The Deets On The Fourth

I love the 4th of July!  Like a lot!  Like it’s actually my favorite holiday!  Don’t get me wrong I love me some Christmas but the 4th of July is really special to me.  Maybe it’s because there are so many service men in my family.  Yeah my dad’s a purple heart rockin’ Vietnam Vet, and a marine to boot!  A few good men – yup sounds about right.

I believe the fourth is about good food, friends, family, fireworks, and celebrating our freedom!  When it comes to the partay, I like to keep it simple.  I like it festive but not over the top.  I don’t want to spend all my time slaving away; I want to enjoy the day!

I used a scrap piece of fabric that I had in my craft closet to add some fun color to the table.

I ironed it and cut out a square using my good fabric scissors. Then I hot glued some grosgrain ribbon to the edge.  To keep the ribbon from fraying I heat sealed the edges.

Do you have any idea how hard it was to snap this picture?!  Why didn’t I just ask for some help?!  Stubborn much?!

Then I just layered that square over a plaid runner I had and threw all the food on top!  We are buffet style peeps here in our house, and we also rock a potluck so everyone brings something to the partay!  I love that because it’s less work for the host and all of the guests feel included in the party planning.  Plus if you’re anything like me the food brought by your guests will make up for your lack of culinary skills.  🙂  I’m more of a decorate the kitchen than a cook in the kitchen kinda girl.  Just keepin’ it real.

When it comes to serving pieces, I get a little help from Willow House.  It’s good to be a design consultant.  But you don’t have to have fancy serving pieces to create an interesting buffet.  I don’t have a  chip and dip bowl, so I just used a casserole dish (Willow House) and stacked 2 melamine bowls (Target) right in the middle.

Little peeps like the chips without the dip.  🙂  This isn’t really a dip but you get what I’m sayin’.

Tables are more interesting when you vary the heights.  I created my own version of a tiered plate stand by stacking a couple of plates (Pier 1) over some glass cylinder vases.  I used some faux fruit to fill the vases.  So fun and simple!

For my outdoor dining area I wanted a simple patriotic picnic scene.  The red and white striped vinyl tablecloth is from Target ( I think it was $5).

For the other table I really didn’t want to have to deal with trying to cut a hole in the middle of a table cloth, so I decided to use round place mats instead.  I couldn’t find any that I liked at the right price, so I decided to make my own.  I grabbed a role of this red and white checked shelf liner and cut out round placements.  I just traced around a charger and then cut.  One roll cost less than $6 and made 6 place mats.  I may go back and grab another roll because these would be great on a kids Christmas table too!

As for the other items here’s the rundown –
– white lanterns – Michaels (bought last year)
– hanging mason jar lanterns – Kirkland’s ($6 for 3 – but you could totally make your own with a little hanging wire)
– red melamine plates – Target (bought months ago)
– festive plastic cups – Target (on sale right now – like 40% off or something)
– red bandanna paper napkins – Kroger

All in all we had a great day!  It was simple and fun.  The food was good and so was the company!  How was your fourth of July?  Did anyone else have a little of this yesterday?!

Someone apparently had to “test” the crust.  😉

Yeah that would be a little made-from-scratch-melt-in-your-mouth apple pie that my sister in law baked!  I told you all pot lucks were the way to go.  🙂   She put my brownie bites to shame!   Although my steak and chicken kebabs were a crowd pleaser.