4th of July Substitutions?

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Allegra

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Obviously parades and carnivals are probably not going to happen this year and fireworks have already been cancelled in may municipalities because they can’t justify blowing up thousands of dollars in a matter of minutes when they know they may need that money before it is said and done. Does anyone have any awesome 4th of July family traditions or activities they’d like to share? Especially something novel to do with some disappointed kiddos?
 
You could make some great yard decorations for this year and then pull them out every year as a tradition. Lots of ideas on Pinterest. Perhaps organize something where everyone on your block joins in a decorates their homes too.

If you have a fire pit, they sell things you can put in to change the color of the flames. Sing some old patriotic songs like “She’s a Grand Old Flag” or “Yankee Doodle Dandy” and make a video of your kids singing to share with family and friends.
 
We do have a firepit, but July where we live is not typically “fire pit weather.”
 
Is there any place in your area where families are allowed to set off individual fireworks on their own property? My grandma used to live in a small town rural area where that was allowed. There was no big parade or public fireworks display (We would have had to drive probably a half hour to the nearest larger city, which wasn’t happening as we did not have a car to use when staying with her and we walked everywhere we went), and we’d have sparklers, treats like cookies and cake, and our own fireworks bought at the store which my dad would set off in the front yard. Nothing too dangerous, my parents were very cautious, but I was happy enough with it as a kid - a nice small town Fourth of July. We could also see a lot of fireworks going up from the neighbors’ houses.
 
Nope. We live in the burbs and they aren’t allowed to be used or sold in our county. I think we can do the sparklers thing, but my kids are pretty little for that.
 
We have an old hand crank ice cream maker. Besides helping the kids to crank the handle, eating home made ice cream is it’s own reward! We did this every 4th of July for years and my kids are now in their forties and showing their kids how to do it!

Back yard picnics are always fun…spread a blanket to eat on. Have your own mini parade and create costumes for it…American themed. Fun is often what you make it, as the saying goes. It’s true!
 
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If you can’t have fireworks, then I’d say a backyard cookout with special dessert, maybe sparklers on the cake. I like the home made ice cream idea too. Maybe tell the kids some stories of Revolutionary War figures like Betsy Ross or Paul Revere. Tell them you’re having an old-fashioned Fourth of July just like the pioneers did. If they like to dress up, maybe they can wear costumes or make their own tricorn hats out of paper.
 
We will definitely make homemade ice cream. We usually have peach cobbler with homemade vanilla bean ice cream!
 
Oooo, that sounds delicious. We usually make a batch of vanilla and remove half and add strawberries to the remaining half. Normally, I dislike strawberry ice cream from the stores but the home made is heaven on earth…with little chunks of berries in there! Mmmm, now I want some…NOW! I bet peach is every bit as good!
 
When I was 10 years old, I spent a 4th of July (name removed by moderator)atient at Shriner’s Hospital in St Louis. Not sure if they have the same rules, but, back then it was very strict. You could only have visitors for limited hours on Sunday. Kids tended to stay in hospital for a very long time. It was almost like a boarding school.

So, it is 4th of July and all of the girls on my ward wanted to celebrate. We found construction paper and proceeded to fire spitballs of every color onto the white ceilings. That went over so well with the nurses 🙂
 
That’s funny. I don’t know what the current visitor rules at Shriner’s are but I suspect they are more lax. They also have less long-term patients since Rankin opened, which is more of the transitional care model.
 
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