Red, White & Blue

Last year I chronicled our fourth of July parties past and threw a small Fourth of July party - it was warm and sunny, complete with signature drink. Great party!

This year we were throwing another such party. But this time, THIS TIME, it rained. So we were inside rather than out back - but oh was fun had. So much fun. 

I grabbed items Americana when I was in the states at Hobby Lobby months in advance (americans stores start putting stuff out early!) and then grabbed some printables the day before online. These printables were great!

I'd been planning to do a hot dog bar so their printables were perfect. I used their hot dog "menu" to pick our toppings and then added chili and cheese and pulled pork and slaw as extra add on's. The food was met with great reviews. 

I also made sure to grab flowers in reds, whites and blues to add all around the house. I used silver star sparklers to add some flair to the tables. AND I jazzed up our plain cups with a few lines of patriotic washi tape.

I found an online recipe for sweet tea and filled a jug with berry water - also the berries were great to add to our homemade beer and cider! For which I created labelling, since they looked identical in their bottles.

We hung some patriotic lanterns from Hobby Lobby and used my nice christmas table cloth. I put out other snacks, veg & dip, popcorn, chips and Mac & Cheese (because, always). I put out some berries and clearance canada day cookies (topped with blue sprinkles) and then I tasked Hanne (baker extraorinaire) and Lindsay (baker and American) with creating some amazing desserts. 

Lindsay created a brownie topped with a cookie - amazing.

Hanne created patriotic cupcakes

 Complete with 50 stars!

She also made a whimsical patriotic cake - layered inside like the American Flag.

Dang my friends are awesome! And while I put stuff out Laura again amazed me by capturing the party so well. Seriously, you can see below my attempt to capture the party and then see above how she does it well! I'll admit that while I can throw a rad party, I can't capture it worth a darn and desperately need the help of a pro like Laura. Thanks for being amazing friend!

And that's that - 30+ guests, fresh U-Brew, classic and tasty food - all in all a great way to spend the fourth of July!