Happy 4th of July: Part 1 - Craftiness for the Women

Last year, I had a blast planning a 4th of July party, and my husband had a blast (literally) planning for our fireworks show! So, we were both excited about a repeat this year.

Let’s dive right into the goodies and craftiness that took place in our house…(*WARNING* PICTURES GALORE)

*Party Favors*

This greeted folks at the front door, containing the snap firecrackers kids LOVE to throw, sparklers separated with cute little 4th of July tags, and boxes of matches for the adults to light the sparklers for the kids. Here they are close-up. I printed the “oh, snap!” topper over at eighteen25 here. I doctored up the sparkler insert and matchbox covers myself.Delicious Rice Crispy party favors were sent home with our guests. Essentially, I made a batch of Rice Crispy treats, cut them, stuck a lollipop stick in them, dipped them in white chocolate, then drizzled blue chocolate over them. Stuck ‘em in a bag and tied a cute label on with ribbon. Next time, I’d use a cookie cutter to get a more exact size (ahh, the perfectionist in me). But love them just as they are here!

*Decorations*

I found these super cute pinwheels for 25cents each at Party City, and lined ‘em up along our walkway. Cooper had a blast playing with them…as did the rest of the kids as we watched fireworks. Easy centerpieces I had used last year, along with some fun, free conversation printables from over at Happy Home Fairy.  Super cute can covers from Martha Stewart herself!Loved how cute my pickle jar “projects” I made from eighteen25 looked decorated for the 4th. Filled ‘em with red and white striped mints and cute ribbon from the Dollar Tree. Mason jars served as sippy cups (I’m still perfecting how to do this, but will definitely make them again in the future). Came across the idea over at Two Shades of Pink. The kids loved them! Particularly with their names on them, a little personal touch! Lastly (this picture was taken mid-June, hence the Father’s Day banner), this is what the open area between my two main rooms in my house looked like…

*Food*

Jello cookies found here.  Red, white and blue strawberries…yum! Licorice wraps! (1 1/4”x3 7/8” if you’re interested)"Rocket dogs” for the kids. We had pulled pork sandwiches and baked beans for the adults, just no pics. And lastly…because we needed just a wee bit more sugar…Spangled Sandwich Pops from Family Fun. The picture is from them as well, I meant to snap a shot of someone eating one, but I was to busy playing host. Here they are straight out of the freezer though. FYI, I just cut regular ice cream sandwiches in half, worked great!When we headed out front for fireworks, we set out a table with the food (so we didn’t get left with all of it!)  *Fun*

The last “craftiness” that came from blog hopping was a bubble pool for the kids, found over at One Charming Party. I think I was just as excited as the kids about this one! Supplies? Kiddie pool, bubble mixture (recipe found at site above), and hula hoop (be sure the hoop fits inside the pool, the first one I bought was too big). My husband was the best at creating the “human bubbles”. Part of the key was to pull the hula hoop quickly! Here’s our neighbor’s son enjoying the “human bubble”. Here was the “setup” and some more bubble fun in action… Be sure to dispose of the bubbles in a way that will protect your lawn (mom…don’t feel bad!! I just want other people to have a heads up ;), and keep some of it! The bubble solution rocks! It will keep your kids content with bubbles for the rest of the summer.

The only thing I wish I had done differently was place an empty tub into the pool so that the kids could step into that instead of the bubble solution itself. It would’ve been much cleaner and it wouldn’t have left the actual pool looking like this…(not that it bothered the kids in the least!) Here are some more pictures from the chaos fun of the day!