July BBQ Independence Celebration

As we have done since 1977, we hosted our annual July 4th BBQ Celebration. This year, for the first time, we were faced with a rainy day (had been raining off and on all week) and no water activities. Or, so I thought! The kids enjoyed playing in the rain; it didn’t bother them at all. Of all the crowd that we had, no one complained about the weather.

Along with the traditional red, white, and blue, our tablescape theme this year included items from my Coca-Cola collection. Due to the rain and humidity, we set up enough tables so everyone had a place to sit and chow down on their ribs and chicken!

The main table featured a vintage coke crate filled with coke bottles and red, white, and blue flowers. And, of course, the flags. The table runner was fabric with white stars on a dark blue background. Most of the fabric I used came from my fabric stash. A white tablecloth was used to contrast against the dark blue of the runner and the colors of the placemats. Patterns for all my designs are HERE.

When I completed the main runner, I decided to make individual placemats to go underneath the circle placemats for each place setting. Since I did not have enough of the star fabric that was used for the main runner, I purchased a dark blue and painted it with white stars. There is always an answer to a dilemma! And, it was fun painting on the fabric! I chose to make the stars on the placemats larger than the stars that were printed on the tablerunner since I knew it would be impossible to match.

I chose silk flowers instead of the usual cut flowers from my garden so I could get the centerpieces completed early in the week. This will be a money saver for next year since everything will be stored in a safe environment to be reused. The flags were snuggled in the crate at an angle, keeping them low enough to not block the view of guests sitting across the table from one another (one of my pet peeves about centerpieces!).

Once the background placemats were completed, I started creating the round placemats. These actually took the place of chargers and once again, I was able to use fabrics from my stash without making any fabric purchases. I backed these with a dark blue heavy cotton to make them sturdy. I chose a large, round bowl to get the size of the circle. I wanted the circle larger than a dinner plate even though I knew we would be using disposables for this event. I will most likely use these again for another dinner where I will be using my tableware.

The final touch was red pillar candles placed on each side of the Coca-Cola crate. I used metal candle holders to give the candles just the right height.

What are your favorite decorating ideas for Independence Day? We would love to see your pictures and hear of your ideas!

**Note: Lesson learned here was to make sure the candles are placed in an enclosed glass candle holder if there will be an overhead fan blowing. Wax from the candles was blown onto the table runner. Thankfully, my guests came to my rescue, blew out the candles, and later I removed the wax from the tablerunner! Here is a link on how to remove wax from fabric. Removing Wax from Fabric