Fourth of July DIY Entertaining Ideas

Let's celebrate this July 4th with a bang! Impress your guest and get festive by going all out with some awesome DIY ideas that will rock your Fourth of July BBQ:

1. Patriotic Pretzels: Everyone loves pretzels and chocolate covered ones even more. For July 4th, kick things up a notch and create red, white & blue pretzels.

Supplies:
• pretzels rods
• white, red, and blue candy melts
• white sprinkles

Directions:
1. Simply melt the candy melts in the microwave, according to the directions on the bag.
2. Dip two thirds of the pretzels rod into the white melted chocolate. Cool on a wiring rack or parchment paper.
3. Dip the top of the pretzel rods into the melted blue candy melts.
4. Take the melted red chocolates and pour into a piping bag. Then drizzle over the white portion of the pretzel rod.
5. Sprinkle white sprinkles onto the blue portion of the rods while the chocolate is still warm.

Now you'll have your American flag inspired pretzel rods!

2. Sparkling Red, White & Blue Sangria: Take your drink recipe to the next level with a Fourth of July inspired cocktail.

Ingredients:
• 1 bottle dry white wine
• 2 cups (1 pint) fresh blueberries
• 1 cup fresh raspberries
• 1 cup apple juice or white grape juice
• 1 pound fresh strawberries, hulled and sliced
• 1 bottle champagne or any variety of sparkling white wine
• 3 to 4 granny smith apples
• star shaped cookie cutter
• ice

Directions:
1. Stir the wine, blueberries, raspberries, and apple juice together in a pitcher and refrigerate for 1-4 hours.
2. Using a star shaped cookie cutter, cut the apples into stars.
3. When you serve the sangria, gradually stir in the champagne or sparkling wine, apples, and ice.
4. Serve immediately.

3. Red, White & Blue Paper Stars: You can't host a party without decorations. This year you can make your own. Chances are you may have already made paper stars for the winter season or some other event. This time make it festive with the addition of blue and red.

Supplies:
• red and blue star PDFs, printed on text weight paper
• scissors
• hot glue gun
• string to hang

Directions:
1. Cut out the squares and fold 5 into triangles along dotted line. Then trim out the center and cut along the dotted lines.
2. Overlap the center points and glue (with the color side out).
3. Then overlap the middle points (make sure the white side is out) and glue.
4. Overlap the outer points and glue (color side out).
5. Repeat this step four times.
6. Arrange star point to resemble a pinwheel, back to back.
7. Glue the center points to create your star.
8. String the stars to hang.

4. Tea Light Centerpiece: This centerpiece speaks Fourth of July celebration: red, white and blue colors adorned with a lit tea light! Place one (or a few) on each of your tables for guests to admire. What is great about this craft is that you will find you will already have most of the supplies lying around the house! Talk about easy!

Supplies:
• rice
• blue and red food coloring
• bowl
• jars
• tea lights

Directions:
1. Pour the rice into a bowl. The amount of rice depends on
how many centerpieces you would like to make. It will be around one cup per layer per jar.
2. Add food coloring and stir until mixed together. Keep adding the drops of food coloring until you get the desired color.
3. Pour the rice into the jar.
4. Add the white rice over the colored layer and finish the jar with the last color.
5. Complete with a tea light.

Note: The jars don't have to be mason jars, instead you could use other jars you may have around the house, such as pasta sauce or condiment jars. For the tea lights, choose the color you think is best. Have a combination of red, white, and blue or choose one color all throughout.

Now you are readily equipped to have a great Fourth of July celebration! The DIY recipes and crafts above are sure to be beloved by your guests. They are affordable and fun! Most of the supplies you will find you'll already have. That's the best part about DIY-you use what you have. If you don't have any of the supplies/ingredients above you could always use a substitution.

Have a Fantastic Fourth of July!

Photos courtesy of: DIYJOY, GimmeSomeOven, LiaGriffith, TheKrazyCouponLady