Seasons > American Independence Day > Home Decorations > Quick, Cheap Fourth of July Decorations
If you want to set a spectacular table for your fourth of July celebration, you don’t have to buy a red, white and blue tablecloth that only gets used once a year. Start with a white tablecloth--if you don’t have one, use a bed sheet. Fold it in half, if you need to make it fit. Dress it up a with a red table runner. If you skip the white tablecloth, the red runner lacks contrast against the bare table, so the red, white and blue color scheme gets lost. If you can find a red runner at a dollar store, buy it! Do be careful when you iron it, though, because a hot iron can melt it!! If you can’t buy a runner, sew your own, or use red paper to make one. A blue table runner works, too, but a red one is more versatile, because it can also be used for Christmas and Valentine’s Day. Decorate the table runner with paper star cut-outs and curling ribbon. If you need a star pattern here are 3 different ways to get one--1)Use star cookie cutters as patterns, or 2) use your computer to make and print out stars of different sizes, or 3) follow my instructions to cut out stars by making a few folds in a piece of paper, and making one cut, then open up a star. If you use colored paper for the runner and/or stars, test the paper to see if it bleeds when it gets wet--to do this, wet a small piece of colored paper, and put it on a white paper towel. If the color doesn’t transfer, you shouldn’t have to worry if someone spills something at the dinner table.
A centerpiece adds pizzaz to finish the table, but it doesn’t have to cost a fortune. Helium balloon bases or anchors, sold in many dollar stores, look like a firecracker going off! They make a great centerpiece, with or without helium balloons. Another option--raid you Christmas decorations for red and blue balls and pile them up in a pretty bowl. With or without a candle, it makes an inexpensive focal point (it’s free if you use what you already have).
You can continue the red, white and blue theme at each place setting, too. One inexpensive option is to buy paper plates, cups, and matching paper napkins at dollar stores, or grocery stores. Even though these are cheap, the costs do add up with each item you buy, especially if you buy them for every holiday and birthday. (Of course, using disposable items can save time with the clean up after the meal, which may make them worth every penny!) You can compromise, and just buy one item, such as paper napkins, or as in the photo, the plates. The cloth napkins in the goblets are dollar store purchases, too--most cloth napkins are so expensive, that I was happy to find these at a dollar store-- i did not find them during the summer, though, but during the Christmas season. Again, red is more versatile than green, since it can be used for 3 holidays.
Buntings are quintessential decorations for this holiday, and they can decorate large spaces quickly. However, they are usually pretty pricey, and since they are often used them in multiples (under each window, or along a long railing), can get expensive. Try to look around for places that don’t need a dozen buntings to fill the space. The ones pictured here were purchased at a dollar store, but even so, they can add up if you decorate a long railing on a porch or stairway. In the photo, the banister is quite short, so only 2 were needed to decorate it. I hung the buntings by tying thread through the grommets, and taped the thread loops to the railing. Twist ties or wire to wrap through the grommets and around the banister would work, too.
Big spaces tend to swallow up small decorations, so you don’t even notice that a room has been decorated for a holiday, even when there are lots of decorations scattered around. A few strategic decorations can make all the difference. A large flag hung against the wall can form the focal point--both figuratively, since it is the symbol for independence, and physically, since it covers a large space--it demands attention. All the other decorations repeat those colors and shapes around the room so they become a cohesive whole, rather than random bits and pieces. When possible, try to match the colors--if the red in the flag is fire engine red, then the rest of the decorations should be fire engine red, rather than burgundy. If the blue on the flag is navy, the other blue decorations should be navy, and not teal or royal blue. If a few of the decorations don’t quite match, it is no big deal, but if you have a lot, it is better to sort all your decorations by color, and use the brighter shades in one room, and the darker tones in a different room.
Even food can be dressed up for the fourth. If you are a foodie, and make your own hamburger buns, you can press graduated star cookie cutters into the dough before it rises (this photo is thanks to my daughter, the gourmet cook!) The rest of us can just whack a tiny flag into the top of store-bought buns, or what ever food you are serving. Look for tiny flags on toothpicks in grocery stores, and dollar stores. If you can’t find them, you can make your own. Google search for American flags, and print out a page of tiny flags. Glue them back to back over toothpicks.
It is not easy to come up with menu items that fit into the red, white, and blue theme, since most foods are brown or green. Red and white foods are not so impossible to find, but blue is almost nonexistent without a little help from food coloring, and even then, the color is teal, not navy. Blueberries are the exception, but depending on how you use them, can turn surrounding foods gray or purple--not quite the color scheme we are hoping for!
Streamers are another inexpensive way to splash lots of color around the room. Balloons can repeat the colors and add to the festive atmosphere. However, you can spend a lot of time blowing up balloons, so using them strategically can give those splashes of color without taking all day to fill them. Here are a few ideas--put some at the top and bottom of a staircase, put them on sticks as a bouquet, or put them in a bowl as a centerpiece on the table, or in a basket next to a large flag.
If you have more time than money, you can sew your own buntings. Sew 3 narrow strips of red, white, and blue fabric together, and hem the edges. Gather one edge, in this case, the blue side. If you want it to look more like the buntings in the photo, iron in pleats, hammer on grommets on both short ends, and one long side (the blue side in the photo), and pull the pleats together by running a metal ring through the grommets on the long side. New fabric can be expensive, so compare the price of fabric with the made buntings--it might be cheaper to buy them already made! You can save money by recycling fabric from items you were going to throw away anyway--a faded red table cloth or skirt, or torn white bed sheet. If you don’t have throw away items in the right colors, you might be able to buy some at garage sales or Goodwill stores.
Seasons > American Independence Day > Home Decorations > Quick, Cheap Fourth of July Decorations