Old-Fashioned Fourth of July Party

The Fourth of July, also known as Independence Day, is a holiday that's been celebrated in the United States since the Revolutionary War era. To this day, people everywhere get together to celebrate this day. Bringing back celebratory traditions from days gone by can make your Independence Day party more interesting. Try the following ideas for planning an old-fashioned Fourth that your guests will love:

Serve traditional food and beverages. This includes grilled hamburgers, hot dogs and potato salad. Homemade lemonade is a great traditional drink to serve at a Fourth of July party. Have one pitcher of regular lemonade, then offer something a bit fancier like lavender lemonade. Iced tea is also a good choice. Offer guests fresh mint, lemons and sweetener for their tea. Homemade ice cream is a great dessert for an old-fashioned Fourth of July party. Today's ice cream machines make it easy to make your own ice cream and frozen yogurt. Watermelon slices are also a traditional and refreshing treat.

Offer guests red, white and blue sparklers when the sun goes down. If your party is happening at or after dark, light up the area with old-fashioned torches. Invite guests to sit on the grass or bring blankets to lounge on. If your locality permits fireworks, hold your own fireworks show. Just be sure to be safe and take all necessary precautions when handling and lighting fireworks.

Play old-fashioned games at your party. Examples include bobbing for apples, the gunny sack race and the three legged race. Have a sing along of patriotic favorites. Hand out printed lyrics for guests so everyone will be able to participate. If you have enough guests, try singing in a round. Before modern technology was invented, people had to make their own fun, and sing alongs at parties were quite common.

One old fashioned tradition is to have a Fourth of July potluck. Ask each guest to bring their favorite dish but try to coordinate things so that you won't have too much of the same kind of dish. For example, you don't want ten people to bring potato salad or a table full of desserts only. Ask your guests to sign up for what they want to bring ahead of time. A potluck is great because not only does it save you lots of work, it gives everyone a chance to sample lots of different dishes.

You may even want to dress up in vintage apparel at your party and invite your guests to do the same. Ladies especially can enjoy wearing floaty cotton sundresses and flowers in their hair. While guys may not want to go all out with old fashioned dress shirts and trousers, they can at least get into the spirit with an old-fashioned style hat. It's not hard these days to find something vintage to wear at your local thrift shop, usually for a dirt-cheap price.