4th of July Party, Vintage Style!

 Nothing makes me tingle more inside than seeing the stores turn their seasonal merchandise to RED, WHITE,& BLUE!  I can almost smell the scent of BBQ's wafting through the air. I rewind

to childhood memories of curling up on my Grandmother's quilt on a shady patch of lawn in Provo and watching the annual 4th of July parade. I watched for the prettiest costumes and my favorite float ,

while we busied ourselves throwing SNAPS at the ground while waiting for the next float to come by.  That night we would set up a DESSERT TABLE and gather the neighbors together, spread our blankets and lawn chairs on adjoining yards and thrill to the Cul-De-Sac of FIRE! Everyone combined both treats and fireworks to make the night a festive affair. We even adapted our own theme song from the local Stadium of Fire song. 

In loving memory of those good ol' CHILDHOOD days,before we all grew up and moved on, I decided to create a vintage style 4th of July celebration. Apart from the typical, this party was  

inspired by great yard and thrift store sale finds.

To start off with I adorned the table with my antique bobbin find from a yard sale.  The bright red napkin was folded to create a torch effect and then pushed into the top of the bobbin. In honor of our Lady LIBERTY!

An antique styled red bucket holds a brilliant red and white Dahlia. This FLOWERreminds me of a beautiful 4th of July FIREWORK bursting in the night sky. I love these flowers that spatter our yard with color and are usually in bloom during our summer BBQ's.

The blue and white plates are a favorite English village pattern, Old Stafford. They were an amazing full set THRIFT store find! They are placed here to remind me of my own English heritage and the beginnings of our own country which I am so grateful to be a

part of! The red SPARKLING dinner plates were a must have from World Mart. The beautiful blue goblets were my lucky DOLLAR store find. They went perfectly with the setting.  Each place setting had their own individual cherry red pie dish (dollar store). The pies were alternating cherry or blueberry with a stars or striped crust on top. How cute is that!

The fun STARS and STRIPES fanfare backdrop attached to the fence made the perfect backdrop for the festive dessert table.  The inspiration for this came from another fabulous yard sale find and it formed the setting for this party. The aged BLUE SCONCES were picked up for 3 dollars and turned sideways to frame the backdrop. I turned them on their side and nailed one towards the top of our fence. I painted a 3/4 dowel white and drilled a hole in the center of each end of the dowel. The sconces were meant to hold candles so they each had a spike in the center. I inserted the dowel onto the first nailed sconce and then onto the second sconce. I nailed the second sconce to the fence. The backdrop was a ROUND TABLECLOTH I found at Tai Pan Trading. I arranged it with folded corners and topped it off with ribbons and stars also from Tai Pan. I loved the effect.

The PARTY was on! The fitted denim buffet table cloth was also from Tai pan as was the draped table banner. The dinner table enjoyed checkered and rick rack place mats from Tuesday morning. All great finds.

Some of the DESSERTS were Red, White, & Blue Cupcakes, Cherry Pie Pops, Old Fashion suckers and Jaw breakers in Patriotic theme.  The SUGAR COOKIES were from SHIRLEYS Bakery. The DONUTS were from Krispy Kreme. I displayed the rice crispy treats in a tall glass vase to show off the fun colors and added a splash of stripped ribbon. The petite blue and red footed glasses held fresh blueberries for those who were avoiding the sweet temptations. 

Whats the 4th of July without ROOT BEER FLOATS! Since this celebration was a tribute to DAD as well, I picked up Dads Root beer in classic bottles and served the floats in Vintage style milk glasses with old fashioned paper straws. Then to capture the whole root beer float theme I made ROOT BEER FLOAT CUPCAKES with a root beer filling for the middle topped with a yummy vanilla Icing to mimick the ice cream on a root beer float. These were a party favorite.

The RED,WHITE,& BLUE CUPCAKES were a vanilla almond cupcake with a lemon frosting topped with red marzipan stars. The edges were striped with a sprinkle mix from Shirley's. Also yummy

 The DONUT TOWER TREE's on the dessert table came from an idea I had when I was staring at my mothers STAR shaped candle holders. They have been part of many celebrations for as long as I can remember. I often see them at thrift stores as well. I cut another 3/4 inch dowel into three varying lengths. I painted each one with white acrylic paint. I glued the dowels into the GLASS STARS with hot glue. They held well. I had purchased 3 cute bottle toppers at Pier One and I dug out the corks and hot glued the tops onto the dowel. I waited a short while and then popped them off and let them cool. This provided a good seal that I could pop on and off as the donuts were removed. They turned out so CUTE! Then I layered sprinkled donuts and crullers divided by cupcake holders for a festive feel! CELEBRATE!

For Recipes to this party click HERE!



This party was featured at Celebrations at Home, if you would like to see the link click HERE!