

Step 2: Find some plastic. I bought a 2-pack of thick painter's plastic at Home Depot for $18 (plus military discount, holla!). I used this stuff earlier this summer for a different awesome project and it's slippery when wet and can withstand a ton of abuse from kids. We used 1.5 of the rolls completely unfolded (though because I'm cheap and lazy I didn't cut the last half of the second roll off, I just wadded it up and turned it to the side of the slide to make a barrier). 

Redneck Slip n' Slide and neighbor buddy Kyle testing it out

Step 3: Barrier for the bottom. Because let's face it, no one wants to drag their wet bleeding child to the ER in the middle of a Slip N' Slide fest. This was tricky and took some trial and error for us. We ended up taking our cheap plastic pool (the kind with the ridiculous wobbly stiff walls) and folding down one side of it to create an opening to it. This way, the water collected in the pool, the kids would slide into it and the back side of the pool would stop the momentum. Brilliant.

Step 4: Water. We used two garden hoses, one attached to our stupid store bought Slip n' Slide on the side of the main one (because it had a built in sprinkler that sprayed water on the big plastic piece), and the other attached to a large sprinkler head at the top of the slide that oscillated and continuously poured water on the plastic. No constant water = Slip N' Bleed From Your Everything. 

Accessories are fun too. Like boogie boards.

Step 5: Slippy stuff. We wanted it more slippery so we used an exact combination of a bottle of Dawn dishsoap and a large can of Dollar Store shaving cream. Uber fast. Uber awesome. (especially when you smear shaving cream all over yourself and morph into a speeding human boblsed. And the good news is that you will be really, really clean). 

THESE three know how it's done!

And there you have it. It ain't pretty, but it it's extremely effective and FAR more fun than any stupid store-bought slide.

You wouldn't believe how many people were slowing down in their cars to watch us. We're quite a circus act. Can't say I blame them. You don't see that level of awesome every day.

AND I totally threw myself on this giant slip n slide multiple times, and it was a blast even for grownups. (I would like to announce that I was the ONLY grownup awesome enough to go on it.) Now as I'm sitting on the couch covered in ice packs and taking double doses of Advil, I remember that I am 28 and no longer five. Pain. But worth it. 

Today's slide crew. Calen, Kyle, Sydney, Hailey and Tyler

 

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