4th July party for the Kids
Independence, freedom, stars and stripes. There is no better excuse to get a kids 4th July party on the go. The timing of year is perfect, as the sun is probably shining, flowers are in full bloom and the kids are raring to go now the summer holidays are nearly here. Planning a 4th of July party is probably second nature to some, but for those who need a few simple ideas, you have come to the perfect kids party place. So get ready to sit back and savor America's spirit and freedom and to have a cracking good time. Why do we celebrate the 4th July?
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Invitations
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Costumes
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Decorations
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Food
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Activities
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Games
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Favors
*My favourite 4th July Party Suppliers *
Makesparties (our US party store)
for a mammoth selection of patriotic paper goods, favours, decorations….
Shindigz
For a big choice of 4th July party patriotic supplies including decorations, favors and costumes.
* 4th July Party Invitations *
* Uncle Sam. Make an 4th July party invitation from Uncle Sam! Using red, blue or white craft paper, put a picture of Uncle Sam on the front with the words "I want you!". Write the party details on the reverse. If it is a birthday party as well, you could put a photo of the birthday child on the front and replace the words with "X wants you!".
* Stars and Flags. Make a card template of either a large star of flag. Use the template to cut out as many invitations as you need and then get the kids to help you color or paint them.
* Fireworks. Instant Fireworks to get the kids in the 4th July party mood. Using plain black craft card, spread clear drying glue over it in crisscross pattern. Get the kids to then sprinkle red, white and blue glitter all over the glue. Shake off the excess glitter and you will have a real sparkler of an invite.
* Firecracker.
 Fire cracker invitation
Gather enough empty toilet rolls so you have one for each invite. Cover the hole on one end with strong paper, glued in place. Paint the whole thing red and when dry stick on some stars or blue and white strips of paper. On the sealed end of the toilet role, make a small hole and insert a sparkly pipe cleaner. Place a small piece of orange tinsel on the end on the pipe cleaner to resemble a lit fuse. Next make your invitation, role it up and slot inside the open end of the firecracker.
* 4th July Party Costumes *
Well the colour theme here has got to be red, white and blue! For those kids who forget, get hold of some red, white and blue T-shirts from garage sales and thrift shops or have some coloured bandanas ready which are cheap and easy to make using strips of coloured cloth. The party child or host could wear a top hat emblazoned with the US flag.
* 4th July Party Decorations *
*Put red, white and blue balloons on your gate or front door. Hang up streamers as well
*Decorate the party room with giant posters of previous US presidents. See if the kids can guess who is who!
*Put up lots of red, white and blue bunting, streamers and flags
*Play patriotic music.
*Put up a balloon net or have the ceiling covered in red, white and blue, helium filled balloons
*I particularly like this patriotic kit below and it saves money as you are buying in bulk.
* 4th July Party food *
As the weather is likely to be warm, I suggest that you go for outdoor eating such as a barbeque or picnic. Don't go for anything fancy, just good old fashioned and traditional food that is easy to make and gives you time to relax and to have fun.
*Corn on the cob
* Hamburgers, hot dogs
*Ribs
*Roast marshmallows and s'mores
*Loads of cool drinks
*Flag Cake Prepare a basic rectangular chocolate cake using a packet cake mix or my all-in-one cake recipe all-in-one cake recipe When cool, cover with white frosting and then decorate with blueberries and strawberries to make a flag design. Keep in the fridge until you are ready to serve and then top with sparklers or thin, extra long taper candles.
More kid party food ideas
* 4th July party Party activities *
* 4th July Party Parade
Ask the guests to bring carts, wagons, bikes, scooters, drums and tambourines. Provide them with lots of streamers, balloons, flags and whatever else you want and get the kids to decorate their "floats". Then do a walk around the neighbourhood and give a small prize for the best float.
* 4th July party Fireworks
If the kids are old enough and you have enough adult supervision, then put on a fireworks display. Alternatively you could give the kids sparklers which my kids just adore and we tend to have them at every party, whatever time of year!
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4th July party Parade Stick
You will need:
Dowelling baton
Glue Stick
Red, White and Blue Crepe Paper Streamers
Scotch Tape
Scissors
In advance, paint the batons white or get the kids to cover them in white crepe paper. Sellotape in place, especially round the bottom where sticky hands will be. Using strips of red crepe paper, wrap them diagonally round the baton starting from the top. Cut several lengths of blue crepe paper and decorate with stick on stars. Secure the blue strips to the end on the baton and there you have a perfect parade stick.
* Decorated Visors
Cool Kids need a cool head and these easy to make visors are just what they need.
You will need:
Plain plastic Visor (preferably red, white or blue)
Ready to stick foam pieces
Glue
Instructions:
Give each child a visor and let their imagination run riot. They could either glue on letters for their name, coloured stripes for the US flag or just do something abstract.
* Tip-Top Hats
In advance make top hats out of strong black craft paper. Issue one to each child and get them to decorate them using stickers, paint and any other craft bits and bobs that you have around the house. You could award a small prize for the 'most creative', 'most colorful', 'most decorative' etc ensuing that all the kids receive a prize.
* Story and sing along
Read a story about independance day and teach the kids some of the original songs such as "Yankee Doodle Dandy," "America the Beautiful" and "The Star-Spangled Banner."
* Fireworks Celebration on Paper
You will need:
Black craft paper
Ready mixed water based paint
Straws
Gliiter
Lots of tissues and cloths for cleaning up
Instructions:
This activity is not really suited to the under 4's as they may suck up the paint! In advance cover the painting area with old newspaper and make up the paint in bowls with a teaspoon. Give each child a large piece of black craft paper and a straw. Place one small teaspoonful of paint on the paper and then the child needs to blow the paint with the straw. Repeat with different colours so that you get a starburst effect. Allow to dry and then pin up their art work for the world to see.
* Design their own 4th July party T-shirts
Buy some cheap white t-shirts and make stencils out of plastic stencil sheeting available from craft shops. Make stars, stripes, letters and any other designs that you like. The kids can stencil on their designs using fabric paint.
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4th July Party Pot
You will need:
4" terracotta plant pots (one for each child)
Ready mixed water based paint
Acrylic paint and brushes
Instructions:
These pots are great as they can be used for all sorts of things such as plants, trinkets, candles and so on. Issue each child with a pot, brush and paints and then get them to paint away.
* 4th July party Party Games *
U.S. history trivia
This is a good game for the older kids. Gather together lots of facts about US history and split the kids into teams. Each team can be named after a famous US sportsman, politician, monument or the kids can make up their own names. Issue each team with a bell or buzzer and a star chart pinned on the wall. Then fire away with the questions. As soon as a team thinks they know the answer then they must ring their bell. A correct answer gets a star which they place on their chart. An incorrect answer allows the other team to have a go and they get double stars for a correct answer. If they get it wrong then no stars are scored. Tip: Don't make the questions too difficult as otherwise the kids get nervous or bored and the game is not fun.
Place the Flag
Split the kids into teams and stand them at one end of the playing area. At the other end, suspend a large piece of florists foam form a tree or pole – one for each team. Issue each child with a US flag and on the word 'Go', a team member must grab his flag, run up to the florists foam and place his flag in the foam. He then runs back to base and another team member goes. If a flag falls out the team member must return to put it in. The first team to place all their flags is the winner. To make it harder the kids must only use one hand.
Pin the Hat on Uncle Sam
Make a template of a top hat and cut out one for each guest. On a larger sheet of paper, draw a picture of Uncle Sam, minus the hat. Let each child decorate his top hat and then blindfolded, he has to pin it on Uncle Sam’s head. The child who gets the closest is the winner.
Mini Olympics
If the weather is not wet, this is perfect for getting everyone outside and you can include the adults as well, except dad if he is busy 'guarding' his barbeque! Think up all the traditional and not so traditional games such as baseball, toss the water balloon, crazy golf, relay race etc. Divide into teams and issue each team with a red, white or blue bandana. Every game won, entitles the team to a flag which they place in a plant pot. At the end of the games, the team with the most flags wins and if you like you can present them with a trophy or individual medals.
Pass the firecracker
In advance make a firecracker out of a cardboard toilet roll by covering it with red paper and attaching a silver pipe cleaner for the fuse. Sit the kids in a circle and put on some music. Have the kids pass the firecracker round from one person to the next and when the music stops the child left holding the firecracker has to do a forfeit.
Building the Statue of Liberty
This game needs a bit of preparation in advance. Collect some child's building blocks and assemble them till the are roughly the same height and width of a piece of A4 paper. Print off on a computer a picture of the Statue of Liberty. You will need one for each team and it should be roughly the size of an A4 sheet of paper. Mark the paper into squares that are the same size as your building blocks. Carefully cut out and glue or sellotape one square to each block. Divide the kids into teams and give each team a set of the blocks. On the whistle blow, they have to reconstruct the Statue of Liberty. It is harder than you think! First team to finish wins.
Piñata
Having a piñata is always a great success at kids parties and there are some really fantastic ones around.
4th July party Pinata
More kid party games
*4th July Party Favours and Prizes *
For plenty of 4th July party favor ideas, check out:
Makesparties
for a mammoth selection of patriotic paper goods, favours, decorations….
Shindigz
for more 4th July party favors than you will ever need.
Basically anything red, white or blue will be great or anything that has a patriotic feel such as caps with "I love America". Below are some ideas to get you going:
Red, white, and blue candy
Baked cookies wrapped in red cellophane and tied up with a white ribbon
Stars and stripes hair scrunchies or baseball hats
Red, white and blue shoelaces or sunshades.
Patriotic flags
Sparklers for the older kids or paper party poppers for the younger ones.
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