patriotic decorating details

Welcome July!  Can you believe 2020 is halfway over?  The fourth of July, our Independence Day, is this Saturday and I wanted to share a few tips if your are planning to entertain in your home or just want to sprinkle some seasonal love in your home. The 4th will look very different for us this year but I still want it to be festive.  Here are some patriotic decorating details.

I am not a big red girl and don’t own much blue either so I try to get creative.  I love tucking little flags here and there for instant patriotic feels but the colors are a bit bright for me so to soften them up I tea stain the flags.  This gives them a vintage vibe and makes me happy.  Super easy to do and very inexpensive.

It’s a double bonus for me since it softens the colors AND gives these dollar tree flags a deep vintage look.

Since I truly don’t buy much red & blue decor when I bought this huge bag of rice at our local Smart & Final it immediately made me think of patriotic decor.  Don’t ask- it’s just how my brain works.  It’s a cool burlap bag with handles and a zipper so I simply had to find a pillow insert and viola instant throw pillow.

Keep your eye out for many food items in cans, jars or bottles with cool labels or appropriate colors, which you can repurpose for decor, etc. as well.  You can use them to hold flags or as utensil holders or to hold flowers and plants.  I love doing this since it helps to keep a little less out of the landfills and it does not cost anything extra for seasonal decor.

Another way to inject some red, white and blue is with food items.  Fruit, including watermelon, blueberries, strawberries, raspberries, blackberries and cherries make it into many menus for the fourth of July or any patriotic holiday since they are instantly festive and scream summertime!   I took it a step further and added blueberries and raspberries to a long ice cube mold and it instantly made my cocktail festive.   I used it here in my gin & tonic but it’s also great in lemonade, water, wine spritzers, etc.

It is so easy to do and it immediately elevates a beverage to a new level.  The berries actually impart a lovely sweet flavor into the beverage and it acts as a stirrer for your drink as well.  Super yum!  This is the mold I used.  Next time I will use distilled water to get a clearer ice cube.  Of course you could also do this in a normal ice cube mold but I love the long silhouette and the double duty as stirrer is a plus.  Chin-Chin – Salud – Cheers !

You can also convey the red, white & blue colors in black & white with these books.  They sell them here, but I made my own using the same technique I used to create my Halloween spell books DIY.

It’s a fun project and pretty easy.  I just used plain paperbacks I picked up at the thrift store.  You can also pick up books at the dollar store.  Love how they came out and so fun to display in my antique French vice.

I hope this helps you sprinkle some 4th of July love this weekend.

Wishing everyone a safe, healthy and happy holiday.

One flag, one land, one heart, one hand, one nation evermore!”

~Oliver Wendell Holmes~

other patriotic posts: