Throw A Patriotic Birthday Party

I don’t know why it had never occurred to me before, but we decided to have a patriotic themed birthday party for my son last year..

His birthday is just a few days after the Fourth of July, so we decided to host a backyard barbecue for our family and friends.

We kept the decorations simple and I tried to buy a lot of things that we could reuse for future parties. I found star-spangled white paper lanterns that offered a little festivity, and a blue star garland to decorate our patio doors.

To save on buying soda and other drinks, we used a tin bucket filled with a huge batch of birthday punch. For each of the kid’s birthdays, I do a festive punch to go along with our food and this time, a batch of strawberry punch was the perfect accompaniment to our barbecue. Here’s my recipe:

Patriotic Strawberry Punch

• 1 (2 liter) bottle strawberry-flavored soda
• 1 liter (half a bottle) Sprite or 7-Up
• 1 (12 ounce) can frozen lemonade concentrate
• 1 (12 ounce) can frozen pink lemonade concentrate
• 2 (1 liter) cans pineapple juice

To make punch, simply mix all ingredients together. This recipe will fill one large punch bowl or two smaller ones.

Instead of using paper cups, I bought sturdy plastic cups in red and blue that we can use again. You know I’d rather buy something we can reuse instead of adding more trash to landfills. And they’ll definitely come in handy for playgroups and future parties.

My favorite food find was cute little mini burgers at the grocery. They had a package of 24 for about $7.00. I got wheat and white rolls in the bakery and a variety of cheeses and toppings to make a little burger buffet. We also grilled hot dogs for the kids, but I have to say the mini-burgers took center stage. People could really load their plates up with side dishes or have a burger and a hot dog on one plate.

Each year I make a little slide show that the family can watch before we cut the cake. I like to download one great song to sync up to my three-minute show. Last year, one of our son’s favorites was Justin Roberts’ “It’s Your Birthday!” It fit the bill perfectly. The grandparents loved this too! I think my kids watched the “movie” sixteen times before our guests arrived. There is nothing like seeing tons of pictures of themselves set to their favorite tune to put a smile on their faces. I recommend creating one like this and putting it on when you need to get your party prep done. It works like a charm!

What are your favorite low-cost party tactics? Any tips you’d like to share on favorite parties for kids?