Happy Independence Day 2014!!

Hello, friends!  Thank you so much for stopping by my blog! 

I hope everyone out in bloggerland enjoyed a wonderful Independence Day!  Things are simmering down here at the Parsimonious house, the fireworks have just ended.  I had a very busy and productive day.....it's relax time.  Although festivities for the day have ended, I wanted to share three quick tips I used today to help make our celebration go off without a hitch. I hope you enjoy the post.  

Dress Up Your Silverware Service 

 

Today, when I served my family, I thought it would be a fun idea to dress up a simple silverware caddy in festive colors. 

You will need:

A simple perforated silverware caddy

Grosgrain ribbon in red, white, and blue

First, size up

and cut enough strips of ribbon, one for each row of holes. 

Like so. 

Thread the ribbon through the holes.  

Once all your ribbon is threaded,

Tie.  

Here, I tied one red, one white, and one blue ribbon together in a bow.

Side View. 

Another variation is to tie each ribbon individually. Shown here.  

Side View.

Great Burgers Your Family Will Devour

While my meat marinates prior to barbecuing, I also prepare my hamburger meat. 

This trick I learned from my uncle makes burgers not only have a wonderful flavor, but they practically melt in your mouth.   Prior to cooking, add a bit of barbecue sauce, mustard, ketchup, and A-1 and/or Worcestershire Sauce along with your seasonings to the meat and mix thoroughly.  Use approximately one-half tablespoon of each per one pound of ground beef. Yum!

To view my simple BBQ marinade, you may visit the post in the archives here. 

Festive Citronella Mini Pots

The final tidbit I completed in preparation for today were these little patriotic citronella candle pots.  

We live in California, and the weather is beautiful and sunny most of the time.  The downside to that is unfortunately, it is against the law to have personal fireworks in certain counties.  We reside in one such county.  Boooo.  I have such good memories of setting off fireworks as a child, I sometimes wish my children would have the same.  :(

To make tonight special, I made each of my smaller children "mock" fireworks with these festive little candles.  

You will need:

Mini citronella candle clay pots

Mini stars stickers

Mini rolls of tape

Red, white, and blue paint

Paintbrush 

Begin by painting the clay pots completely white. Allow to dry. 

Once dry, place star stickers onto the white pot. On some of the pots, I placed stickers on the top rim,

and on others, I did so on the bottom portion. 

On the alternate side (top rim or bottom half), place spaced strips of mini tape. 

After the stickers are fastened, paint blue right over the area where there are star stickers, and red right over the strips of tape. 

Allow dry time.

Once dry, carefully peel the stickers and tape off.  Voilà!!

I painted to clean up the lines a little....but these were for my kiddos after all, so I wasn't too worried that they weren't perfect. 

They were excited to hold them during the firework display!  These could also dub as gifts for guests (although then I'd likely be a bit more OCD, lol) or even down the middle of a table in a tablescape.  What's great about these is that the citronella keeps the bugs away.  To read other ways to ward off summertime pests, visit the post in the archives here. 

Where to buy:

Silverware caddy:  Ikea

Grosgrain ribbon, The 99¢ Store

Mini Citronella Candle Pots, HomeGoods

Mini Tape rolls, The 99¢ Store

Stars stickers, The 99¢ Store

Have a blessed and safe holiday from our family to yours!  

If you enjoy this post, please visit the archives!  You may also visit my full profile to view my other blogs. Connect with me on my Facebook Page, Parsimonious Décor Darling.   You might like to visit my other blog hubs,

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Frugal Fab Fashionista, my fashion blog hub. 

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