Patriotic Picnic

In March I participated in a styling challenge for Everyday Party Magazine.  There were eight designers and only one winner.  We all had the same printable collection to use which was designed by Chickabug, could only spend $150, and could not seek “donations” from other party planners. I asked 5 other moms and babies from my playgroup over on a Friday morning and one of my best friends, Tricia of Tricia Breidenthal Photography, photographed the event. I am beyond thrilled to announce that I WON the challenge!  I really didn’t think I was going to win, I mean there was some stiff competition, but I am pretty pleased the way my little picnic turned out.  One of the best things about this party?  It is completely doable and re-createable. I used a number of things from my own collection, borrowed from a couple of friends, and of course found great things from the Dollar Tree.

Decorations:

I found denim fabric and red and white gingham on the clearance table at my local fabric store. 

I made a no-sew bunting for the back fence and the tree by cutting out triangles and hot gluing them to double sided bias tape. 

I then cut a piece to use as a table runner and a skirt and awning for my Pottery Barn tiki table.  I wanted the frayed edge look so I washed and dried the pieces and they came out just perfect.

I found silver stars and red, white, and blue tissue fans at Party City that I thought would be perfect in the tree.  Some of the fans I stuck in the middle of the star because I thought the star needed some dimension. I borrowed mason jars from Pat of ZPerfect Party and wrapped the tops with blue and white twine and hung in the trees with daffodils and pinwheels I made.  The pinwheels were really easy to make!  I attached them to some paper straws and used silver star brads to affix. 

 For the table I borrowed a picnic basket from Roni of Roni’s Sugar Creations and used that as my centerpiece. I lined the inside with red and white gingham fabric I found at Joann’s and used that same fabric to make napkins. Last month I purchased the dessert stand from PBK and thought it would be perfect to use for the picnic.  Since it’s all white I dressed it up a bit with the blue ticking fabric tape along the edges.

The napkin “rings” were made with blue ticking fabric tape I found at Paper Source and I made a star with my Silhouette Cameo using shimmer paper I had on hand.  I printed the blue ticking paper on cardstock and trimmed with red and navy ricrac for color.  I had some wooden forks and spoons in my party collection.  I love sparkle and glitter so I just had to add a little bling to my table by glittering the forks and spoons.  

I started collecting cans awhile back so I printed blue ticking paper and wrapped them around the cans.  I was going to use sunflowers but daffodils were on sale at the grocery store so I opted for those. I think the yellow is the perfect accent and just makes the table pop.  I collect buttons, for no particular reason, and figured it would be an easy and free way to add a little something to the cans.  I dabbed a little bit of hot glue so I could pop them off and use them again for another project.   

The vintage aluminum cups were purchased last year for my daughter’s first birthday party and thought they would be perfect.  I dressed them up with fabric tape from PaperSource, ribbon I had purchased from a local scrapbook store, and a button.  I purchased paper straws from Crafts by Jilly and used the drink flags from the set.  When the party was over all I had to do was take off the tape and wash them out…good as new, vintage new. 

The chair backs were made from dishtowels I found at Dollar Tree.  I trimmed one edge to fit the width of my chair and sewed them together.  Super easy and cheap project that was definitely a wow at the party.   

The tiki table served as the food bar.  I purchased 3 star bowls from Dollar Tree and glammed them up a bit with glitter.  A couple months ago I found wooden boxes at Target and had no idea what I was going to do with them but knew I had to have them.  I printed up some red gingham paper from the set and cut them to fit the top and bottom of the box. One side of the box was actually open so I hadn’t intended on setting anything on it but just didn’t want it to look unfinished.  I had star ribbon left over from last 4^th of July so I wrapped it around the box and secured with double stick tape.  

I had seen 4^th of July jello online and knew I wanted to do that. I used mason jars for the ones for the moms which had a cheesecake middle and baby food jars for the kids which had a vanilla pudding middle.  

Kid stuff:

My daughter loves fairy wands so I thought it would be fun to make them for the kids.  I called them firework wands because the silver ribbon I used make them sparkle.  I bought dowels, fishing swivels, and split rings at Walmart and hooks at Home Depot.  These were fairly easy to make, just time consuming.  The kids loved them!  

I found red little buckets, blue sippy cups, blue shred, bubbles, crayons, and square white plates at Dollar Tree.  

I made labels for the bubbles out of paper from the set, a star bubble wand from pipe cleaners in my craft collection, decorated with twine.  

The rockets held the crayons!  I made them from a wrapping paper roll I had just finished and cut them down to the right size. I covered them in paper, made a rocket top out of cardstock, and found the “explosion” in one of my craft drawers.  I knew it was a good idea to keep it! I made little star coloring books out of cardstock from my collection using my Silhouette Cameo and tied together with twine.  

The flags I found in my garage, probably from last year – I just forgot where they were when I needed them!  I used the fabric tape to dress up the sippy cups and plates.  I made the names and stars on the buckets with vinyl from Joanns and my Silhouette Cameo.

It turned out to be a gorgeous (and hot) day so the kids ran around the backyard, had fun with our neighbor’s cat, and thoroughly enjoyed the bubbles their mommies were blowing.  Perfect day in Carlsbad!

I hope you see find some inspiration here.  If you do I would love to hear about it!