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Easy Fourth of July Celebration at Home

Kick back on the 4th with our editors' no-fuss ideas for a festive outdoor celebration at home.
Summer Classics patio furniture with red, white, and blue poolside furniture

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

charcuterie board picnic, outdoor pillows and rugs, picnic

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.

Outdoor Table Setting, blue-and-white table setting

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).

4th of July fruit platter on a teak dining table outside

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.

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meringue-topped butterscotch pudding. The dish is wrapped in blue cloth with blue stars and nestled into a basket for a 4th of July meal. Two small American flags are also tucked into the basket

Butterscotch Banana Pudding from California Cooking and Southern Style by Frances Schultz (Skyhorse, 2019).  “To streamline, skip the meringue and top with whipped cream, which is sublime as is,” writes Frances of this sweet American classic. Stay tuned for more from Frances, Flower's new contributing editor, in our upcoming July/August issue.

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Bel-Air Onion Puffs

Bel-Air Onion Puffs from The Art of the Host by Alex Hitz (Rizzoli New York, 2019). “This is my go-to recipe for an elegant and deceptively easy hors d’oeuvre. It’s impressive and delicious, and people will think you spent a lot of time making it—wink, wink!” — Alice Doyle, Editorial Director, Flower magazine

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mini gourmet grilled cheese with tomato soup shooters

Mini Grilled Cheddar and Goat Cheese Sandwiches from The Art of the Host by Alex Hitz (Rizzoli New York, 2019). White cheddar and goat cheese elevate traditional grilled cheese to celebration status. We love how Alex serves his with easy-to-carry shooters of carrot and ginger soup. For a cool summertime pairing, we opted for gazpacho (featured in the next slide).

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gazacho, 4th of July celebration

Easy Spicy Gazpacho from Entertaining at Home: Inspirations from Celebrated Hosts by Ronda Carman (Rizzoli New York, 2019). What better way to highlight the glory of summer tomatoes grown in your garden or purchased from a local farm? The unassuming soup originated in the southern Spanish region of Andalusia. When Dallas interior designer Cathy Kincaid entertains at home, she whips up her Texas-inspired rendition. 

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Chicken and Shrimp Kebabs

Grilled Chicken & Shrimp Kabobs from California Cooking and Southern Style by Frances Schultz (Skyhorse, 2019). Fire up the grill, or use the broiler if you prefer, for these sure-to-please kabobs. The recipe includes an easy and versatile lemon yogurt vinaigrette that serves as the perfect dipping sauce. Eat them off the skewer for a casual app, no plate required. Or, serve them over a salad for a light meal. 

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Tropical Sparkles mocktail

Tropical Sparkles from From Garden to Glass: 80 Botanical Beverages Made From the Finest Fruits, Cordials, and Infusions by British drinks master David Hurst (Universe Publishing, 2019). Like all the recipes in David's book, this recipe is alcohol free and seriously refreshing. 

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Cantaloupe Sorbet, frank stitt

Cantaloupe Sorbet. James Beard Award–winning chef and restauranteur Frank Stitt put Birmingham, Alabama, on the culinary map more than 30 years ago with Highlands Bar and Grill. This simple refreshing dessert, which he first shared with Flower a few years back, makes local in-season melon the star.

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By Terri Robertson and Alice Welsh Doyle

Sponsored by Summer Classics Home.

Cover of James Farmer's Celebrating Home book

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