Great Gatherings: Summertime Picnic-Fourth of July Fun!

Friday, June 29, 2012

Summertime Picnic-Fourth of July Fun!

Last year, Lauren McKinsey and I coordinated a Springtime Picnic together and had a grand time planning all the details together. I LOVE summertime and had a few ideas swirling for a summertime party and roped LM into doing a joint party with me again.

She KNOCKED the printable collection out of the park! Here's the invitation that would work for either a fourth of July or any type of Great Gathering from now until September.

The printable collection includes bright colors, watermelons, pops of gingham and ANTS! My favorite part!

Oh, how I love these cute ants I found at Terry's Village. A whole cute little collection of ants... this is one of my favorites...

I loved putting together the kids table. I found some cute ant fabric at Joann Fabric and Craft Store and already had the bright green gingham fabric. I used the fabric as table runners crisscrossing them and tied the ends with a ribbon. I had asked our friend Stacy She's {kinda} Crafty to put together some craftiness for our party and boy did she! I adore this bright colorful topiary she sent. It was PERFECT for the kids table. They could still see across the table, but it added some color and matched it all perfectly! My favorite part, the funky, fun stars coming out of it! LOVE!

I love putting together a kids table for parties that include little one's...everything just their size. They adore having their own space and if you watch them closely they always eat dessert first! (Adults should take notes from kids sometimes, don't you think???)

I also asked Crafts by Rosa if she could do a few picnic baskets. They are too cute! Made all out of paper with a little tag. She does amazing work with paper, check her out!

One of my favorite details is the colorful cake decoration made by Carmen at The Flair Exchange. Simple, but perfect for decorating a cake. She also sent some matching confetti that I used around the cake plate for pops of color.

This party included cute party food that could be easily carried and eaten in a few quick bites, like mini hotdogs, sliders, cake pops, mini bags of chips and small containers of corn salad.

One cute food tip, you can cut your grilled dogs in half and use the bake and heat rolls sliced partway through for a mini hotdog bun and these rolls can double as your slider rolls as well!

I love tiny party food you can carry and eat while you chase after your kids or dangle your feet in the pool, don't you?

Of course you can’t have a summer picnic without lots of sweets like rustic blueberry pie, mile high cupcakes, homemade bright red velvet cake, perfect matching cookies from The Talented Cookie and the cutest watermelon cake pops ever by Cuter than Cake!

The perfect cupcake toppers were made by Edible Details. Perfect match to the printables, don't you think? Love that star!

The party decorations and tables combined textures and colors that included a rustic, vintage picnic basket, kitchen towels, a bright red storage crate and beautiful furniture from around the house.

The kids had a blast. They were on a sugar high for hours!

My sweet boy!

So I hope you get the chance to throw your own Summertime or Fourth of July (who says your July 4th party has to be ON Wednesday, July 4th anyway?) party this year and if you do... watch the kids, eat dessert first and don't forget to wear cute shoes!