Easy Fourth of July Celebration at Home

Set the stage for Fourth of July poolside activities with modern yet timeless pieces that offer abundant doses of comfort and style (from the Malibu Collection).

This Fourth of July, we’re staying close to home and keeping the gatherings small. So we’ve gone through our favorite cookbooks and come up with some simple table settings and menu ideas for an elegant but laid-back al fresco celebration.

Furnishings and upholstery featured in this story are available at Summer Classics Home stores.

Serve a Festive Spread

Consider a more elegant take on a celebratory picnic with outdoor rugs, perky outdoor pillows, and a table set with a smorgasbord of treats (Wendy Jane performance pillows).

A bountiful charcuterie board makes for a chic, casual meal. To set up a backyard picnic with the creature comforts of home, move outdoor rugs to the lawn and toss outdoor pillows around a low table. In the scene above, we love how a variety of all-weather textiles in assorted patterns and muted tones combine in an understated nod to red, white, and blue.

For menu inspiration, we turned to Ronda Carman’s Entertaining at Home: Inspirations from Celebrated Hosts (Rizzoli 2019), which offers a trove of road-tested entertaining ideas, including Caroline Harper Knapp’s advice on pulling together the perfect charcuterie board. Caroline, who writes the popular lifestyle blog House of Harper, creates veritable feasts of gourmet cured meats, nuts, olives, fresh vegetables, cheese, cheese straws, crackers, and dried and fresh fruit. Find a list of her favorite charcuterie board items and go-to online sources for specialty foods in the link below.
Charcuterie Board How-To
Drink Pairings: Wine, Bloody Marys, Templeton Iced Tea

Set a Patriotic Scene

• Use throw pillows and flowers to transform your everyday look. Neutral and blue-and-white color schemes are classic choices for porches and patios year round. Come Independence Day, add a pop of red with a few extra all-weather pillows in complementary patterns or simply accent your existing pieces with a vase of red blooms.

If a picnic is not your style, choose elegant dining chairs and a table with a beach-like attitude that brings the coveted indoor/outdoor lifestyle to any home (from the Newport Collection).

For comfort that is enduring and chic, opt for well-crafted, beautiful outdoor pieces such as this chair that mixes modern lines with vintage rattan-inspired accents (Malibu Barrel Chair).

• Keep the flowers simple. Zinnias from your garden will do the trick, and don’t be afraid to mix other cheerful colors with patriotic red. For a touch of blue, add summer-blooming bachelor buttons or hydrangeas.
• Strawberries and blueberries are another natural way to bring red and blue to your table. They’re also refreshing and delicious on a hot day, whether served alongside a cheese board or for dessert with whipped cream, vanilla ice cream, or pound cake.
• For tableware, summery pastels paired with woven table accents and pottery serving pieces lend an Americana feel.

Use accessories that play off your decorating scheme. The rattan-wrapped glasses and braided placemats pair perfectly with this woven chair (Soho Woven Arm Chair).

Fruit from the farmers market set on a pretty teak table is a refreshing choice after the overload of backyard barbecue! (Paige Teak Round Dining Table)

More Fourth of July Menu Ideas

It’s all about the three S‘s—simple, summery, and sophisticated—so we gathered a few light bites that you can mix and match. Most of these recipes can be partially or fully prepared in advance, making it easy to pull everything together on the day of. Whichever recipes you choose, end your Fourth of July celebration with the menu equivalent of a fireworks grande finale, Butterscotch Banana Pudding.

Sponsored by Summer Classics Home.