Happy Birthday, America!! *♥*♥*♥*

We're ready for the 4th of July celebrations!!

There will be parades with all of

America's Armed Forces represented.

Lots of FUN for all ages!

  My son-in-love made the go-cart, above.

All these parade photos are from

our town's Memorial Day this year.

Inside The Gazebo House, 
we are fully decorated in RED, White & BLUE!



My pretty cobalt Galaxy Blue plates with 14K gold stars & rims (made by Sakura--hand wash only) join forces with all my red polka-dot items & lots of my white milkglass collection.



Little spreaders, with gold stars on the handles, are ready for appetizers of hummus & cheese.



The battery operated tea light inside this teapot

will get turned on at dusk,

to add a pretty, warm glow to the bakers rack.



 My FLAG tray that I found at Sur La Table

(half price sale when I went shopping HERE)

will be put to good use, carrying treats in & out of the gazebo.
 

I found these cute, star shaped pretzels,

coated in white chocolate. 

I bought every bag I could find!

They are YUMMO!



The Libby star shaped candy dishes are from the Dollar Tree.

  They come out for ALL patriotic holidays,

as well as Christmas time, too.



 Ms. C. loves to use the little scoop

from my sugar shuttle to

serve herself a small handful of M&M's.



More stars appear on some serving pieces,

along with more spreaders. 

The felt stars are just for decoration

at the moment & will be removed

prior to the placement of food.

I put this little ceramic 
Navy Sailor, (made by NAPCO)
 that belonged to my Mom,
beneath a cloche, to give him a proper 
place of honor.

Thanks Sis, for passing it on to me, 
especially since my sweet hubby 
was in the Navy during WWII. 

Little tip:  I used my document shredder
to slice a piece of RED tissue paper
into shreds to surround him.
 

I was only able to find one other like it, online.
I think he is called a "smoker"
but I don't know the history or value, 
except to say he is priceless to me!

A quilt is being used for the tablecloth inside the gazebo.

It will serve double duty later on, once the fireworks start.

It can get a little chilly out there once the sun goes down!

We have other quilts with STARS,

hanging around the house.

Can you tell I ♥♥♥ STARS?!

 

We have a GREAT view of 3 different communities

with fireworks displays from our perch in the gazebo &

will open the great room windows &

turn up the stereo, 

with Tchaikovsky's famous 1812 Overture playing

...an annual tradition.   



There will be several cheeses & assorted fruits,

again, keeping with the RED, WHITE & BLUE theme.

(well, okay, grapes are PURPLE not BLUE,

but work with me here, k?)

I'll share my recipe for

BLUE CHEESE DIP

on Friday.
Click HERE to find it.

If you ♥ LOVE ♥ Blue Cheese,

you won't want to miss it!

 

 My wrought iron silverware caddy

has both RED & BLUE flatware,

as well as patriotic napkins, at the ready.
 

 Desserts for the grandkidlets are always easy...

♥♥♥ CUPCAKES!! ♥♥♥
 

The adults will, hopefully, enjoy these cherry cheesecake parfaits,made with crushed graham crackers,

Dream Whip & cream cheese filling & tart CHERRY RED pie filling.

 The full recipe can be found HERE. 

They are not hard at all. 

Putting them into individual little dishes

makes it so much easier than

trying to serve pie slices.

I hope you have a WONDERFUL

celebration of our Nation's Birthday &
remember, be SAFE!!
 

Thanks to love2dreamdoyou.blogspot.com

for this wonderful hint to prevent sparkler burns!

I'm joining Cuisine Kathleen's meme, Let's Dish,
Yvonne at StoneGable for Tutorials, Tips & Tidbits as well as
Susan at BNOTP for Tablescape Thursday &
Michael Lee at Rattlebridge Farm for Foodie Friday & 
The Tablescaper for Seasonal Sundays. 

Thank you, Ladies, for hosting

such wonderful parties each week!