The Fourth of July is a very fun and beautiful holiday. It’s a great opportunity for family and friends to gather for a picnic and enjoy the fireworks. The picnic is informal, but that doesn’t mean you can’t make it special just by making it a little noisy. Besides, you don’t have to limit yourself to that. Give your home a festive look. Here are some simple and fun DIY projects you can try this year.

• Make custom paper picnic plates. Print out a sticker, then put a sheet of graphite tracing paper between the two and paint and draw on the paper plate. Use food coloring pens to make the plates food safe. 
• Give forks, knives and spoons a festive look. Take a piece of ribbon and cut it in half lengthwise. Place the ribbon on the dishes and then paint over them. Carefully remove the ribbon and let the paint dry. 
• Decorate outdoor themed lanterns. Use soup cans, fill them with water and put them in the freezer. Then punch holes with a hammer and nail and create the design you want. Paint the lanterns if you like. 
• Make menus and name tags for your guests. Cut out watercolor paper and make stripes with tape. Then color the menus and cards and use white charcoal to write down the names and dishes you will be serving. 
• A bag full of goodies would be a great idea for this special celebration. Use paper lunch bags, tape and scissors to make them. Decorate the bags with duct tape and create all sorts of patriotic or fun patterns.
• Popcorn bags are a must, so why not make them special? Make custom labels and then print them. Print them on a label or plain paper, cut out an asterisk, and glue them to the bags. 
• If you’re planning a nice family 4th of July dinner, the table should look impeccable. Running across the table with flags would be perfect. Make one out of a regular bamboo table, some spray paint, cardboard advertising sealer. 
• You can also make cute napkin rings for the dining room table. Use colored ribbon, colored buttons, a hot glue gun and star cookies. Make stars out of Styrofoam and decorate them with buttons of different colors.
• Another fun idea is to make diamonds. You’ll need bengal lights, circular tags, matchboxes, custom labels, construction paper and a hole punch. Use red, white and blue to match the 4th of July theme. 
• A red, white and blue centerpiece would also look good on a table or mantle. Divide some rice into 3 equal portions and put two portions in plastic bags. Add food coloring to make it blue and red. Put the rice in a clear vase. 
• The banner is easy to make and great for both inside and outside. You will need burlap, twine, ribbon and a simple banner. Unfold the banner and then reorganize it by adding burlap, ribbon and colored stars. 
• You can make holiday decorations out of anything, even pipe cleaners. Use 2 red and 2 blue pipe cleaners and combine them with 4 white ones. Group them together and wrap the blue and red ones around the center of the white pipe cleaners. 
• The flag is a strong symbol, so it is important to have one. You can make a flag out of wooden strips and then paint it. After that, glue on the star stickers to complete the project. 

Holiday Wreaths

This is a very fun and original wreath design. You will need lots of bottle caps, a round wooden or Styrofoam frame, spray paint in three colors (red, white and blue), glue and white ribbon. The process is very easy to understand. 

Another idea would be to use garland to make a wreath for the front door. You will need a wreath and some glue. Glue one end of the garland to the shape and then wrap it tightly. Glue the other end the same way you did. 

Here’s another colorful project. You will need lots of artificial flowers for this one. Remove all the flower tops from the stems and attach them to the wreath shape. If they are not painted, make sure you give them a makeover. Then add stars. 

To make this holiday wreath, you will also need flowers. Cut the stems and glue them one by one to the wreath shape. Glue stars and ribbon or other decorations if you have something you really like. 

This tulle wreath is also quite pretty. You will need a foam wreath, frosted white tulle coils, frosted red tulle coils, blue tulle coils with glitter, ribbon, stars and a hot glue gun and scissors for this one. 

For this beautiful wreath, you will need a foam mold and lots of red felt. Cut out the little red stars and attach them to the wreath with pins. This will take a long time, so be patient and persistent.

This wreath features twirls that you can print out on wrapping paper. Glue them onto the wreath. To make them double sided, glue the two printouts together and trim the diagonal lines. The wreath is made from thin branches. 

Themed decorations

This striped oatmeal is very cute and pretty, and you can use it both indoors and outdoors. To make it, you will need watercolor paper, watercolor, brushes, ribbon or twine and a hole punch. 

To make these fun confetti popper rockets, you will need colored paper, tissue paper, stickers and markers, confetti, twine or string, duct tape, glue, beads and ribbon. You can make your own confetti with craft kicks or buy it. 

This cute little garland is very easy to make and only takes about 5 minutes to make. Perforate the colored paper circles into two different circles and stitch them together into a garland. 

To make these windproof discs out of a tin can, you first need to clean them. Then spray paint them, let them dry and decorate them with stars and ribbons. Glue the strips to the open end of the can and alternate colors. 

Tutu Gilbert