Today is Flag Day, a perfect day to kick off my red, white, and blue enthusiasm for our upcoming Fourth of July week-long bash! (Bonus factoid: National Flag Day commemorates the date in 1777 when the United States approved the design for its first national flag.)
This year our sons and their families are visiting on different weekends around the Fourth, so our excitement is through the roof over here. July is going to be the BEST month!
I like to have some fun goodies waiting for the grands when they arrive. And, as usual, I go a little nuts. I mean, do you remember getting gifts for the 4th of July when you were a kid? No. Of course you didn’t.
Still…it’s just too much fun. Do you remember what I did last year? Click here to see.
Some Specifics
This year I started with red plastic baskets I snagged on sale at Hobby Lobby. Unlike last year, I filled them with different things depending on the child’s age. This whole process reminded me of filling their stockings at Christmas. It was probably more of a treat for me than them!
Every basket got:
Sparklers
U.S. Flags
4th of July T-shirts
The five oldest got:
Wooden objects to paint–LOVE this Tic-tac-toe board!
Slap bracelets
A “Bat full of Bubbles”
Cheez-Its
A book or game
The two youngest got:
Stuffed animals like this or this
Of course, it goes without saying that you should use caution in what you give your young ones. For instance, the two babies won’t be given lit sparklers to wave (LOL) but they added some RWB zip to their baskets!
I found these patriotic T-shirts for the boys at Kohl’s and discovered the girls’ at TJ Maxx. Aren’t they so, so cute?! Here’s a link to the gray boys’ shirts and here’s one for the red T-shirt with the flag (either of these could be boys or girls tees.) I couldn’t find a link to what I got for our girls but here’s a darling T-shirt for girls at Target.
The last thing I did was personalize each basket with their initials. I found these small (already white!!) wooden letters at Hobby Lobby and just hot-glued them on.
I still have time to add a few things and I’m keeping my eyes open. What have you seen out there that would be fun to include? Please leave a comment!
Ann Boyd
Adorable! Cant wait for grands of my own!
Tracey Buchanan
Thanks, Ann! You’re going to be a wonderful grandmother!!
Nancy
What a grand idea! Ours are all older but I might get them the T-shirts and snacks. The three kids are coming later this week! And five grands will be here! Can’t wait!!
Tracey Buchanan
Have a fantastic time with them!!
Leslie Watkins
So adorable!! They will love them…and you are so right…we probably love creating them even more!
Tracey Buchanan
So much fun!
Maury
Roman candle S
Tracey Buchanan
Good idea!
Delores Clemmons
Cute ideas! Where did you get the white and red headbands? Gotta’ get that! 😉
Tracey Buchanan
Those came with the outfits I found at T.J. Maxx. Aren’t they darling?