4th of July Preparations

Have you checked out the Kitchen Sink Stamps Project of the Month yet? Tammy Hershberger made a really neat centerpiece for the upcoming 4th of July! It looks like a lot of fun to make - I know my children would love to help me make one!

Our family has a 4th of July tradition that we love! The town that my parents live in, a very small square mile town right on the ocean, has the cutest little hometown parade! They've had it forever and we've been going ever since I moved here. My parents invites some friends, my brother and his family, our family and my in-laws to a pre-parade brunch and then we all head down a few blocks to get a good spot for candy catching (my children love that part!). The parade really only takes 20-30 minutes or so and is filled with lots of homemade "floats", a children's bike decorating contest on display, a kazoo band, a beach chair drill team, an alumni town band and many other fun things. (This picture is my dad driving his car in the parade last year with my nieces along for the ride. I think Emma plans on riding with Poppy this year)

After the parade the band returns to the town meeting spot (known as The Temple) and plays a concert while the children enjoy a free popsicle. We then head back to my parent's house for a yummy 4th of July barbeque lunch. We have lots of fun visiting, strolling down to the town square to look at the "Art in the Park" - an art show and sale made up of wonderful local artists - going to the beach, riding bikes . . . it's just perfect!! If you live in Maine or are visiting come on over to Ocean Park and check it out for yourself - you will love it! (Notice the candy running down Ethan's chin in the picture - lol!)

Last year we stayed overnight at my parent's house so that we could take the children down to the beach for the fireworks and we'll be doing that again this year! My children have been asking "When is it going to be the 4th of July?" for about 8 months now! :)

I said all that to say (hope you're still with me!), I try to coordinate our family "look" for the day by having some festive red, white and blue clothes. When I saw this post by Nichole Heady a few weeks ago where she actually stamped a t-shirt I knew right away what I had to do!!

So I pulled out my Kitchen Sink Stamps Playful Stars, Swirly Hearts & Stars, Ready 4 Any Holiday and Mix It Up! Monogram & Alphabet sets, got some Palette ink pads and started stamping!! I bought my t-shirts at Walmart and they were fairly inexpensive but still a nice quality. They were super easy to do and I just love how they came out! I still may go back and stamp the children's name on their shirt but I haven't decided that for sure.

I encourage you to give this a try, what a fun way to highlight your family or group! Maybe next year we'll make ones for our whole group! :)

Stamps: Playful Stars, Swirly Hearts & Stars, Ready 4 Any Holiday, Mix It Up! Monogram & Alphabet (Kitchen Sink Stamps), Inks: L'Amour Red, Beaux Arts Blue, Paris Lights (Palette), T-shirts: Hanes from Walmart