4th of July Food and Fun

Stars and stripes with lots of red, white and blue are the choices for your 4th July party decorations. But, how about carrying on the theme in your food for the big day? Here are some perfect party food ideas and clever ways to make your celebrations go with a bang!

Marvellous Cake Toppings

You don’t have to spend hours baking. Simple, yet effective toppings will look amazing. Get your kids to help and join in the fun too!

Fabulous Fruit

Make a rectangular sponge cake and top with vanilla frosting, then create the American flag design with blueberries and slices of strawberries or whole raspberries.

Stars and Stripes Galore

Make two sponge cakes and sandwich together with vanilla frosting in the center. Cover the cake with white icing, then on the sides and top creatively place red and blue icing stars and red and blue stripes of frosting. You can also add on some cake toppers too if you want extra detail, like our iridescent stars.

Candy Colors

Top your cake with vanilla or pale blue frosting and then decorate with red, white and blue M&Ms – use them to make the shapes of stars, or you can create the American flag design. Easy and tasty!

Delicious Patriotic Cupcakes

Cupcakes are the ideal party food as they taste incredible and make a brilliant display. For a special effect, use colored cupcake cases and toppers. We love the recipe below as the cupcakes look so colorful and creative – give it a try! It makes 12 cupcakes.

Ingredients:

(For the cupcakes)
1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
2/3 cup granulated white sugar
3 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract (use clear extract if you want to make them whiter)
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup milk
Red, white, and blue food coloring gel paste

(For the frosting)
3 cups powdered sugar
1 cup butter, at room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract (use clear extract, if you really want to make it whiter)
1 to 2 tablespoons heavy or regular whipping cream
Red, white, and blue food coloring gel paste

Method:

For the Cupcakes

Preheat oven to 350°F and line a 12 cupcake pan with cupcake cases.

Cream the butter and sugar, with an electric mixer, until light and fluffy.

Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well. Beat in the vanilla extract.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt.

On a low speed, alternately add the flour mixture and milk.

Split the batter evenly into three small bowls, and add red, white, and blue gel paste separately into each until you achieve your desired colors. The white won't turn completely white, but will lighten up the batter.)

Add a spoonful of the red, white, and blue batter into each cupcake case. Use a toothpick to gently swirl the batter.

Bake for 16 to 20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

Remove from the oven, and let cool completely before topping with the frosting.

For the Frosting

In a large bowl, with an electric mixer, cream together the sugar and butter on a low speed until well blended. Increase the speed to medium and beat for another 3 minutes.

Add the vanilla and 1 tablespoon of cream and continue to beat on medium speed for 1 minute more. Add more cream if needed for desired piping consistency.

Divide the frosting into 3 bowls and color them separately with red, blue, and white gel paste until you get the desired colors. Put all the frosting into a piping bag together, and you’ll get a nice swirl effect of all three colors to top your cupcakes. Or if you prefer, you can pipe them onto your cupcakes separately to create three different colored swirls on top of each other. If you want even more color and detail then top with lots of blue, white, and red sprinkles and add some star cake toppers.

Source: www.recipegirl.com/red-white-and-blue-cupcakes/

Make Some Noise!

Children, and adults, love party poppers and party blowers – an excellent way to express your happiness before the outdoor fireworks start! Opt for those that have 4th July colors and designs, like our confetti rockets, confetti poppers and silver patterned party blowers.

If you’re looking for a creative craft idea to do with little people, how about making a noisy 4th July shaker? All you need are empty plastic soda bottles, which you can peel the labels off, but keep the lids. Fill with rice, dried lentils and beans (each will make a slightly different sound), then put the lids on tightly. Decorate the bottle with lots of red, blue, white and/or silver stickers, like our silver glitter star stickers…and shake, shake, shake!