8 Easy Ways To Be Festive For The 4th

The 4th of July is one of my favorite days of celebration! I just love celebrating our independence with fireworks, music and the red, white and blue! My family had an amazing day at the parade, and an amazing night with beautiful fireworks here in the suburbs! Since I love decorating for the holidays, and being the crafty mom I am, I decided to try out some fourth of July crafts, and food recipes I found on the internet! My daughter loved getting into the fourth of July spirit with me by helping create them! Whether you want to get your little ones involved in the festivities, or having an outdoor barbecue these simple ideas will be a great addition to the fun! Here are the fun ideas we tried out this year!

Tin Can Windsock

• Empty can-We used an empty can of beans, washed it out and let it dry. You can use any kind of can, and size. 
• Blue acrylic or spray paint-We used acrylic paint because we already had it, but spray paint works as well. 
• Red and white ribbon
• Glue gun
• Star stickers (optional)

We emptied a can of beans, washed and dried it. Then I let my daughter paint it with blue acrylic paint. After it dried I painted white stars on it because we used what we already had at the house, but if you want the younger kids to get more involved you can buy star stickers and allow them to stick them on the can. While the can was drying we cut red and white long ribbons of the same length. When the can was dry I used the glue gun to attach the ribbons to the inside rim of the can alternating colors. Then I used a nail and hammer to make two holes in the top of the can, and tread a string through them, and tied it to make a loop for it to hang.

Here is the finished product!

American Eagle Craft 

• Thick paper such as construction paper or art paper
• Brown paint
• White paint
• Orange/Yellow paint
• Black/Blue paint
• Red/Blue marker

I painted my daughter Autumn's hands brown then instructed her to put her right hand on the paper with her thumb pointing down on the left side of the page. Then her left hand, thumb down on the right side of the page overlapping the first hand print. After that you can paint the neck and head white, the beak and feet (which we forgot) orange or yellow depending on preference, and a blue or black eye. Then take a marker and write U.S.A or America on the paper. My daughter chose to write both. She also made a second one where I wrote U.S.A with glue and she used glitter to decorate it. 

Glitter Fireworks

• Any color glitter, but at least having red, silver and blue is a good idea.
• Glue
• Thick paper (construction or drawing paper)

It's a good idea to show the kids how to make a firework first if they are younger. I showed my daughter just to get her started, and she did a few, then kind of went off on her own imaginations version of a firework. I showed her how to make a glue blob in the middle and kind of drag the glue pressing lightly out from the middle blob in lines. She did a few that way, then made some that looked like they were falling or booming. We tried doing one firework at a time so the glitter wouldn't mix as much.She had a lot of fun with this one! 

Patriotic Jello

• Red jello
• Blue jello
• Cool Whip
• Clear cups

The amount of jello you need depends on how much you want to make. I used one small box of each and made 7 cups. Make the jello according to the package. When the jello is set put the jello and cool whip into a cup. I put blue first, then cool whip, red, then I topped it off with cool whip, but that's optional. Mine didn't all turn out as pretty as I wanted. The cool whip was stubborn about going in. I will try to find a better way to get it in next time, but I was only making them for my family. They tasted great!! 

Red, White and Blue Strawberries

• Box of Strawberries
• Bag of white chocolate candy chips 
• Blue sprinkles
• Wax paper

Use one box of strawberries, more if your entertaining a larger group. Rinse and dry. White chocolate candies can be found at a local craft store, or Walmart. I like the bags from JoAnns. Put 2 cups in a microwavable bowl and cook on high for 1 minute. Stir. Then cook in 30 second increments and stir after each time. Once they are melted enough they should be easy to stir and blend to a creamy chocolate. Cook more if necessary which depends on how many strawberries you bought. Get a small bowl and pour some blue sprinkles in. This is an easy food for kids to help with as well. My daughter loved being able to help make this festive strawberries. Dip the strawberries 3/4 way with white chocolate, then, dip ends in the blue sprinkles. Place on wax paper to dry. It hardens pretty quickly, then you can transfer them to a more decorative plate. Re-heat white chocolate as it hardens. 

DIY 4th Of July Flip Flops

• Any pair of flip flops, but red, white or blue work best! 
• Red, white and blue ribbon

I could not find fourth of July flip flops anywhere, so I decided to make my own. We have ribbon laying around the house already, so I just had to find flip flops. I could not find plain red, white, or blue, so I used the flip flops with jewels on them that she already had. Cut medium long strips of ribbon. 2 red, 2 blue, and 2 white. Wrap the colors around the flip flops and then tie each color in the font of the flip flop. Double knot if possible. Now you have a pair of custom 4th of July flip flops. 

Ribbon Braids

• Red, white, and blue ribbon
• Rubber bands for hair.

I started by taking the front of her hair and pulling it back into a half pony tail. Then I tied ribbon to the pony tail and held it in place with a rubber band. There are many ways to hold it in place, or attach ribbons to the hair tie. Then I separated the pony into 2 parts. I took one of those parts and separated it into 3 parts, each part had a separate ribbon color. I then braided a normal braid trying to get the ribbon to be on top so it would show through every braid. I then took the other half and did the same. Then I separated the rest of the hair into pig tails, and tied the hair and ribbons with a hair band right past the ear. I then let the rest of the ribbon hand down with the hair and cut the ends so they were all even. 

American Rice Krispy Treats

• 1 box of rice krispy cereal 
• 1 bag of mini marshmallows
• Red gel food coloring
• Blue gel food coloring
• 1 stick of butter
• Glass pan 
•  Wax Paper

Use separate bowls for the 3 colors. Measure 2 cups of mini marshmallows, and pour them into a bowl. Using bigger bowls is a good idea. Cut a small slice of butter and add to marshmallows (this part may not be necessary, I did not try it without the butter because the recipe I had requested it) Put bowl of marshmallows in the microwave. I put mine in for a minute or minute and 25 seconds. Watch them in the microwave and when they get big a fluffy over the top of the bowl you can stop them, take them out and stir. When ready add the food coloring. Gel works best. You can get Wilton gel colors from craft stores or Walmart. Royal Blue and Red work great! Use the blue first. Put a small amount of gel coloring in the marshmallow. I use a toothpick to get it out. Stir until all the marshmallow is blue. Add about 2 cups of rice krispies. Stir until rice krispies are completely blue. Grease pan so the rice krispies don't stick. I used vegetable shortening to coat mine. I used a 9X13, but it was a little big. This size would work, but a slight smaller might be better. Make sure to get sides as well as the bottom. Pour the blue rice krispies into the pan. Pat down and spread with wax paper. Repeat steps, but this time with no food coloring for the white. Then repeat steps and add red gel food coloring to the marshmallows for the top layer. Once Marshmallows cool they should be ready to eat! Cut up and Enjoy! 

I hope you got some great ideas here and the directions were easy to follow. We had a lot of fun creating our fourth of July items and even more fun decorating with them, and eating them!