A Dozen Frugal and Easy 4th of July Ideas

I am so excited to have my good friend Davonne Parks guest post for me today. She has some great ideas to help those of us craft challenged moms with the 4th of July Holiday 🙂

I recently looked on Pinterest for Independence Day activities and almost immediately felt very overwhelmed. The ideas are cute but many of them are a little too involved for the lazy simple way I celebrate holidays.

There are some great ways to make holidays special without breaking the bank or spending days slaving over a craft. Just remember, whether you attend a huge gathering, or enjoy a quiet day with your immediate family, keep a positive attitude and choose not to stress when things don’t go as planned.

Here are some easy 4th of July Ideas:

Food

1)      Side dish
Combine your fruit and vegetable by tearing up lettuce and tossing it with strawberries and blueberries, then topping the salad with your favorite dressing.

Or you could mix three colors of fruit together for a festive fruit bowl! You can use grapes or blueberries for the blue fruit, peach or banana slices for the white fruit, and strawberries or cut watermelon for the red fruit.This takes all of five minutes to put together and it goes with nearly everything.

2)      Main dish

Grill (or bake) some chicken. It’s white. Plus you won’t have to deal with buns or condiments.

Bonus if you slap some barbeque sauce on the chicken for an even more festive look!
3)      Dessert (choose one)
Make a cake then ice it all with red, white, or blue icingand put festive sprinkles over the whole thing. (You can buy holiday sprinkles from just about any grocery store.)

Tip: Want the taste of a homemade dessert without all the work? Use a box-mix for your cake and make a simple icing from scratch. Here’s our favorite dairy-free icing recipe, and here’s a link to the delicious recipe I used to make.

Or, if you’d prefer to make a dessert that’s a little bit healthy, dip strawberries in some melted white chocolate then let the chocolate harden on waxed paper.

And of course cherry or apple pies (store-bought or homemade) are always delicious classic 4^th of July desserts!
4)      Beverage
My family usually makes sweet tea or this lemonade for spring or summer events. If you really want 4^th of July colors, make blue kool-aid, purchase a 2-liter of Sierra Mist, or (for a healthier option) buy a bottle of Cherry Juice.

Education and Activities
Note: Choose two or three of the following ideas.

5)      Let your kids make a craft.
Give your kids red, white and blue tissue paper with a roll of scotch tape. Or give them red and blue crayons with white paper. Don’t forget the glue-sticks and scissors if they’re old enough! Let their imaginations figure out what to create.
6)      Watch a parade as a family.
Don’t forget to take water! Healthy snacks like peanuts and apples would also be good to take with you if you can.

7)      Catch fireflies at dusk.
Or do any one of the other activities I mentioned in an article I wrote that has several suggestions for outdoor activities you can do with your kids when you have 15 minutes or less.
8)      Roast marshmallows.
Roast them plain or dress them up – it doesn’t matter! You can even roast marshmallows in the oven if the weather doesn’t cooperate.
9)      Read a book about Independence Day.
We have one 4^th of July picture book that we read each summer. Check on Amazon or visit your library to see what you can find – there’s a plethora of choices and you can buy in eReader format so you don’t have to wait for a book to be delivered to your doorstep!
10)  Find Independence Day information online.
If you don’t have any 4^th of July books, don’t stress. There’s so much information online that you can just print out a fact sheet to read with your kids.
11)  Watch fireworks.
You don’t have to drive far to find a huge fireworks show if you’re not in a big city – small town fireworks are perfectly lovely on their own so stay local and enjoy the show!
12)  Go camping!
The 4^th of July is on a three-day weekend so whether you “camp-out” in your living room for a night or pack a tent and head to the woods, turn off the electronics and take the extra day to slow down as a family.
Remember, you do not need to do all – or any! – of these ideas. This list is simply to help you think of a few simple things you can do if you need a celebration suggestion or two!

How does your family celebrate the 4^th of July? Do you like to keep it simple or do you prefer to go all-out?

 

 

Davonne Parks is a married Christian homeschool mom who blogs about cultivating a heart for motherhood, as well as time management and organization, at DavonneParks.com. Davonne believes that some of life’s richest moments happen when we embrace the beauty of imperfection as we extend grace to ourselves and others. She’s written two eBooks, “101 Time-Saving Tips for Busy Moms” (free to blog subscribers) and “28 Days to Timeliness: Tips and Confessions from a Semi-Reformed Late Person.”