4th of July

When it comes to holidays, the 4^th of July is one of my favorites. It’s actually right up there with Christmas. It’s become tradition that each year my family comes up for about a week surrounding 4^th of July and we just have the best week filled with celebrating. We play in the water, the cousins have fun all day, eat delicious food, make shave ice each night, hold fun mini competitions and more. Everyone looks forward to it. 

If you are looking for some fun, fresh ideas to change up how you celebrate, I’ve included some of our favorites below! 

Create a mini family competition. We love doing this with the game Cornhole. All the adults sign up, a bracket is made and we play double elimination style. Cornhole is basically a glorified bean bag toss but you can play individually or with teams. We have this set and it comes with everything you need. You could even paint it or add decals if you want to customize yours! However, if you are handy with wood, I know a lot of people make their own as well. Either way, it makes for a fun part of our week and brings out everyone’s competitive side! 

Another game we love is Spikeball. It’s like a mixture of volleyball and foursquare and keeps you moving and on your toes!

Face Painting! Classic fun everyone will love yet seems like a lost art. But kids LOVE IT. You can get a basic face painting kit here (that’s the one I love) or here. The crayon set makes it easy if you have never face painted before. And you don’t have to be an incredible artist. Basic shapes and swirls are great. Just google some images and copy them the best you can for some extra 4^th of July fun!

Make fresh fruit FUN. Watermelon/Cantaloupe/Honeydew? Instead of just cutting them up like normal, grab a star cookie cutter like this one here and make fun shapes. Just makes a simple treat much more festive!

Glow Sticks! I don’t think I’m the only one with kids staying up a bit later on the 4th of July, or even the days around it. Once the sun starts setting, crack some glow sticks and you have instant fun! Grab some here, or head to your local Dollar Tree.

Water Fun! This goes without saying but water on a hot summer day makes everything better. I’ve talked about them before but these Bunch-o-balloons make for the easiest water fights. And for the little and big ones, snag this water sprinkler for cheap! 

And that’s all folks. Well, not ALL. But I hope it gives you a few new ideas for celebrating the 4^th or any other summer celebration you may have. These ideas can carry over to any family weekend, birthday party and more. 

xo, Sarah

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