A Gulf Shores area vacation is certain to be so filled with fun and wonder, you may be thinking that it won’t be possible to make it even more fantastic, but because you chose Poole & Associates, you are about to find out how wrong you are. Your beach vacation is about family, and whether you are traveling with your own nuclear family, with multiple generations, or are maybe just traveling with your spouse and kids but have family in the area, this summer getaway is the perfect time to host a family pool party! Our beachy sanctuaries offer luxury, charm, comfort, and the choice of community or private pools and this guide to hosting a pool party will show you just how much more fun you can have during your Alabama Gulf Coast vacation when you choose our rentals with pools!
The First Choice with No Wrong Answers
As you begin your search for a vacation property, your first choice will be between a condo and a standalone home, and although you might think that you HAVE to choose a standalone home to host a pool party, we are happy to explain that as long as you are respectful of other guests who are swimming, you can rent a condo and still host your family pool party, giving you the best of both worlds. Our Gulf Shores condos are smaller than our standalone homes but they still offer room for small families and all the luxuries you have come to expect from Poole & Associates as well as those stunning Gulf Views. Some of our smaller resort communities will offer a more private vacation experience, offering fewer condos and more of a duplex type adventure.
No Sacrifices
Before we start to talk about hosting a pool party, we want to take a few minutes to talk about all the wonderful extras our Gulf Shores beachfront condos and homes will provide, starting with the condominiums. These 1-, 2-, and 3-bedroom beachfront charmers do offer everything you expect from our vacation homes, just on a smaller scale. Open concept floor plans allow guests to stay connected as they do their own things in spacious living rooms, dining rooms (or dining areas) and kitchens that truly are the heart of the home.
As you begin to start planning your pool party, you already know that food will need to be a part of it, and you can choose to order in from some of our local restaurants or putter around our kitchens creating the meals your family love. Board games may still be played around the dining tables and movie nights will still be a highlight of your vacation activities, especially on a rainy night. There is something cozy and wonderful watching a movie and eating fresh popped popcorn as the rain falls outside, and you may even open the sliding glass doors that lead to balconies perched over the sea to hear the rain and the crash of waves against sandy beaches as you do so, adding a moody ambience to the magic of your night.
Community Amenities
Community amenities add to the excitement of renting a condo, and our different communities will offer a variety of amenities, including the all-important pool (some communities offer indoor pools as well) for you to explore. Hot tubs and saunas may be found in some communities, something most appreciated when you overdo it trying to learn to surf or even when you first arrive and your muscles are aching from traveling all those miles in the cramped confines of today’s airplanes. Barbecue areas can be of utmost importance to the success of your pool party, providing an alternative way to provide food for your group and helping to keep you out of the kitchen as much as possible. Sports courts, including basketball, tennis, or sand volleyball courts, give guests more ways to play during the times they decide to stay home, and fitness centers will enable travelers to keep up with their workout routines, even while they are exploring paradise.
The Views That Will Make Your Heart Sing
The views from the balcony of your Poole & Associates condo is one way in particular that choosing a condo over a standalone home may be the better idea. Although all our properties are near or on the beach, far more of our condos offer those balconies that allow you to see as far as the eye can go, offering stunning views of sunrises, sunsets, or just slice of life scenes from the beachgoers below. The best naps are often taken on these balconies as sea breezes and the roar of the surf lull guests into a supreme state of lethargy, and if conversations held out here are often punctuated with exclamations, sighs, and murmurs of disbelief, then you are living your best life during your beach vacation in Gulf Shores—or Orange Beach or Fort Morgan!
Welcome Home
We’re good at a lot of things, both at Poole & Associates and in the South in general, but our hospitality is perhaps one of the things at which we are best. Guests are welcomed with big hugs and smiles, fed until they wobble, and enjoyed wholeheartedly, and although there won’t be anyone to greet you when you step inside your Gulf Shores home sweet vacation home for the first time, it will feel as if you are being greeted with a big hug and a smile. These spaces are light, bright, warm, and welcoming, reminding you that even when you feel out of place in the real world, right here, right now in our Alabama coastal town, you are wanted and adored. Wide front porches are furnished with cheerful chairs, inviting you to sit, sip sweet tea (or mint juleps, this is the beach after all!), and watch the world go by, probably waving at complete strangers as you do. (It’s a Southern thing) Living rooms, kitchens, and dining rooms share one big space, and because we value the importance of a good conversation, there may even be conversation areas, with no television, no games, just a selection of seats placed close together so you can whisper about your crazy neighbors back home, all the while picking up the Southern habit of “blessing their hearts.”
Through the Back Doors
It is the backyards of our standalone homes where you will find the greatest difference from condos, offering an oasis of fun and relaxation that will never grow tiresome. If you thought the porches on the front of our Alabama retreats were special, just wait until you step out onto the back ones. Large, bright, and often screened, there may be rocking chairs, porch swings, or cushioned chairs and sofas designed for outside use. Sometimes you may look up and notice the ceiling of the back porch is painted a beautiful shade of blue, a blue we historically called “haunt blue,” as they were supposed to guard against visits by unwanted spirits. In our spaces, however, they are simply a décor choice, as there are no ghosts in our Poole & Associates escapes! Also out here is the pool where you will host that family pool party, possibly a private hot tub, and in some cases, outdoor kitchens or bars. It’s always the right time for a party, pool or not, and your outdoor times in our backyards will be memorable ones.
The Pool Party You’ve Been Waiting For
Before we go any further, let’s talk guest lists. Obviously, your guest list won’t be a long one, but it will be an important one because it will feature all the people you love the most, your family. The nuclear family of parents and children, grown siblings traveling together with their spouses and children, or maybe just grandma tagging along for the ride; all are invited and all are important to the success of your backyard bash. Some properties may feature sound systems, allowing guests to play the yacht rock music that accompanies the best barbecues, but if not, internet will allow you to stream your favorite Spotify stations, ensuring that music will accompany your celebration. The scent of barbecued meat, the laughter of family, the splash of happy children practicing their best jumps into the cool blue waters, all of these are the most necessary ingredients to complete the recipe of wonderful, the family pool party you never knew your life was missing until you experienced it for yourself!
Your Condo Pool Party Will Look a Bit Different
As we mentioned earlier, it is entirely possible to host a family pool party at the community pool, it just might look a little different. Maybe you won’t play music, or if you do, it will be kept at a much lower volume than it would be in a home, and maybe your guests may include that sweet 6 year old your own child befriended, someone she will never see again but will declare her best friend as they splash together in the shared waters of the pool. Barbecue areas will still enable guests to barbecue, and pools that are much larger than the private ones will give you and your family plenty of room to splash happily. As some of our condo communities offer indoor pools, one more advantage to picking a condo over a home is the ability to hold a pool party even as the rain falls to the ground outside. All that we ask is that you keep noise levels lower and be respectful of any other guests who may be sharing the pool with you and your family.
Carrying Sleepy Toddlers to Bed
As day slides into night and wrinkled fingers signify that it is time to call an end to the pool party festivities, carrying your already sleeping toddlers back inside shows you that you still have more to explore, both in our condos and our homes. We are of course talking about the bedrooms, spacious, tranquil, and dominated by the comfort of premium beds topped with high thread count linens, inviting you to slide between the covers and slip away into a deep and restful slumber. En suite baths in our homes may provide another form of water fun, deep tubs that are ideal for soaking away any troubles that you may still have lingering in the deepest recesses of your soul. Soft and fluffy towels, showerheads offering sprays of water strong enough to wash away every grain of sand that may be hiding in the nooks and crannies of your body. State of the art televisions will be in all primary suites and in most secondary rooms and some secondary rooms may be furnished with bunks to give your child a thrilling sleeping experience. We can’t be held responsible for late night whispers, giggles, or squabbles, but we can reassure you that sleep won’t be far off for your wiggly youngsters; the pool party most certainly tired them out!
Not Every Pool Party Has to Be at a Pool
If that sounds contradictory, just look at the Gulf that lies just a short distance away from your Gulf Shores sanctuaries as a really large, really salty, and somewhat crowded pool. A “pool party” on white sand beaches can offer all of the above, just recognize that there will be some party crashers in the form of the sea creatures that make the Gulf their home! Our proximity to the beach ensures that everything you can do in your backyard can be done on the beach and you may decide that you never want to venture far from sandy shores. The best vacations are beach vacations and all our properties are located on or near the water, ensuring that this vacation will be the one that sets the stage for future vacations to fail miserably, simply because they won’t all be at the beach!
Reserve Your Favorite Beach Retreat Today
Every day will be your favorite day and every pool party will be the most memorable when you choose Poole & Associates for your Gulf Shores vacation rentals!