*Patriotic *Party *Paraphernalia

I always begin planning a party with the decorations and these will be so much fun!

You twist the bottom to make them pop. No pulling the string on these babies.
I’m hoping they are more than the impressive packaging and not a dud.
Probably filled with little pieces of confetti that we will be finding all summer long. 🙂
Pier 1 $1.00/each.Next, I think about what can I add to the food or serving pieces to bring in my theme.
I have picks of every size and straws to look like fireworks.

“Bang”!

Then I can’t help myself to work backwards and begin with desserts!

At Macy’s I spied the Martha line’s cute mini cupcake liners all ready for the 4th. She also had cupcake boxes in stars and stripe patterns that hold 4 cupcakes which I thought would make cute favors if I already didn’t have something else in mind. I couldn’t find the actual boxes online to show you the patterns but here are the boxes in another pattern.
Tied up with some ribbon and a tag? Perfect!

I’m making decorated cookies this weekend which I’ll share in detail next week. Americana shapes and The Statue of Liberty will be my party favors along with the note cards I posted about 2 days ago but we’ll need sweet instant gratification while the party is going on.

Home made ice cream? Check.

Strawberry shortcake with star-shaped shortbread?

Maybe. But I’ve made this before.

Star-spangled cupcakes? You betcha!

Another colorful addition to the table would be these burger baskets. They were on sale at Sur la Table for $1.50 and sell online for a set of 6 for $6.96. I wouldn’t be surprised if I could find them even less at a restaurant supply store or Smart & Final but then I remembered I have red enamelware plates I use.

I did find these metal burger baskets at Crate & Barrel that are a bit larger. I thought they would be perfect for chips or rolls.

Instead of the checked liners I chose the striped ones from Crate & Barrel.
On sale for $2.95 for a set of 24.
(Thanks to son1 whose panini I momentarily confiscated.)

I liked how they are grease proof because I have another idea for their use.
What about using a liner paper to wrap up a big chocolate chip cookie and tying it with baker’s twine and a star tag?

Now it’s time to think about the main course, hang the carnival lights, assemble the paper lanterns and decorate the cookies this weekend.

I’ve got a lot to do!

Have a fantastic weekend, friends! 🙂