Fourth of July Parties

Fourth of July parties are great traditions in the United States including great food, drinks, entertainment and just plain fun. Following are some ideas for amazing parties this Independence Day.

For a great party, you first need to come to grips with how much you want to spend. This sets the stage for the type of food, drinks, entertainment, location, etc. for your party. Since your backyard is much less expensive than going out, you might want to do a barbeque party. If your sights are set on going out, you might want to budget how much you intend to spend early in your planning efforts so you can determine sources for your funding.

Your Party Location

A backyard barbeque is a very common party for the Fourth since everyone loves foods like brisket, baby back ribs, strawberry shortcake, and water melon. Another tradition for this time of year is home made ice cream. Sprinkle in a little horse shoe pitching, volley ball or touch football for entertainment and you have a winner. At sunset, take everyone to a local site for fireworks to complete your day.

Another typical outing on the Fourth is a picnic in the park. Here, you might try hot dogs, and hamburgers with grilled onions, various cheeses, pickles, salsas, etc. Take along an ice chest full of drinks and you have a winner. For entertainment in the park, you might want to consider softball, touch football, or other activities depending on the facilities available in the park.

Our family likes doing a shrimp boil around the pool on the fourth. Another great idea is a back yard clambake. Others like pot luck parties where guests bring their own specialty dishes to the park. I still remember the special corn breads we used to have at my family's Fourth of July parties when I was a kid.

When you're planning an outdoor party, you need to make sure you have a way to ward off the bugs. You also want to make sure you have enough ice. Citronella candles are a great choice for warding off the bugs

You also need to have a contingency plan. In the event of rain, make sure you have a sufficient area to house your party.

Send Out Patriotic Invitations

Party invitations should include:

• a graphic theme such as American Flags
• Time
• Location
• Dress
• RSVP

Cutouts of stars with invitations from Uncle Sam make nice invitations. Invitations on Texas State Maps are great for barbeques. If your family has a barbeque chef, a picture of your chef on the front of the invitation with a culinary message is often a nice invitation. Miniature American flags attached to the cover of a folded piece of card stock makes a great invitation. Write your invitation on the inside of the stock.

A great idea for breaking the ice with people who don't know each other is to take a large picture of the Statue of Liberty or the American Flag and cut it into a number of puzzle pieces. Put one puzzle piece in each invitation and ask everyone to bring their pieces. When people have all arrived at the party, have them work together to reassemble the puzzle. Reward the group with a drinks and a snack surprise when they've successfully assembled the Puzzle.

Additional Printables: Printables 1 | Printables 2

Electronic Invitations : E-Invitation 1

Decorations

Since most Independence Day parties are outdoors, decorations for these parties should dazzle. Dress up your outdoor trees with lights and use red, white and blue napkins, serving trays and bowls. Sparklers make great decorations for cakes and other deserts.

One important aspect of your party is your welcoming area. This is particularly important when guests arrive at the front door and need escorting to your back yard where you're having the party. Have two of your guests dress up like Uncle Sam and Lady Liberty or Abraham Lincoln and Bettsy Ross and have them as your guests of honor. Have your greeters welcome your guests and serve them a drink on their arrival at your party.

Giving all the kids attending your party, Uncle Sams Top Hats. If you can't buy the hats, have a craft time with the kids where they make their hats and have a contest to determine whose hat is the most patriotic.

The most customary decoration for the Fourth is the American Flag surrounded with red, white and blue crepe paper streamers and some banners. Let your creative juices flow by thinking about what reminds you of America. Many people have thoughts of baseball, hot dogs, apple pie, Coca-Cola, and Uncle Sams Top Hat. These symbols are excellent ideas for table centerpieces.

Activities

Horseshoes, volleyball, three-legged races, tug of war, swimming, badmitton, croquet, softball, and touch football are only a few of the activities that can make your party a success. For those who want less physical activities, bridge, bingo, etc. can be alot of fun. A bonfire is also great for highlighting any guitar players in your family, roasting marshmallows and group singing.

Try a National Treasure Hunt with the kids. To do this, you take a famous Independence Day document such as the story of Paul Revere, the Declaration of Independence or the Gettysburg Address and slightly reword it to provide clues to where treasures are hidden. Treasures can be small denominations of money or even better, patriotic gifts.

Another great game is a guess what document trivia game where you read less known passages from the famous documents that underlie our independence such as the Preamble to the Constitution, Declaration of Independence, Magna Carta, Gettysburg Address, etc. and let your guests guess what document they're from.

Other ideas include:

• A guess how many candy jar with blue ribbon filled with peppermint or cinamon sticks.
• A US history trivia game with jump ropes, frisbees, yo-yos and hoola hoops as prizes
• Pass the flag relay races

Have a great Fourth of July.