Summer Party Food {4th of July}

My oldest little girl was born on June 29th but our summers are crazy full with camps and family living out-of-town so we have made it a tradition to have a family birthday party on the weekend of the 4th of July. Everyone is off work and can travel! I told myself four years ago I never wanted to make her birthday 4th of July themed…yeah. We all know how that one’s gonna end ;o)

This year is the 1st year I’m caving…well, kinda. We are having a picnic at the splash pad near where we live. It will be a joint birthday party for my daughter and nephew so I didn’t want to make it too girly, hence the slightly 4th of July theme. It’s mainly just gender-neutral SUMMER themed. What’s the most important thing at a picnic birthday party? THE FOOD!

Since we’ll be outside for the entire party, snacking in between getting cooled of in the spraying water, I desired fruit would be ideal to keep us hydrated and cooled off! My daughter helped me pick some of her favorite fruits and I mixed them all together! My kids, and I think most other kids, often steer away from foods based on their looks. By making all the fruit look similar in an enticing ball shape using a melon-baller, I’m hoping not to have one lonely fruit left over in the bowl.

For the “main core”, if there is such a thing at a picnic, we’re having sandwiches {per my daughter request- PB&Js}. Not everyone likes the stickiness of Peanut Butter and Jelly sandwiches, especially in the heat. So, we’re offering a ham and cheese tray {mainly for adults}. I just chopped up 2 different kinds of cheese in cubes and stripes and then rolled each piece of ham, securing them with toothpicks.

Now here comes the most “4th of July” part of our picnic: Red White and Blue Cupcakes! I started with a white cake mix. After mixing it I divided it in half and added blue and red {really pink} food coloring and baked. After they were done I cut each cupcake in 1/2, placing the bottoms in the bottom of a simple clear punch cups I already had. I put a dollop of white frosting on top of that and place the opposite color cupcake top over the frosting. Then I added another dollop of frosting and the opposite color sprinkles to finish them off.

It would also be fun to exchange the frosting in the middle or in both places with cool whip or vanilla ice cream. I would have LOVED to do ice cream but we’ll be outside so long I don’t think it would have made it.

Praying a safe and fun holiday week/end for all! I challenge you to throw a little simple flare into your celebrating this month!

For more pictures of the rest of the party you can see some of them on my blog or my Facebook page.