I’ve written before on how I decorate our home (google PVC mama’s musings making a house a home if you want a refresher!). If you don’t remember, and don’t want to do the work of finding a previous article to re-read – no offense taken, I get it – here’s the summary: I decorate with things that have meaning to our family. I try not to buy the latest “it” decor trends, and slowly build up our home’s furnishings through things we’ve made or thrifted. Sometimes I’m lucky enough to have a friend gift me something I adore and it makes the cut as well.
The past few years, we haven’t decorated for Independence Day as we’ve gone to visit my wonderful in-laws in Utah instead. This year, we’re visiting them later in the summer, and decided to host a pool party. This is where my conundrum began: how do I last-minute decorate for and host a party while simultaneously sticking to things that have meaning?
I began with my usual first-stop: Pinterest. Woooo-wee is there a lot of disposable decor trends for this holiday. Plastic galore. Balloon towers, funny sunglasses and hats, shiny garlands, and more. I knew I didn’t want to go that route, since I’d prefer to reuse the decorations for Memorial Day and Independence Day parties in the future, so the search continued.
Eventually, I decided on a compromise – a few things of meaning inside, and a few quality things for reuse outside. Inside, the kids helped me make a fabric rag garland, and will make their handprint art before the party. Outside, I ordered reusable fabric flag bunting for the length of the patio, and a few flag colored beach balls to join our already-owned, white & navy pool floats. I will be extremely lucky if the kiddos don’t pop them for reuse, but hopefully they have fun. I caved and bought themed paper plates to add to the ambiance, and will play our usual country playlist on the outdoor speakers. We’ll break out the corn hole boards and set up the bubble maker for those that don’t want to swim.
We decided to keep the food simple – grilled hamburgers & hotdogs, chips, watermelon slices, and a friend is bringing a red, white, & blue fruit pizza. I made the incredibly happy discovery that brand-name bomb pops are dye-free, and will surprise all the kiddos with them. After the party we’re all going to head to the town firework show, where I’ll have red, white, & blue glow sticks, and drumstick ice cream cones for our group.
Picture: fabric garland – kiddos practiced fine motor & cutting skills (if you want to do it yourself – it’s a fat quarter of blue fabric, a yard of red fabric, a roll of white ribbon for timing onto & cutting, and a different thicker roll of white ribbon, plus a handful of star beads we already had on hand)
Disclaimer/Reality Check: Thinking through something like party prep to the extent that I do is not for everyone, and that’s A-OK. If you ordered the whole 4th of July bundle kit on Amazon without a second thought, that’s OK, too. This column will be about motherhood, parenting, and homemaking for the most part. It won’t have as many pictures as it used to since I don’t usually have my phone on me anymore. Most importantly, I don’t ever want this column to make another mama think she’s not doing enough. If you’re reading this, I want you to know that you are, you’re doing great, keep it up. Sing it with me: no-one is doing it allllll!
