6 bonza ways to enjoy Australia Day at home

If you want to keep away from big crowds at beaches, parks and city festivities this Australia Day, we can’t think of a happier way to spend the holiday than making plans to chill out at home with family and friends.

Here are six laid-back ways to celebrate everything that is good about our island home, all without leaving the house.

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Host an Australian themed games day

Organise an afternoon of Australian themed games with friends. Play celebrity head or charades with Australian celebrities, characters, movies, books, objects and actions on the cards. If you’re feeling patriotic organise a set of Australian trivia questions to test everyone’s general knowledge of the great land down under.

Play a few games from Australia’s favourite music quiz show Spicks and Specks, like Substitute, using only music by famous Australian artists and musicians. Don’t forget to pull out classic Aussie party games like an egg and spoon race, two up, musical chairs, a three-legged race and even a thong tossing contest.

Classic Aussie TV shows & movies viewing party

What better way is there to spend a public holiday than relaxing with a few DVDs or in front of Netflix for a marathon viewing session of your fave Aussie flicks. Cue up The Castle, Babe, Offspring, Blue Heelers, Mad Max, Muriel’s Wedding and The Adventures of Priscilla Queen of the Dessert for a true blue afternoon, the list just goes on and on! Don’t forget to stock up on popcorn, choc tops, snacks and drinks to create a movie theatre atmosphere in your living room.

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Plan a Triple J Hottest 100 party

Listening to Triple J’s Hottest 100 is an annual tradition for many music loving Aussies all over the country come ‘Straya Day. Make the countdown extra special this year by hosting a house party at your place. The countdown kicks off at 12pm so it’s the perfect time to fire up the barby, get out the esky and sit back and enjoy a few beverages, snags and the best tunes of 2016 in good company. Play your own version of Bingo by noting down the songs you voted for at the start of the day and ticking off the ones that are included in the countdown. The person with the most and highest ranked picks wins.

Image: Nanette Wong

Celebrate with Australian food

Organise a MasterChef style cook off with your friends where everyone brings a plate of their favourite Australian cuisine. Serve up vegemite sandwiches, meat pies, Tim Tams, Fantales, Iced Vovos, Golden Gaytimes and Passiona as snacks and cook up your best version of a prawn cocktail, fish ‘n chips, calamari, roast lamb, damper, lamingtons or pavlova for the contest. With the combined efforts of just a few friends you’ll be in store for a dinky die feast to remember!

Get sporty

There’s no doubt Australian’s are competitive and mad about sport in all shapes and forms. So, a great way to celebrate Australia Day is to arrange a mini backyard cricket match with your mates with prizes for best on ground, catch of the day and most runs scored. Don’t forget the cricket pro zinc on the nose and lips, the sunscreen, sunnies and sun hats for sun smart outdoor fun all afternoon.

For indoor sporty fun, put together a table tennis tournament with your friends in honour of the Australian Open with doubles and singles rounds. If you’re not up for getting physical, be sure to tune into all the tennis action from Melbourne Park. Make the matches that bit more exciting by drawing a sweepstake or having a friendly bet on the score lines with your guests for the matches on the day. 

Refreshing wet ‘n’ wild fun

On a warm Australian summer day there’s almost nothing better than pulling on your swimming cossie or budgie smugglers and having a grouse Aussie pool party. String up some fairy lights and balloons, put out a fruity punch and add colourful inflatable pool toys for the perfect festive pool party look.

Image: Joel Dessaules Design

Don’t stress if you aren’t lucky enough to have a backyard pool, you can still get in on the refreshing wet summer fun by investing in a paddle pool, sprinkler, a slip ‘n slide, water guns and water balloons, for an epic water fight.

For more advice to prep for this Australia Day here are six steps to get your home ready for a BBQ and 20 poolside entertaining essentials.

Happy Australia Day!

The homely Team