A 4th of July party is just about everything I like in a party:
- You don’t have to throw one, so the pressure is off.
- It’s guaranteed to be bright and colorful.
- You can be sure of apple pie.
What’s not to love?! Despite all that, I wasn’t really planning to host anything this year, until two party friends changed my mind.
Not long after, Ellie from A Felt Affair sent me a red, white and blue felt garland as a thank you for using her green and white garland in my St. Patrick’s Day party. Zoila and Ellie take thank you notes to a whole new level!
These were clearly signs that I needed to have a 4th of July party, I just needed a concept. Then I remembered that Zoila said her collection looked good printed on parchment card stock. And the idea of antique-looking parchment made me realize that the party concept was right there in my living room. There is a famous painting you’ll probably recognize when you see it.
The original hangs in rotunda of Congress and is reproduced on the back of the $2 bill (not that anyone uses $2 bills anymore). It’s “The Signing of the Declaration of Independence” by John Trumbull. Trivia for you: My maiden name is Trumbull … yep, the same Trumbull. An antique etching of the painting hangs in my living room. There was my theme. (We even had fun posing the girls like the Founding Fathers.)
Independence Day would be the perfect time to shoehorn in a small history lesson, and a little bit of family history for the girls. I decided to take my inspiration from the painting, creating a dessert table that mimicked our founding fathers, gathered to sign the declaration.
Styling the 4th of July Dessert Table
I held the party in our library, which I use as my office. I liked the idea of the desk as the dessert table because it reminded me of the painting. For the backdrop, I used our flag. (Not the flag of their time, but this was the more practical choice.) Make sure you are displaying the flag with respect by reading the U.S. Flag Code. I placed my etching on an easel in front of the flag, and the two together formed my dessert table backdrop.
I used silver and crystal because I thought that’s what these men would have been accustomed to. Since the founders had books and papers on their table, I used encyclopedias and a reproduction of the Declaration of Independence on my table. (One of the encyclopedias includes the entry for John Trumbull.)
In a silver tea pot, I added some sparklers for fun later. My parents lent me an ink well from my father’s family, and I popped a white feather pen in there (again, like the painting).
4th of July Desserts
To keep with our Revolutionary War era theme, I did a little Google research on desserts of the time and based all our treats on popular sweets of the day. (Come back tomorrow for recipes!) I served:
- All-American Apple Pie
- Hasty Pudding Push-Up Pops
- Gingerbread Whoopie Pies
- Betsy Ross Sugar Cookies
- Revolutionary War Balls
- Orange Raisin Cakes
- Tax-Free Tea
Some of these recipes were loosely interpreted, to say the least! Hasty pudding is actually more of a corn pudding, and mine was chocolate pudding. I’m pretty certain their gingerbread was not in the form of whoopie pies. My Revolutionary War Balls were cinnamon donut holes, but those actually sound just like real thing!
For the pie, I used Squared Party Printables paper to create star bunting for the apple pie and hung the stars on red and blue twine.
For favors, I wrapped up some red Sixlets and blue Jelly Bellies in red and blue candy cups and attached a Squared Party Printables tag.
July 4th is one of those holidays where you can let the kids loose in the backyard until dinner’s ready and then go see the fireworks. But if you want some more activity ideas, you could try these coloring pages. Last year, the girls and I headed outside and painted our nails red, white and blue. We made pony bead necklaces in patriotic colors, too. (No kid is going to be excited about a book on the Fourth, but this is a good option to help them understand what this holiday is actually about.)
And if you’ve never tried an indoor picnic: it’s a must. Our kids have more fun knowing they can eat on the floor! (It also makes for a great family movie night tradition.)
Best yet, because I used what I had and made all the food (except the mini cookies), this party only cost me $107 (plus the cost of food).
Vendor Credits
- Party styling: The Party Teacher
- Photography: Viridian Images Photography
- Printables: Squared Party Printables
- Felt garland: A Felt Affair
- Mini star cookies: Stephanie J’s Creations
Giveaway – Now Closed
Squared Party Printables is giving away three sets of her Stars and Stripes collection exclusively to Double the Fun Parties readers. That’s right: three winners! You could win one set in time for your own 4th of July celebration. The set includes:
- 1 sheet of 2″ circle or square party logos / labels
- 1 sheet of 2.5″ square party logos / labels
- 1 sheet of folding or flat blank party labels – editable by you
- 1 sheet large blank party labels 5″ x 7″ – editable by you
- 1 sheet of party favor hang tags
- 1 sheet of extra long drink wraps
- 5 patterned pages
- 9″ high ‘HAPPY 4th of JULY’ pennant banner
Enter using Rafflecopter – it’s easy and you have SEVEN ways to win. But hurry! Giveaway ends Friday, June 8, 2012, at midnight ET.
This is so cute…..would love to win it and use as decorations for my husband’s 50th birthday which happens to be July 4th!
What a great birthday! Good luck!
Love the Fourth of July party!
Absolutely adorable! I love all your stuff!
Jen, you are right. You incorporated a lot of history into this party.
It would be great to adapt to the history loving adults too!
Nicely done!
Beautiful setup, great inspiration. Thanks for sharing with us!
What a fun party! You did an amazing job!
Wonderful party and ideas. Everything is so bright and festive. Love it!
Thank you. 🙂
What an awesome party! The printables are fabulous.
I love all of the historical elements of this party! Great party!
4th of July is my favorite holiday, and we always have a get together! Would LOVE to have a party as beautiful as yours!
How awesome is this 4th of July Party!?!?! I absolutely adore it!!!
Love ur 4 th of july party. Its wonderful how everything was put together. Love the blanket..
Looks great…I love how you incorporated all of the historical elements into the party!
Oh what an adorable party! I love the entire set and how you used it and the models are adorable! 🙂 Thank you for such a great giveaway! wendyleebyde@yahoo.com
LOVE it and since our family of 4 is all born in July (seriously) planned that way and we all have different birthdays..we party and eat cake the entire month ….it would be beyond perfect!! We love red, white and blue, July and Summer too!!!
The history in this party is superb!! Great job.
This is awesome! You didn’t just take pictures of red, white, and blue items…. you actually showed how to set it up and put it together to make it look REALLY good! I love the little girls dresses the red ribbon around the top is really neat and differnet! I love ribbon super gilry! Love this classic take on the 4th of July!