Preparing the pool for a special event

[Linn]

I would not offer ANY glass anything any where just to be on the safe side.

What a night it is going to be. I LOVE the barrier at the end of the road. They are not going anywhere LOL

Kim:cat:

Yes, I think the barrier makes things much easier to handle. We know for sure that it will be very hard for any gatecrashers and it also safeguards against that any kids who are here can call for help with bringing in alcohol or other things we don't to have here, also they can't pick up anyone from here without hat we ok it first.

As for glass we've been thinking back and forth about it. We definitely don't want ny glass in or around the pool, but on the patios outside I guess it's not that risky. Plastic glasses would of course be an alternative. It would of course cut down on the dishwashing afterwards.

I hope that they'll all have a great night. I'm sure that I and everyone else will be exhauset afterwards, but we'll recover. But if I'm away from here for a few days following the event then you know why

I met with some of the other moms today and they are all very helpful and none of them seemed worried about the plans so far. We've gone through food, drinks, decorations and so and the kids themselves are active in the planning,, at least a number of them. We'll be putting up a lot lof lights and that's a special concern in the pool area, as regular lamps that operate straight from the mians power are too risky there, only low voltage lights like our pool lights are ok. My daughter asked about if the pool lights could be made to change color, but I think it's too late for such changes now. Our lights are traditional white 300 W pool lights, we don't have LED. Maybe we'll consider that at some time later on. But they're expensive if you want high power, at least if you buy them from the pool stores. I've seen them advertised online from China at very reasonable prices, but I don't know if they quality of those is acceptable.

We've also agreed that we who will chaperone the event will also dress up in formal attire, to keep the festive style up. My daughter said: Are you going to use of your old prom dresses ? I laughed, because even if I still have the dresses, it's been 25+ years plus four pregnancies in between and if I'd even try to press myself into one of those I know it would rip as soon as I took a single step !

When it ocmes to the pool, I think we should add a bit extra water before the event. If there will be a lot of water loss, both from splashing and kids going in and out, especially in big dresses that can hold a lot of water, then we want to be sure that the level won't drop below the skimmer level. We should of course also check the tanks so that there is no shortage of chemicals, not that we run out of chlorine or acid in the middle of it all.

Linn

 

[kimkats]

I see a goodwill run for parent prom dresses!

I would do plastic...why even take the chance anywhere? Someone or three WILL break a class. Plastic all the way!

Will you have a phone/contact list for the kids there just in case?

Kim (so glad it is NOT me! LOL)

 

[Linn]

I see a goodwill run for parent prom dresses!

I would do plastic...why even take the chance anywhere? Someone or three WILL break a class. Plastic all the way!

Will you have a phone/contact list for the kids there just in case?

Kim (so glad it is NOT me! LOL)

Goodwill, yeah that might be a good idea if some of them don't have a suitable dress. Myself I've a number of formal dresses anyhow. We belong to an organisation that has a really formal party every year and also we've been invited to such occasions when we've visited friends in England. We used to travel quite a bit, but it's harder now with nine kids instead of just our four ones. Travelling with nie kids gets both tiring and expensive ! But coping with the nine kids may have been perfect training for hosting this event

I think you may be right that going for plastic instead of glasses will simplify things a lot. Maybe use glasses only for the real meal part of it ? In a way I guess plastic would be out-of-style for something formal, but it is of course easier and safer.

Yes, we'll have a call list. All who are coming must give us their parents phone numbers and all parents must sign a form indicating among other things where they can be reached that night. On the reply form we also want answers regarding possible allergies, medical problems, whether the kids are good swimmers or not and things like that. The parents must also agree to picking up their kid if we call them for any reason what so ever and request that. So that if there's any problem with any of them all we need to do is to call their parents, plus open the barrier for them of course.

Linn

 

[otter86753]

If you want something a little better than a red solo cup, you can get acrylic along these lines Acrylic Shop All Glassware & Stemware - Macy's Great job on keeping everyone safe on all counts.

 

[Linn]

If you want something a little better than a red solo cup, you can get acrylic along these lines Acrylic Shop All Glassware & Stemware - Macy's Great job on keeping everyone safe on all counts.

Yes, they lookmore elegant than the standard disposable ones. Are these dishwasher safe ? Or meant just to be disposable ? With all the kids we have a fair number of birthday parties and similar and those could be a good addition to our party items.

After mentioning them here I decided to have a look at my prom dresses, together with my daughter, We were laughing our heads off when we saw them. It's amazing how much that fashion changes - nobody would wear a dress like that these days. In a way that's another reason why it's ok if they go a bit wild in their dresses - saving them forever won't be of much use as long as people want to follow fashion and these constant changes. But in my case it wouldn't have helped if there had been no changes to fashion itself - the fact that y body has changed would in itself disqualify those dresses from any future use.... I'm trying my best to stay fit but to get back to my sizes when I was in high school isn't a realistic option.

I noticed today that it's time to refill our muriatric acid. We don't use much of that - maybe two or three gallons per year. But we dilute it quite a bit when we add it to the tank, so that we'll have weaker acid in the system, which makes servicing easier and it's also less tough on the pump and the hoses. Andone should never buy the concentrated acid - it's so hard to handle and gives off a lot of really dangerous gas. If you spill it it's instant disaster. We normally buy the 10 % version and then we dilute it to maybe 4-5 % in the storage tank. But the acid is important. Without that one the pH will rise quite fast, making the chlorine ineffective. For a function like this with a lot of swimmers it would be unsafe, and I also think that with a pH value way too high there would be a much bigger risk of ruining their dresses. I know that if the pH gets too high it will release metal salts into the water.

 

[jblizzle]

Without that one the pH will rise quite fast, making the chlorine ineffective.

Just a note that this is ONLY true if you have zero CYA. This is another benefit of adding some CYA in that the effectiveness of the chlorine is much less impacted by pH.

- - - Updated - - -

Not, that I am suggesting changing anything now, just something to consider in the future.

 

[kimkats]

Linn! Here is a cute idea! Think of all of the fun you had looking at your old dresses. Put them where the other girls can see them and maybe even have pictures of you wearing them by them. It will be a fun way to show them how things change and to not worry about tomorrow LOL

Kim:cat:

 

[Linn]

Just a note that this is ONLY true if you have zero CYA. This is another benefit of adding some CYA in that the effectiveness of the chlorine is much less impacted by pH.

- - - Updated - - -

Not, that I am suggesting changing anything now, just something to consider in the future.

I thought that the fact that high pH values meant bad desinfection applied to all chlorine systems, CTA or not ? Or what is the mechanism involved there ? In any case I think that maintaining proper pH is a must for other reasons too - the water will become aggressive against metal parts, like our pump (our pump is made out of bronze), pool ladder, lights, heater and so if the pH is too far off from the recommended values. Our automatic system does a good job of maintaining proper pH, but of course it works only as long as we do fill up the container with acid as needed.

Linn

 

[Linn]

Linn! Here is a cute idea! Think of all of the fun you had looking at your old dresses. Put them where the other girls can see them and maybe even have pictures of you wearing them by them. It will be a fun way to show them how things change and to not worry about tomorrow LOL

Kim:cat:

Thanks, that's a great idea ! Maybe I can talk some of the other moms into doing the same. We will hear many giggles there and as you say it might make them more aware of all the changes and less worrying. Also when it comes to their dresses, they'll realise that they can think of them as something that they can be more relaxed about as their chances of using the same ones in the future are very limited. So why worry about if something could possibly damage them at the party ? It's like with weddings, you buy that lovely dress for the event, but it all goes wrong if you spend your entire wedding just worrying about your dress. I know one bride who was like that - she'd even banned red wine from the reception just in case someone could possibly spill some of it on her... and she insisted on runners being placed everywhere where she needed to walk just so that her dress wouldn't get dirty.

Of course we could also use the old prom dresses in another way: if some girl is very hesitant about going swimming in her prom dress if the others go in, she would be welcome to borrow one of those dresses. But I guess most of the teenagers now would rather risk their own dress than being seen in something that's way out of fashion. Going swimming is of course not compulsary anyhow and there could be some that need to keep their dresses perfect, maybe a sister is to use it for her prom or something. Though as we discussed earlier, water, even with a low level of chlorine, will in most cases not ruin any dresses.

Linn

 

[jblizzle]

I thought that the fact that high pH values meant bad desinfection applied to all chlorine systems, CTA or not ? Or what is the mechanism involved there ? In any case I think that maintaining proper pH is a must for other reasons too - the water will become aggressive against metal parts, like our pump (our pump is made out of bronze), pool ladder, lights, heater and so if the pH is too far off from the recommended values. Our automatic system does a good job of maintaining proper pH, but of course it works only as long as we do fill up the container with acid as needed.

Linn

I was just pointing out an additional advantage of having some CYA which holds the FC in reserve and is makes the sanitation less dependent on the the pH level.

High pH is not going to hurt anything beyond increasing the chance of calcium scaling. Low pH could certainly be damaging to equipment though.

 

[Linn]

I was just pointing out an additional advantage of having some CYA which holds the FC in reserve and is makes the sanitation less dependent on the the pH level.

High pH is not going to hurt anything beyond increasing the chance of calcium scaling. Low pH could certainly be damaging to equipment though.

Well I just know that one time when we had a low pH we added soda to get the value up higher again and unfortunately we miscalculated and added too much, driving the pH up well over the recommended range (don't know quite how much, as it wouldn't measure) and when that happened it realeased a lot of copper salts. It happened instantly after adding the soda - you could see how blueish water was coming out of the inlet nozzles. Still we don't have much copper in the system. There are no copper pipes, but there are brass fittings and valves that of course do contain copper. Calcium scaling is something that we've a little bit of at times, as our water comes from a private well and does contain some calcium, but it's not been to the extent f causing any serious trouble. It's looked more like if someone had poured some milk into the pool.

 

[otter86753]

Yes, they lookmore elegant than the standard disposable ones. Are these dishwasher safe ? Or meant just to be disposable ? With all the kids we have a fair number of birthday parties and similar and those could be a good addition to our party items.

They are dishwasher safe and I used mine for the first time this season yesterday. We've been swimming for a week or so, but didn't have an official drink in the pool until yesterday!

 

[Linn]

They are dishwasher safe and I used mine for the first time this season yesterday. We've been swimming for a week or so, but didn't have an official drink in the pool until yesterday!

Sounds like quite practical and definitely worth checking up ! We've always been strict on not allowing glasses in our pool as I know how terribly hard it is t get pieces of glass out of the pool if something happens. When you mention an official drink in the pool it makes me think of a thing that happened a few years ago: we were attending a pool opening party that one family we know was throwing, as they'd just completed the work on their pool. It was a kind of cocktail party and for an official opening the guest we're asked to jump in, champagne was served and people toasted and drank it standing more than waist deep in the water. But three people clinked their glasses too hard, they broke and they got broken glass in the pool. As it was impossible to remove it at the time we were all told to keep our shoes on if we were to use the pool for the rest of the evening. It took them hours of work the next day to get probably 95 % of the glass up. Still one of their kids picked up a splinter in his foot like a week later ... You can't see it at the bottom, it's heavy enough so that it's hard to vacuum it and there is no good way of making sure that it's all out.

 

[otter86753]

Ouch. No glass is allowed on out pool deck. Actually, I have a set of melamine dishes for meals and snacks as well. While I am a bit of a snob (OK, my friends would say I am a total snob) about glassware, I even drink martinis out of acrylic martini glasses (which was the official drink I had Sunday)!

 

[Geebot]

The last girl's night my wife had at the pool ended with me fishing plastic margarita glasses out of the pool the next morning.

 

[kimkats]

The last girl's night my wife had at the pool ended with me fishing plastic margarita glasses out of the pool the next morning.

Funny how YOU did the work after SHE had the fun!

Kim:cat:

 

[Linn]

The last girl's night my wife had at the pool ended with me fishing plastic margarita glasses out of the pool the next morning.

Well, it sounds like she'd a good and fun pool party ! Yep, after a good pool party you often get to fish for a few items in the pool. I've retrieved things like shoes, hair clps, jewellry, keys and a few things like that. If it's something tiny that is lost in the pool I've got a trick to find it: I put a fine mesh at the bottom of the strainer in the skimmer and vacuum the bottom. That will trap most small items.

- - - Updated - - -

Funny how YOU did the work after SHE had the fun!

Kim:cat:

Well I guess that is how it will be for me after the prom party. Probably quite a bit of work and a number of items that need fishing out... after they've had fun all night. But I don't mind, as long as they have a safe and fun filled night it's well worth it. I hope they will think a bit before going in / pushing each other in so that they don't get phones or stuff like that wet !

 

[kimkats]

You know what????? PHONES and car keys! Get some gallon sized bags and sharpie makers. Have the kids put their car keys and phones in the bags and write their names on them. You then take them and put them in a safe place until time to go home or the pool fun is over. Better safe than sorry AND goes along with what I say when we are out with others "love the one you are with" kind of thing......pay attention to those around you.

Kim:cat:

 

[Household6]

Re: CYA in indoor pool

Linn <<<< coolest mom EVAH!
I love that you're doing this!
Honestly, I'd want to chaperone to be part of the festivities! Ive always wanted to do a "trash the dress" event!

I haven't read the entire thread, but here are my thoughts -
1. Get some of the heavy duty wood hangers, some XL binder clips, and some really cheap WHITE cotton wash cloths or towels and cut them into 3x3 squares, a box fan or two, and CLEAR garbage bags.

Obviously, a standard hanger isn't going to suffice for hanging a large heavy dress. Not even thick plastic ones will hold.
You can use the binder clips to hold the strapless gowns onto the hangers, but use the cut pieces of towels under the clips to prevent any damage. You can also use the clips to spread out the full bottoms of dresses on a clothes line.

Have the fans set up to blow on the clothes lines so they get dryer faster.

Upon going home hand out the clear garbage bags. Having them clear will prevent any mix ups and someone grabbing the wrong bag to take home. (We get clear lawn bags at Home Depot if you can't find garbage bags.)

You may want to consider looking at oriental trading or the dollar tree website for extra flip flops to have on-hand. Shoes usually come off AT prom. No way folks are going to want to wear them all night, and I understand your concern.

Don't think I'd let shoes go into the water. I'm sure all the kids think they're great swimmers and have little concern about the weight of the dresses. But fact be known, some of them at least will likely struggle a bit. The last thing someone needs is to have their eyeball poked out by a stiletto! You have that many folks jumping into a pool at once and it's bound that someone will get a kick in the face or at least an arm.

I'd encourage all jewelry to be removed. The glue that holds pearls and stones into settings is likely to give way to water. Add in that there is chlorine in the water, and you're going to have yellowed pearls and such.

I'd have zip lock bags, handled brown grocery bags (think Trader Joes) and a couple sharpie markers available for kids to put their stuff in, then write their names on the bags.

I'd think about setting up a video camera in an elevated corner of the pool area. Will make for a really neat video where you can fast forward and condense the entire party into a 60 second clip. Plus, you won't miss a single still picture if you have one that's reasonable quality as you can freeze frame a neat moment and screen shot it for the pic.

I'd hope most of the kids are going to bring an overnight bag with a swimsuit, pajamas and a change of clothes with them. They're not going to want to stay in the formal duds after they're soaked for max an hour, I'd think.

May want to consider everyone going through their closets and pulling out sports type (elastic waist band) shorts, tshirts (make sure some are colored so you don't have girls running around like they're in a white wet tshirt contest. I'd put all the items in a box or clothes basket in a bathroom. Anyone who forgot clothes can be direct to the bathroom to go through the box and find something to put on. Also have some of the clear garbage bags in there so they're not dragging wet clothing across your house dripping wet. Also have towels available for drying off in the bathroom.





20x40 in-ground concrete "vintage" pool
Approx 38k gal
Concrete, plaster and epoxy paint
Sand filter
DIY plaster resurface repairs completed 6/2015.

 

[Linn]

You know what????? PHONES and car keys! Get some gallon sized bags and sharpie makers. Have the kids put their car keys and phones in the bags and write their names on them. You then take them and put them in a safe place until time to go home or the pool fun is over. Better safe than sorry AND goes along with what I say when we are out with others "love the one you are with" kind of thing......pay attention to those around you.

Kim:cat:

Yes I think they'll have a more memorable night in all respects if they can manage to stay away from their phones for a while. And in our case it should be pretty easy to convince them: not only is there the danger of getting their phones wet and possibly ruined, also cell phone reception here is really poor (that's why it won't work well with wireless internet connections either), so most likely their phones will not work in the first place. You can make calls, but most often they get interupted or the quality is so bad that it's hard to make out what they're saying. That's why I always use our landline phone ! As for car keys they won't have any use of them either, they won't even have their cars within a distance that they would be willing to walk anyhow. I think your idea of labelling those items and collecting them is a good one. Car keys contain electronics these days and a dip in the pool won't do them any good. Phones are mostly very sensitive to getting wet. There are a few waterproof models, but I'm not even sure that they always live up to that.