We’re at the height of summer, folks. July is winding down and August is just around the corner. You know what that means. It’s time to share my July 2026 things.
I hope my list of July 2026 things gives you a tip, product recommendation, or maybe a recipe you want to try. You’ll at least get a little peek into my life as a busy mom in the summer.
July 2026 Things
Food
Food is usually a highlight of my monthly roundup posts, but it doesn’t play as big of a role in my July 2026 things. We have got to change that for August!
Old Standby – Meatloaf
Good old meatloaf. I really don’t know why it gets such a bad rap. It’s relatively cheap, easy to make, and everyone eats it happily in my family. The epitome of a kid-friendly dinner! In fact, when we were visiting my family earlier this month and my mom asked what to make for dinner, my immediate response was meatloaf because I knew it would be a winner. Don’t sleep on meatloaf!
Favorite New Recipe – Summer Stuffed Shells
My kids absolutely love a stuffed pasta! I do too, but sometimes I get bored of eating lasagna roll-ups over and over so I look for new ways to give them what they want while mixing it up for me. That’s how these summer stuffed shells made it into my kitchen this month. And boy am I glad they did because they were delicious! They also got some veggies into my kids without complaint so that means they are magical. Try these stuffed shells while you have zucchini and corn available to you!
Biggest Food Fail – No Grill
I love to cook (or have my husband cook) dinner on the grill during the summer. There’s just something about food cooked on the grill that screams summer. Plus, cooking on the grill doesn’t heat up the house like turning on the oven does. It has been incredibly hot this summer, so that’s an outcome I think everyone would want to avoid.
Unfortunately, we haven’t had access to our grill in July. It has been parked in the middle of the backyard all month while our old patio was ripped out and a new patio was built (more on this project below!). We have a few more weeks of construction still to go, but I’m hopeful we can sneak in some grilling toward the end of next month.
Dessert – Napoleons
I absolutely adore Napoleons. They are definitely my favorite French patisserie treat. The problem is that, where I live, Napoleons aren’t available year-round. The bakeries pretty much only make them to celebrate Bastille Day, July 14th. As soon as my local bakery announced that they would be making them to mark French independence day, I called and placed an order for three of them. My husband was lucky to snag a bite of one. I don’t share Napoleons.
Books
I hate to keep dragging the mood down in my July 2026 things post (I promise it gets better!), but this was not a good month for books. I’m still listening to that incredibly long audiobook that I was trying to get through last month (I took a break and listened to one other, but it was nothing to write home about). I got stuck in a book by an author I usually love, and I started another book that has been the talk of the book influencers that I’m not enjoying. Because I don’t want my book section to consist only of negative feedback on books, we’re just going to skip book reviews this month. Fingers crossed my book luck changes in August!
Media
We’ve got a highlight and a lowlight in my media-related July 2026 things. I finished watching a season of a TV show and went to the theatre to watch a movie this month. Who am I?
TV – Big Mistakes
I was aimlessly flipping through Netflix one evening looking for something to watch and came across Big Mistakes. Dan Levy is a gay minister, Rachel Sennott is his directionless sister, and their mom, played by Laurie Metcalf, is running for mayor. The siblings find themselves being blackmailed into working for organized crime, and a string of disasters ensues. I liked it well enough to watch the complete first season, but I’m not sure I will watch Season 2 (which has been confirmed). Have you watched Big Mistakes? What was your impression?
Movie – Moana
I have largely not been a fan of Disney’s live-action remakes. Who knows if it’s that they aren’t well-made or just that they don’t live up to the nostalgia I have for the original cartoon movies I grew up on. Whatever the reason, I haven’t been impressed. So, when Moana came out, I wasn’t sure we would even go see it. But my son was home from camp, it was 99 degrees outside, and so we bought tickets to see Moana in the movie theatre on a Monday. I loved it! The music was great, of course, and it was even funnier than the original. Go see it!
Clothing
It has been so hot this month that I’ve tried to wear as little as possible. Basically I figured out what clothing items were the most comfortable in this heat and wore them over and over. My clothing-related July 2026 things are pretty boring, but there’s at least one major winner among them.
Swimsuit
When we went to Great Wolf Lodge Sandusky over spring break, I had to throw out one of my favorite swimsuits. It got stuck on a water slide, which made a hole in the bum area of the suit. So, I had to find a new swimsuit for pool days this summer. Like most of you, I hate shopping for swimsuits, so I was prepared for this to be a summer-long project that was full of failure. Surprisingly, though, I hit the bullseye on the first try with this ribbed one piece. It’s so flattering, so supportive, and so cute!
Gauze shirts
If you’ve been around for a while, you know that I’m mildly obsessed with gauze clothing. It keeps you cool, it looks presentable, and it’s crazy comfortable. This summer, I’ve been particularly into gauze shirts of all shapes and sizes. I like a long sleeve button front gauze shirt as a layer, a flouncy gauze shirt for work, and gauze camp shirts for the weekends. If it’s a gauze shirt, I like it (and I bet you will too)!
Lilly Pulitzer dress
Remember, I was born and raised in Florida, so I think I have a bit of Lilly Pulitzer pattern woven into my DNA. I’ve always been a huge fan. They’re just so cute and so well-made. How well-made, you ask? Well, I just attended my niece’s baptism this month wearing the same Lilly Pulitzer dress that I wore when I graduated from college. We won’t say exactly how many years it’s been serving me, but it’s safe to say a lot. I know the price tag can be a bit shocking, but it’s totally worth the cost when you consider just how long you’ll be wearing these timeless pieces. Obviously, the many decades old dress I wore to the baptism is no longer available, but this one is super cute!
Products
The generic products I want to single out as my July 2026 things run the gamut. You probably need at least one thing from this random list!
Trader Joe’s Vitamin C serum
I’ve been using Timeless Vitamin C serum for years. It works well and it isn’t super expensive, so I haven’t found the need to try another Vitamin C product for quite some time. I was in Trader Joe’s recently grabbing our mid-week bananas and yogurts and saw that they now had a Vitamin C serum. It was less than $10 so I had to try it. I must say – I’m impressed! For less than half the cost of my Timeless serum, I haven’t seen any change to the brightness of my skin. I’m calling this a win!
Paint brush
I got paint happy this month. I’ve painted both my laundry room (Sherwin Williams Splashy) and the basement bathroom (Sherwin Williams Little Boy Blu) this month. The MVP for both of these paint jobs has absolutely been my angled paint brush. It is great for cutting in without making a huge mess. If you’re painting soon, you need one!
Flashlight
Unfortunately, July has been riddled with power outages in my neighborhood. Every single time the power went out this month, I immediately grabbed for my favorite flashlight with a moveable head. It’s bright, sturdy, and provides light wherever I need it. Truly the best flashlight I’ve ever owned.
Experiences
July sure wasn’t short on experiences this year. One good experience, one bad experience, and one good and bad experience are worth talking about as part of my July 2026 things.
Trip home
The good experience in July was that my family was able to take a trip home to see my parents this month. I don’t love going to Florida in July, so I was dreading it a bit. Luckily, we were able to cobble together enough time inside with enough time in the water to make it bearable.
Canadian wildfire smoke
Before we left to head home, the air in our city was filled with smoke from the wildfires in Western Ontario. The AQI was up above 300 for a few days, which made it really hard to leave the house. We tried to make the best of it by making paper airplanes and practicing our putting inside, but it was a crazy few days! My heart goes out to all of the people who are directly impacted by these fires. If you aren’t sure how to help after a natural disaster, I’ve got a few ideas.
New patio
As I’ve already mentioned above, we’re getting a brand new outdoor space at our house. Although I’m sure I’ll be super happy to have the new space when it’s done (what they’ve done so far looks great!), it has been so disruptive. There are random guys at my house all day, every day making super loud noises while I’m trying to take work calls from my home office. I’ll be so happy when this project is finished!
Kid stuff
If you don’t have kids, feel free to skip my kid-related July 2026 things. But if you do have kids at home, keep reading!
Diving gems
We spend as much time at the pool during the summer as we can. And with kids aged 6 and 4, that means we need lots of pool toys to occupy their time while we are there. We’ve tried basically every pool toy known to man at this point, and the standout option this summer has been these diving gems. My son loves to throw them in the deep end and dive down to get them and my daughter likes to chase them down the water slide. I didn’t think there was such a thing as a pool toy that both my kids liked, but I found it!
Wet/dry bags
Speaking of the pool, another item we can’t live without in the summer is a good wet/dry bag. We use these bags when we head to the pool as a family, but they’re also perfect for camp water days. We have a bunch of different brands, but my favorite bags are made by Skip Hop. It’s the perfect size for everything I need it to hold!
Backpack
My son is starting 1st grade next month and was in need of a new backpack. He had been using the same Crate & Kids backpack since preschool, and it was becoming obvious that he needed something just a bit bigger. I wanted to buy another backpack that would last a few years, so I was steering my son toward quality bags versus cute character backpacks that would fall apart within a year. We scoured the internet and brick and mortar stores and finally found the perfect backpack – The North Face Jester. We lucked into an orange one at Ross, but it looks like they don’t have that color for sale on The North Face website anymore. They have lots of great colors to chose from, though!
Blog posts
Let’s round out this July 2026 things post with the most popular blog posts on Sara in Season this month! If you missed any, I’m leaving links below for easy clicking!
What were your favorite July 2026 things? Share down below or over on Instagram @sarainseason!