Easy Entertaining: 4th of July

The 4th of July is upon us! *(Click on photos to enlarge)
While summer is in full swing, many mark this weekend as the official start of summer! So with that we mapped out a super fun and delicious 4th of July backyard plan! *Click on the photos to enlarge
Table setting: the 4th should be all about ease and simplicity, so utilize red, white, and blue in your napkins and glassware to add punches of color. Go easy with the decor - here we used large dinner napkins and folded them into thirds, splayed across each plate. The take home favor is a cute silver shell decor ball - purchase from any craft store and spray with silver spray paint (great to use for any holiday).

We made the paper "flags" a little differently, with navy stars to stand out. How to: create a word document and insert several long, rectangular text boxes horizonally. Fill in with red paint. Create as many stripes as you like; do the same with a fresh document; here we insterted star shapes that we made navy. Print out the pages and cut to size - we created 7" x 9" flags. Attach to a ribbon or twine using double-sided tape. Use any excess for some fun curly-q pieces by taking long, thin strips of red paper and winding them tightly around a pencil. Toss on the table for some added pop of color.

Food: So easy and delicious (and all-American!); grilled flank steak sandwiches with aoili: Marinate steak (for 2 hours) in sea salt, pepper, and olive oil and grill 1/4 lb. of steak per guest. Thinly slice the steak, grill up an onion and garnish on top of the steak. Prepare ciabatta rolls with a spread of aoili; wrap the sandwich in white butcher paper and cinch with cute red-and-white striped twine. Pair with red potato salad, some grilled corn sprinkled with cayenne pepper and sea salt and a fun drink and you're good to go!

Drink: Here we have a vodka lemonade spritzer (feel free to omit the alcohol); 1 cup of fresh lemonade or Italian sparkling soda, 1/2 cup of good vodka, ice as needed.
Prepare: fill an 8 oz. glass 1/2 way to the top with ice; pour in about 2 oz. of lemonade, 1 oz. of vodka, and top with club soda for fizz. Garnish with a candied lemon peel or a rosemary sprig.
Have a Happy and safe 4th of July!