This Year’s 4th of July Is Fire!
As we all know, the Fourth of July is a wonderful time to celebrate with your friends and family. However, if you are buying food, drinks, decorations, and any other festive outfits, the Fourth of July parties can get quite expensive.
On top of that, we can all attest to the fact that holiday travel isn’t cheap either. If this year you want to try a more frugal alternative but don’t think there’s anything you could do differently, well, we beg to differ. Here’s a list of suggestions that you should try to have the most fun during Independence Day, but on a slim budget.
Host a potluck
If you love to entertain, hosting a Fourth of July party can definitely be fun (especially if you live somewhere with a wonderful view of the local fireworks display). However, providing food and drinks for many people can turn out to be quite expensive.
You can keep your costs down by making this year’s party a potluck. You only have to make sure you assign people different types of food they can bring. The last thing you want is to have your potluck become “the party where everyone brought a potato salad.”
DIY your RWB (red, white, and blue) outfit
Instead of simply going out to buy a brand-new American flag dud, you can take a look through your closet. Do you have any clothing items you wouldn’t normally wear together that might be paired with a red, white, and blue outfit? Because if you don’t, this still doesn’t mean it’s time you buy new ones. Instead, you should try to head to the thrift store and put together a patriotic look.
Skip the fireworks
Well, you shouldn’t skip them entirely. However, there are high chances of having some sort of display happening close to you, so you don’t really need to buy them yourself, which is great. And, while they are a lot of fun, fireworks aren’t exactly the definition of safety.
There were eight fireworks-related deaths and around 11,400 injuries back in 2013, according to the Consumer Product Safety Commission. Well, if you want to have a bit of fun with some fireworks, you can simply buy a couple of sparklers.
Make sangria
If you are the one in charge of drinks at a party, sangria is definitely one of the best beverages you could make. It’s a wonderful way to dress up inexpensive wine, and you can easily make a huge batch ahead of time, so you won’t have to worry about preparing cocktails when you’re dealing with guests.
Also, if you want to make your drinks festive, you can easily make a red sangria, a white sangria and a non-alcoholic blue drinks such as Berry Blue Kool-Aid.
Make your own decorations
There are so many cute decorations that are extremely easy and inexpensive to make yourself. Besides, this can definitely be a fun activity to do with your children. Just think of a couple of things such as garlands but with specific, thematic colors: red, white, and blue stars cut from construction paper or even sparkly napkin holders completely made with red, white, and blue pipe cleaners.
If you are searching for some creative inspiration, just search for “Fourth of July decorations” on Pinterest.
Shop after the Fourth of July has passed next year
If you want to purchase your decorations, make sure you wait until after the Fourth, because that’s when you will find the biggest discounts. Then, try to save them for next year. This is one of the best ways to stock up for any holiday. It’s true that you will have to think ahead but trust me, it’s worth it.
Take advantage of free activities
Another wonderful thing about the Fourth of July is that it is generally chock-full of free entertainment: Whether we’re talking about parades, live music, decorating contests for kids, and many other things, there’s a little bit for everyone.
If you know how to take advantage of some of these forms of entertainment, you can rest assured that you will save plenty of money. Moreover, keep those free activities free by packing a bag of snacks and cold drinks from home. Frugal, but fun!
If you are traveling, don’t overpay for hotels
If you somehow decide to travel during Independence Day, make sure you know where you’ll stay. If you plan to go to a city that’s a hub for American history, like Philadelphia or Washington, D.C., hotel rates might turn out to be much higher than usual.
Instead of booking a hotel, you should look into renting a house or apartment through a website. We recommend you try Airbnb.com or VRBO.com. There are many East Coast cities with excellent public transportation, so you might as well consider staying in the suburbs and taking a train in for your favorite events.
Go camping
The Fourth of July is definitely a great time to consider camping, and what better place to celebrate being an American than in one of our national parks? There are plenty of parks that offer advance reservations for camping spots, and they rapidly fill up, so make sure you check online before you pack your bags and go.
“D” your decorations
In this particular case, “D” stands for DIY and dollar store. We’d advise you to check your local $1 emporium for the nicest (but also cheapest) Fourth of July-themed decorations but also for stand-alone red, white, and blue elements such as vases and plastic plates.
On the DIY side, red, white, and blue paper chains would make a lovely Fourth of July-themed party, and they’re especially nice since you can also involve your grandchildren in the process. You can also try cutting out paper stars in well-known patriotic colors and hanging them from the ceiling with different lengths of string.
Just skip the expensive berries
We know, we know: there are so many Fourth of July dessert recipes with an astounding amount of colored raspberries and blueberries out there, that you don’t even know which one to pick. However, depending on where you live, those berries might not be in season just yet.
You shouldn’t feel the need to spend $4 a container of raspberries (as tasty as they may be), just look to less-expensive strawberries, and get frozen berries if it’s the right choice for the recipe, or simply use food coloring to make your cake as colorful as it can get.
Cut your own flowers
We know that it would be much easier to hop into your local flower store and pick your favorites. Yes, it’s definitely easier, but this doesn’t make it any cheaper. That’s why we’d advise you to cut your own flowers from your beautiful garden.
After all, we think it will also feel more rewarding to do so! Now, since you already know what you have on hand, don’t hold back from doing the best, most mesmerizing flower arrangement for Independence Day! Needless to say, we would love to see the way in which you let that creative beast out, so make sure you send us the results!
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