10 Ways to Enjoy the 4th of July! July 4, 2014
Posted by nrhatch in Food & Drink, Gratitude.comments closed
In the U.S., Independence Day claims center stage on the Summer Fun Trifecta, sandwiched mid-way between Memorial Day’s kick off to summer and Labor Day’s return to reality.
Instead of shopping in crowded malls, decorating the house from top to bottom, or wrapping countless gifts, families and friends gather for picnics, cookouts, and backyard barbeques with the focus on food, fun and good old-fashioned togetherness.
Here are 10 ways to have a blast this 4th of July as you celebrate the freedoms we so often take for granted:
1. Enjoy marching bands, patriotic anthems, and crowds waving the Stars and Stripes in time with the music at an Independence Day Parade.
Or encourage the wee ones to put on a parade of their own, with pots and pans for drums!
2. Pack a picnic and head to the beach, pool, park, or playground. Or enjoy a fun old-fashioned gathering in your own backyard.
Invite a crowd!
3. Organize a Scavenger Hunt. Get everyone involved by playing on teams ~ pairing adults with children, or older kids with younger ones.
4. Play backyard games ~ Croquet, Bocce Ball, Volleyball, Badminton, Horseshoes, Dodge Ball, Corn Hole, Softball, Soccer, Frisbee, or Catch.
5. Hold a mini-Olympics with a Relay Race, a Wheelbarrow Race, a Three-Legged Race, an Egg Toss, and the Long Jump.
Leave High Jumping and Sabre Tossing to the pros!
6. Cool off with a Water Balloon Fight or Dueling Water Pistols during the hottest part of the day. Or run through the sprinkler with your kids.
7. Have a Watermelon Seed Spitting Contest ~ judge contestants on distance, speed, accuracy, and enthusiasm.
8. Catch fireflies or lightning bugs at dusk. Release them before dawn.
9. Before calling it a night, light up a few sparklers to wave around while singing the Star Spangled Banner or other patriotic tunes.
10. Attend a local community fireworks display to watch the “bombs bursting in air” in glorious shades of Red, White, and Blue!
Aah . . . that’s better!
“It is easy to take liberty for granted, when you have never had it taken from you.” ~ Anonymous
“Democracy is the government of the people, by the people, for the people.” ~ Abraham Lincoln
“We are free not because we claim freedom but because we practice it.” ~ William Faulkner
“Only our individual faith in freedom can keep us free.” ~ Dwight D. Eisenhower
“You have to love a nation that celebrates its independence every July 4th, not with a parade of guns, tanks, and soldiers who file by the White House in a show of strength and muscle, but with family picnics where kids throw
Frisbees, the potato salad gets iffy, and the flies die from happiness. You may think you have overeaten, but it is patriotism.” ~ Erma Bombeck
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