Sure, you’ve been to regular pool parties. But have you ever had a winter pool party?
Or even more festive, a Christmas Pool Party?
It’s everything you love about the holidays, fused with everything that makes pool parties great. And in this post, you can find plenty of inspiration for throwing your own party.
Luckily, nearly all of the ideas we share can be done within a day. So you’ll be good whether you’re prepping at the last minute, or weeks in advance. From Christmas pool party decoration ideas to games, music, and pro tips for getting your swimming pool ready.
Keep reading to learn everything you need to know for the perfect Christmas Pool Party.
Christmas Pool Party 101
How To Throw The Perfect
Winter Pool Party
What you need for your winter pool party
Before we jump into the fun part, we want to make sure your party goes exactly how you plan it. Since your swimming pool is THE main attraction of your Christmas Pool Party, getting it swim-ready is at the top of the list.
But don’t worry, there are only a few things to focus on:
- Heating the pool
- Pool heat pump OR Gas heater
- Keeping it covered to lock in heat
- Pool cover
- Healthy, balanced water
- Winter pool chemicals
- Good water flow
- Strong variable speed pump
Related: How To Keep Your Pool Open During The Winter
Heating your swimming pool
A warm pool is a comfortable pool. And a comfortable pool is a pool worth swimming in.
So to make sure everyone has a great time at your Christmas Pool Party, you’ll want to make sure your water is locked in at the perfect temperature. Not too cold, but more than warm enough to offset the cold weather.
For the best results, start running your pool heater at least 1-3 days before the party. And choose a target temperature between 84-88 degrees. This gives your water plenty of time to warm up (especially if you keep it covered).
Heat Pumps
If you live in the Sunbelt or any place where winters typically stay above 50 degrees, then using a pool heat pump can be a great way to keep your pool warm.
Month to month, they’re one of the most cost-effective pool heating options available (75% cheaper than gas). And since they source their heat from the surrounding air, pool heat pumps work reliably in all conditions — day or night, rain or shine.
Plus, they can cool and heat your pool, giving you even more flexibility for dealing with unexpected weather.
Related: 9 Ways Owning a Pool Heat Pump Improves Your Life & Health
But even if your winters are a little colder, advanced pool heat pumps, like the Oasis Platinum Ultra Quiet, can handle the job. They can heat your pool in temperatures down to the low 30s, thanks to enhanced low-temperature performance.
Bottom line: a pool heat pump offers cost-effective heating that extends your swim season, and works great throughout mild winters
Gas Heaters
The only other pool heater that can compete with a pool heat pump in terms of performance, is a gas heater.
While they’re not eco-friendly (C02 emissions from burning gas), or cost-effective (gas isn’t cheap), they’re the fastest heating option available.
But more importantly, they’re what you need to keep your pool open during the winter if you deal with freezing temperatures (anything under 32 degrees).
In some cases, pool owners use both a gas heater and pool heat pump to heat their pools through frigid winters. The combination allows for more cost-effective heating, with the flexibility needed to warm up the pool if it gets below freezing temperatures (32 degrees Fahrenheit)
Bottom line: like a pool heat pump, a gas heater gives you heat when you need it. But the speed and extra cold tolerance will cost you at least 3x more per month
NOTE: If you don’t actually want to swim in the pool, then running your filter pump, which keeps your water moving, is enough to temporarily prevent freeze damage.
Covering the pool
Your pool loses heat much faster when it’s cold outside. Which makes it even more important to keep it covered during the winter.
Visualize all of that heat loss as your money evaporating into the air, because essentially, that’s what’s happening.
All of that lost heat needs to get replaced, right? It’s the only way to keep your water warm.
Well, the only way to replace heat is to run your pool heater more, right? As you’d imagine, doing this over and over quickly hikes up your heating bill.
So instead, why not prevent all that heat loss in the first place by covering the pool?
Using a cover does two MAJOR things, it:
- Improves your swimming pool’s ability to lock in heat
- Increases your pool heater’s efficiency by regulating temperature
To ensure a smooth start to your Christmas Pool Party, keep your pool covered until the morning of.
Related: A Quick Guide to Swimming Pool Covers
Automatic Timer
An automatic timer is more of a safety measure/convenience, but it’s one worth investing in, and here’s why:
This small investment saves you hundreds, if not thousands down the road. It prevents freeze damage and keeps your water clean and warm by powering up your pool equipment based on pre-set conditions.
Plus, it saves you from having to do the tedious, time-consuming job of turning everything on and off each day — and that’s a convenience you deserve to have in your life.
Swimming pool automatic timers work in one or more ways:
- Automatically based on temperature settings (when it gets too cold)
- Automatically based on time settings (ex. 8pm t0 8am)
Why do you need one for a winter pool party?
Well, an automatic timer:
- Always keeps your pool ready for swimming by automatically heating and filtering your water
- Improves pool system efficiency (reduces energy use) by running your equipment on a consistent schedule
- Prevents freeze damage during unexpected cold fronts
- Cuts your work in half by managing your pool equipment for you
Healthy balanced water
Every pool owner knows the importance of balancing their water. It’s what keeps it clean, healthy, and germ-free — in other words, swimmable.
Which is why it’s always worth taking the time to get right. Especially, during the winter, because that’s when it’s easiest to manage.
Pool chemicals, especially chlorine, tend to last much longer during the winter/cold weather. Mostly because there’s far less evaporation going on when it’s 50 degrees versus when it’s 95.
So if there’s a time to get your water perfectly balanced, while getting the most out of your pool chemicals, that time would be now.
Here are the pool chemical levels to aim for:
Pool Chemical Startup List
- Total Alkalinity
- Ideal range: 80 – 120 ppm
- pH
- Ideal range: 7.4 – 7.6
- Calcium Hardness
- Ideal range: 200 – 400 ppm
- Sanitizer (chlorine, bromine, or biguanide)
- Ideal range: 3 ppm (chlorine)
- Total Dissolved Solids
- Ideal range: Less than 2,000 ppm
- Shock the pool
To learn which products to use, and how much, check out this post: Balance Your Pool Water in 7 Easy Steps
Water flow
In a swimming pool, your pool pump is what makes heating, filtration, and spreading pool chemicals possible. And good circulation, or water flow, is what keeps all of that going.
To avoid any problems with water flow, and ensure your pool looks great the day of the party:
- Check your pool pump
- Empty any debris out of the pump basket
- Inspect your pump for any damage or wear
- Check your pool filter
- Is it clean? If not, clean it
- Does the filter media need replacement?
- Is the pool filter itself in good condition
- Inspect your skimmer
- Is the basket clear? If not, empty it out
Related: 4 BIG Reasons To Service Your Pool Equipment
Christmas Pool Party Decoration Ideas
Once your pool is ready for swimmers, it’s time to decorate.
Here are a few simple Christmas Pool Party decorations that you can use this season. Add some holiday spirit to your swimming pool, and make your very own winter wonderland.
Christmas Reef and Lights Swimming Pool Border
Line the edge of your pool with dark green tinsel and battery operated Christmas lights for a simple and festive border.
Add a few red bows along the border, and some potted poinsettias around the deck to enhance the look. To complete the scene, add an LED Christmas tree in the corner of your pool deck for the perfect accent piece.
LED Christmas Lights Pool Border & Accent Pieces
Line the outer edge of your pool deck with a long strip of white LED bulbs. Then add a few multi-colored LED lawn and garden fixtures around the deck.
LED Floating Christmas Trees
For this, you can use a mini artificial Christmas tree, or a small tomato cage bent into a cone shape as the “tree”.
Wrap a small string of waterproof, battery operated LED lights around the tree
Then to make it float, attach the tree to a medium-sized life preserver (red or green for holiday colors) with clear tape or fishing line.
SAFETY: Use battery operated or solar lights only. Waterproof is best
Floating Polar Bear Christmas Decoration
This one is really simple, especially if you have a polar bear lawn decoration lying around. But really, you can use any winter themed lawn decoration for this.
All you need is a square of styrofoam about 5-10 inches thick, with enough space to comfortably sit the decoration in the middle. If necessary, stack and glue a few styrofoam squares together.
And that’s it — now you have a floating Christmas pool decoration.
Floating Christmas Floral Bouquet
For this, you need a 5-10 inch styrofoam ball, a small bag of artificial flower petals, and a hot glue gun.
Cover the styrofoam ball in petals, using hot glue to securely attach them. Alternate between different color flower petals to make your own theme
Floating Candy Cane Christmas Pool Decor
Bend a red pool noodle into the shape of a candy cane. Then use clear fishing line to tie and hold the hook shape in place.
For the stripes, wrap a deep red ribbon around the length of the candy cane in a spiral pattern. Secure the ribbon to each end with a pin or tape.
DIY Floating Santa Christmas Pool party Decoration
Want to make your own Floating Santa pool decoration? It’s easier than you think, but of course, you’ll need a few things to do it:
- Santa costume
- Santa beard
- White gloves
- Boots or shoes (black)
- A hat
- A few bags of newspaper
and magazine for stuffing - Floating pool bed
Stuff the Santa costume to give it a human shape, then lay it out on the inflatable. Adjust the stuffing to change the pose.
Next, stuff the gloves, and add them along with the boots. Last add the beard to the head area, then drape the hat over where the face would be.
Get creative with different poses and props.
Floating LED Pool Balls
You can find these nifty pool decorations by Googling “floating waterproof LED pool light”.
They come in a variety of colors, including red or green, which makes it easy to give your pool a classy, festive theme.
Floating Christmas Reefs for Pool (styrofoam ring + reef)
While the picture shows a flower reef, this simple floating Christmas decoration is just as easy to make with a Christmas reef.
Just buy a styrofoam ring slightly smaller than the size of the reef at your local crafts store. Then use clear fishing line or hot glue to attach the reef to the styrofoam ring.
Float it out onto the water and your job is done.
Christmas Pool Party Games
Your pool is decorated, and the water is ready for swimmers. Now it’s time for the fun part.
Here are a few Christmas pool party games to play at your winter pool party.
Flip Duck
Image via Flickr
What you need:
- 8 players
- 8 rubber ducks
How to play:
Split into even teams and give each team member a duck.
Both teams line up along the shallow end wall, facing the outside.
Each player places their duck along the edge of the pool deck where they are standing. Position the ducks so that half of their body is hanging over the ledge.
On “Go”, the first member of each team uses their hand to gently flip the rubber duck 360 degrees. The goal is to make the duck do a full flip and land flat.
Once a player successfully flips their duck, they swim to the opposite wall and back.
Then, the next player does the same with their duck. The cycle continues until all team members have gone across the pool and back.
The first team to successfully flip all their ducks and swim back wins.
Sponge Bop
What you need:
- 6-10 players
- 10+ sponges
How to play:
Split players into even teams and give each person a sponge. Throw the remaining sponges into the middle of the shallow end.
Make a “middle line” across the shallow end that neither team can cross into. Use chairs, noodles, or pots to mark the middle line.
Teams line up on opposite sides of the shallow end. On “Go”, the war begins.
Just like in dodgeball, each team must eliminate the opposing teams by hitting them with a sponge.
If a player gets hit with a sponge, they’re out.
But if a player catches a sponge that is thrown at them, the player who threw it is out. And the player who catches the sponge gets to bring back a teammate, or get an “extra life”.
Last team standing wins.
Glowing Sea Diving
What you need:
- 4+ players
- 24+ glowsticks (at least 4 different colors)
- 2-4 containers/baskets
- Timer/stopwatch
How to play:
Scatter about 24-40 glowsticks across your pool. Assign different point values to each color (ex. Orange = 5 points, Yellow = 10 points, Purple = 15 points, Green = 20 points, Red = 25 points).
Players split into even teams, and each team gets a basket for storing glowsticks.
Set a timer for 60 seconds.
On “Go”, players jump into the pool and begin diving for the glowsticks. Players can grab a maximum of 3 glowsticks at a time before having to drop them in their basket.
At the end of 60 seconds, the team with the highest point value of glowsticks in their basket wins.
Related: 7 Secrets For Keeping Your Swimming Pool Crystal Clear
Floating Points
What you need:
- 2+ players
- 30 ping pong balls
- 2 baskets or buckets
- Timer/stopwatch
How to play:
Write different point values onto each ping pong ball using a marker. Then, scatter the ping pong balls across the surface of the water.
Use a marker to write random point values (ex. 5, 10, 15, 20) on each ping pong ball. Then, scatter the balls across the surface of the water.
Players split into even teams, with up to 4 different teams. Each team gets a basket.
On, “Go”, players dive in and begin collecting ping pong balls. Teams score by depositing the ping pong balls into the basket.
At the end of the 60 seconds, add up the point value of each basket. The team with the highest score wins.
Related: 40 Swimming Pool Games for Adults & Kids
Christmas Pool Party music
The pool is ready, the decorations are up, and the games are ready to be played.
Now all you need is the perfect soundtrack for your winter pool party.
Don’t worry, we have this Christmas music playlist ready for you. It includes all the holiday classics, plus a little extra.
Use the built-in music player below, or click the link to open up the playlist in Spotify:
Christmas Pool Party Music
LINK: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5l6rFyXN63iINVsbaBObag
