Fourth of July Ideas

Nothing marks the official start of summer like a Fourth of July celebration. Ours is rich in tradition, embroidered in color and surrounded by food. 

The beach house is decorated in Patriotic buntings which hang from second story windows and small flags stuck into the ground line the walkway.

Blueberry pancakes topped with strawberry syrup make the perfect breakfast to kick off the festivities.

 

Kids and adults then assemble outside to enjoy decorating bikes, strollers and even the occasional antique car for our neighborhood parade. 

Red, white and blue crepe-paper form streamers which dangle from handle bars, red and silver garland weave through bike tires as flags embellish the decor.

After a group rendition of America the Beautiful along with other Patriotic songs, the parade begins led by the neighborhood marching band. It winds down a hill and through the narrow streets allowing scenic water-views of Buzzards bay and a far off glimpse of Martha's Vineyard. At the completion of the Parade, prizes are awarded to all participants and then it is time for some old fashioned family games, including potato sack and three legged races and a water-balloon toss.

Back at the house, we then get to work preparing for our late afternoon cookout.

On the menu are old favorites like hamburgers, hot-dogs, sausages, veggie burgers, corn salad, potatoes salad, Jeans-Beans, tomato panzenella, pasta salad, Barefoot Contessa's Orzo salad, chips and sliced watermelon.  

I assemble a summer sangria with floating red and blue berries, making the perfect festive refreshment, especially when served in mason jars with red and blue straws. 

Baking for, and then assembling the dessert table is always my favorite part of party preparation and makes the focal point of the festivities. 

I filled candy jars with red Twizzlers, patriotic colored lollipops and special edition 4th of July Tootsie Rolls. 

Using a rectangular cookie cutter I made American Flag sugar cookies. 

Whoopie Pies adorned with American Flag toothpicks look great when arranged on a cake plate. For another fun and festive treat, I placed Marshmallows on long skewers the dipped the top half in melted white chocolate then topped with red, white and blue sprinkles. These looked so cute standing up in a tall mason jar, then were used later that evening for roasting over a bonfire at the beach. 

Vanilla cupcakes and a coconut cake are frosted in white, then decorated with red and white grosgrain ribbon. 

A favorite festive dessert I also like to make every year is this Fourth if July trifle  I begin by cutting Sara- Lee pound cake into one inch cubes, then arrange along the bottom of the trifle dish. I then make Jell-O Instant White Chocolate Pudding and spoon 1/3 on top of the pound cake. A layer of cut strawberries, raspberries and blueberries is placed next, then a layer of defrosted Cool Whip. The layers are repeated two more times then berries decorate the top.

As darkness falls, our crew get ready to head down to the beach, blankets and cooler in hand to watch the firework display out over the ocean. I distribute glow sticks and sparklers and everyone enjoys lighting up the night and a "dynamite" celebration.

Backyard Beach Party

Yesterday's beach cupcake post had me reminiscing about a backyard beach party I threw for Cameron about five years ago, before the days of Pintrest!

We hosted a beach party in our inland backyard when his preschool let out for summer vacation. It got everyone excited for the summer and made them feel like they were already at the beach without the traffic or the commute! I used bright colored beach balls as the central scheme for the party then found tableware and made decorations to match.I hung beach balls from a canopy and play structures then made fish and sailboats out of the same bright colors. I filled beach buckets with snacks to anchor balloons and used beach toys as centerpieces.Kiddie pools filled with  play sand concealed seashells and plastic sea animals for a treasure hunt. The children had a blast digging to find the buried treasures.A third inflatable kiddie pool was filled with water for the kids to splash around in and I made a water slide by placing a small step slide into the pool. I floated lots of rubber duckies and plastic bath toys in the water and before the children went swimming they lined up and went "fishing" with a plastic net for a floating toy with their name written on the bottom.I also had a beach ball sprinkler going for the kids to run through and cool off and a specially requested beach themed moon bounce set up in the corner of the yard.While these activities alone would have sufficed at keeping the kids happily entertained for the afternoon, I also set up a craft in the shade for a quieter alternative. For this I had the children decorate sun visors with puffy paint and foam stickers. They took these home along with a pair of sunglasses and package Swedish Fish candies in a bucket as a souvenir.

Since the party fell at lunch time I made a variety of different sandwiches on a wide selection of breads and used cookie cutters to shape them into fish, sailboats and ducks.I served these with Goldfish crackers and fruit salad topped with a tropical umbrella toothpick. For dessert I made a blue jello mold served in a clear plastic fishbowl to look like an aquarium. I used blue raspberry flavored gelatin and made it in layers with gummy fish floating around at varying depths. I covered the top with whipped cream to look like waves, and the kids thought this was so fun to look at and even more fun to eat. I also made a cake decorated with colored goldfish and Teddy Grahams to look like a beach scene.I made bathing suits for the teddy graham cookies using colored icing, blue frosting for the water, crushed graham crackers for the sand, round candies and gumballs for beach balls, Fruit-by-the-Foot for towels and life savers to look like inflatable inner-tube rafts. It rounded-out our beach ball party very nicely! For a fun start to summer try hosting this cool party on a hot summer day!

Summer Cupcakes

I made up these yummy beach cupcakes to kick off summer vacation.  I frosted vanilla cupcakes with white frosting, then using blue food gel, turned one half into the ocean.  I stuck in a couple of Swedish fish to make the water come alive.  For the beach half, I crushed graham crackers to serve as sand by placing several crackers in a zip-lock bag, then flattened with a rolling pin.  I finished by placing either a cocktail umbrella or toothpick windmill in the sand.  Just one bite had the kids asking how soon we can head to Cape Cod!