Jennifer Garner’s DIY Dunk Tank Is a Must-Have For Your Labor Day Cookout

If you have a Labor Day cookout planned for this weekend, then Jennifer Garner has a great idea for how to keep kids (and kids at heart!) cool and entertained. This isn’t the star’s first time crafting a backyard dunk tank using a few pieces of wood and a plastic bucket, so the whole thing quickly came together in just a few hours.

“Sometimes… you need a dunk tank,” Garner captioned her Aug. 29 TikTok.

There are a variety of ways to make your own at-home dunk tank, but Garner’s setup may be the easiest. It’s similar to the DIY dunk tank from the Happy Housewife blog, which includes a hose attachment to fill up the bucket without having to lug water up a ladder.

Simply use a jigsaw to cut out a base for the bucket to sit on as well as a target (which Garner painted red and blue). Then craft an angled piece of wood with a small lip on one end to hold the bucket in place while the target is stationary.

Then, using twine and a few eye hooks, attach this angled piece of wood to the target arm so that, when the target gets hit with a tennis ball, it releases the bucket and allows it to dump water on the victim.

The whole setup can be attached to a tree or to a swing set, like Garner’s, which makes for easy filling — just climb into the playhouse at the top of the swing set and replenish the bucket! At over one million views on TikTok, there will be a lot of inspiration in the air for backyard DIY projects, including the official Barbie TikTok account requesting that Garner make one for the Barbie Dreamhouse.

While you’re patting yourself on the back for completing the dunk tank, it’ll be a handy afternoon DIY that will keep the kids busy for hours during your upcoming Labor Day celebrations.