4th of July Backyard Party

The 4th of July is another of my favorite holidays. Between the all-American picnic food, music, fireworks and kids playing in the backyard, what's not to like - right? We found it was a great reason to have a friends over and celebrate our Independence Day.

I was able to recycle many of my serving pieces from Ryan's First Communion party like my Mason jars, cupcake stand and of course, the drinking dispenser.

I made angel food cake cupcakes with cream cheese frosting and used strawberries and blueberries displayed in large hurricane jars as part of my table decorations.

I wasn't sure about the Hawaiian Punch blue drink when I first selected it, but is was a big hit with the kids!

Of course we had slices of watermelon available and I think everyone that came brought some dessert item so by the end of the night we had a frozen treat, lots of cookies and brownies. I had made two key limes pies that never made it out of the fridge because there were so many goodies out there!

We served hot dogs, freshly made cheeseburgers, chips, homemade potato salad, coleslaw, chili, baked beans and all the fixings inside.

I found some red, white and blue Blowpops and hard candies at the Dollar Store that I displayed in jars as well.

We had our basket of bubbles available for the kids and set up hula hoops, water balloons, the water table, horseshoes, and more in the yard to keep them entertained.

Ryan enjoying a piece of watermelon...

Grilling away...I think we went through close to 30 hamburgers and probably around the same number of hot dogs. We ended up with a good-size crowd and they did a good job of not letting food go to waste!

Eden decked out in her red, white and blue...

Michael and Emma having fun with the hula hoops.

Katie and Avery hanging around the food.

Kayla and Michael...

A few of the girls...Morgan, Abby, Emma, Katie and Avery.

Emma showing off her new shorter 'do - she has been begging us to get her hair cut shorter. When she finally lopped part of her own hair off with scissors we decided it was time!

We had a good 4th and completed the evening with a neighborhood fireworks show. The kids were so tired by the end of the day and I am still trying to get things cleaned and picked up days later, but it was a fun party. I hope everyone had a safe and happy 4th of July!