Independence Day

The 4th of July is kind of a thing for us.  We, along with our neighbors, host a 4th of July celebration where we invite family, friends and neighbors.  Each year we perfect the party just a little and this year it turned out to be awesome!  This is the 1st year that we had a pot luck and I used this as an opportunity to decorate very inexpensively.  Here is the final result:

Super easy, super cheap, do it yourself party decor.  For starters, the materials that I didn't have I bought at the dollar store.  The table cloth was $1, blue was the only festive color I could find aside from white so I went with it.  Since the table was going to be blue, I bought red and white streamers, both $1.  To create the streamer look above, hold one piece of red and one piece of white together.  Tape them at the top with tape, I used washi tape that I had... blue painter's tape works too.  Twist the paper slightly and then tape at the bottom.  

The stars are equally as easy and fun.  I have a stock pile of scrapbooking paper that I have accumulated over the years, so I dug in the pile and looked for red white and blue.  I came close with dark pink and powder blue... I used white card stock that I also had on hand but you could also use computer paper or even the back side of your junk mail.  On the opposite side of the paper I drew a star in pencil and then had the kiddos cut the stars out.  These are also taped on with washi tape.

The yarn tassels were a bit more time consuming.  I realize that most people don't have a yarn store in their basement like I do, but for this project, you don't need super nice yarn.  I would buy the cheapest roughest yarn they make.  If you planned far enough in advance, you could even pick these up at a yard sale or thrift store.  I wrapped the yarn around a book enough times that it looked like the tassel was going to be full, slid off the yarn and I used the tail to wrap around the top and tied off.  Clip the loops on the opposite end to form the tassel ends.  Once the tassels were made, I strung them on a piece of twine, making sure each were secure by stringing the twine back through each tassel like this:

 Next is the center piece for the table.

For this project I bought a foam loop also $1 from the dollar store.  It is that typical green foam that they use in floral arranging, so I wrapped it with the red streamer.  I bought 4 bags of suckers, not at the dollar store.... I looked, they didn't have any :-)  I bought 2 bags of Tootsie Pops and 2 bags of DumDums and had the kids separate out all of the red white and blue suckers.  Then I had then stick them in to the top of the foam circle.  I made the sign, taped it to a paintbrush and stuck it into the foam too.  The most expensive part of this was the suckers (I think total they were about $8) and if this is your contribution to the pot luck, I say that's pretty cheap!

I think that totals $4 for the decorations, plus $8 for the suckers.  Not only was the food better this year and more coordinated, but with the decorations... it was much more festive.   I think everyone had a great time, I know I did.

I hope everyone had a good and safe Independence Day!  Until next time, Happy Using-up-all-the-left-over-sparklers!