Hosting A Fourth of July Dinner Party

Hosting On The Fourth of July

Hello design lovers. I’m hosting a Fourth of July dinner party this year and will be sharing all of my tips on how to create a beautiful, timeless tablescape. Plus, how to decorate in a gorgeous and classic way. I will share how to create beautiful easy floral arrangements and also my very favorite Fourth of July summer cocktail.

I want to talk about setting a beautiful classic tablescape for your Fourth of July party. I’m going to walk you through each element that I used and then talk about how to create really pretty and easy floral arrangements for your table.

Setting the Table

The very first thing I like to do when we set our Fourth of July tablescape is start with a classic runner. I opted for a really pretty nubby linen. One that is a beautiful blue, it is a little lighter than Navy, and I love the classic color of it. It’s a color that you can use throughout the entire summer, not just on the Fourth of July.

Try to pick out things that are not quite so thematic when choosing decor items to decorate with, especially for tablescapes, because you want to have pieces that you can use for multiple occasions. So, that’s why I went with this really beautiful runner.

The next thing to place on the table is our seagrass placemats. We use these all the time, especially for summer entertaining. They just have a really beautiful, natural color, and I love the texture that it adds.

Now it’s time for plates, and I’m going to use my taupe/creamy melamine plates that I used in our summer entertaining video because I love the color. They tie in really well with our outdoor dining chairs.

I love matte melamine because they are obviously great for outdoor entertaining, and they don’t show any wear and tear from steak knives. When I’m choosing melamine, I always opt for a really pretty matte style.

Next is our Cutlery. I’m keeping it simple for this tablescape. I’m just adding a knife and a fork. If you’re doing steaks you would, of course, want to add a steak knife, and then if you had a salad, maybe a salad fork. We decided to go easy for this table setup, so we’re just doing a fork and knife.

The next layer on our tablescape is our linens. I am adding these really pretty and classic white and navy striped linen napkins. I like to place them on top of the plates for an easy arrangement. These, of course, are a great option for summer entertaining, not just the Fourth of July.

The last layer we are adding to our tablescape before we go to our floral arrangements is our cups. Love getting to use these gorgeous opalescent cups from my collection. These are the Hamish cups.

I love the low tumbler style and the little swoop quality that they have. The color of the little opal dots on these glasses match the plates that we have, so I love using these throughout the summer. They’re my go-to glassware for the season, for sure.

Easy + Elegant Floral Arrangements

Now let’s create some fun floral arrangements for our Fourth of July tablescape. I grabbed all of the flowers from my local market, but you could use flowers from your garden. That would be my choice, but we don’t have any white flowers in the garden right now.

I’ve got four different blue vessels to use on our tablescape. I love using vintage vessels down the center of a table. I think it adds a lot of character and charm.

What I’m going to do is just take the flowers and little groupings and place them in each vessel, and I like just to make it look very effortless. It’s summer entertaining, and it’s outdoor entertaining, so we want it to be easy and effortless and, of course, classic.

There you have it, a simple 4th of July tablescape. We’ve got our four fun floral arrangements down the center of the table, and I added this little pedestal of strawberries for a little pop of red. We created a beautiful, timeless Fourth of July tablescape for our party. Now it’s time to make my very favorite summer cocktail.

Festive 4th of July Cocktail

Time to make our Summer Watermelon Basil Breeze cocktail. What you’ll need is watermelon juice. You can either buy it at the store, or what I like to do is, cut up some watermelon into cubs, blend it up, and strain it really well.

Then you’re going to want to have vodka, gin, or rum on hand. You can use any of the three to make this fun summer cocktail. Next, you’ll grab your basil leaves and a couple of limes. This recipe makes two servings, but you can always double or triple the recipe to make larger servings.

The first step is to muddle the basil leaves. We want to make sure that we release all of the oils from the basil leaves. Then we’re going to take our shaker and pour 10 ounces of watermelon juice.

Then squeeze a couple of fresh cut-up limes. I like to have those on hand and add the juice directly into our cocktail shaker. It’s super easy and makes for a quick cleanup. The next step is to add the muddled basil leaves.

Last but not least, the alcohol. I am going with vodka this time, but like I said, you could do rum or gin. Do four ounces for the 10 ounces of watermelon juice.

Now add a little bit of ice to the shaker after your alcohol, and of course, it’s time to shake it up. And there you have it, a Watermelon Basil Breeze. All that’s left is to add some ice to your cup, pour in your drink and garnish with a little basil leaf.

Timeless Exterior Decor

The last thing I want to talk about is classic, timeless decor for the Fourth of July. Not just our tablescape but decorating our outdoor spaces and our homes for the festive holiday. I want to talk about adding flag buntings to your home.

I feel like there is nothing more Americana than flag buntings, and I knew the moment that we added this patio extension to our home that I wanted to decorate with buntings for the 4th of July.

We did two per opening on our porch, so we have a total of 12 around the entire perimeter of the porch. They add the most beautiful festive flair to our outdoor entertaining space.

Now who’s ready to get festive with your Fourth of July decor? I know I’m so excited to host family and friends this year. I hope that today’s post inspires you to create a beautiful tablescape and decorate your home in a gorgeous classic way for this year’s festivities.

If you enjoyed today’s post, please let me know in the comments which decor tip was your favorite and what you’re most excited to incorporate into your Fourth of July decor at your home. Plus, watch our full video of Hosting for the Fourth of July below.

Shop these 4th of July Must Haves!

As always, I’m Ashley Childers. Thank you for reading, and remember, good design is for everyone. So create a home that inspires you, have fun decorating for the 4th of July, and fall in love with where you live one room at a time.

XO, Ashley