We love celebrating holidays, mostly because of the food. Whether it’s a birthday, Halloween, Christmas, or an impromptu summer picnic, we love bringing all of our new recipes together to share with family and friends. With America’s birthday coming up, we’re offering some tips to throwing a Fourth of July picnic to make your celebration a success.
This post is sponsored by Stop & Shop. Lilies and Loafers was compensated for this post and exposure on Instagram. We are already frequent shoppers at Stop & Shop, so we were happy to write about our experience.
Shopping Made Easy
Our local grocery stores are not always stocked with everything we need. When we do our weekly grocery shopping, we end up running around to three different stores. Luckily our local Stop & Shop has everything we’re missing. However, the first thing we do when planning a holiday gathering is to set up a food delivery. Between work, running after our son, and everything else, having an entire grocery order delivered is the easiest thing for us to do. Our local Stop & Shop is a bit far for us to carry a ton of groceries back home, so we set up a Peapod delivery.
We’ve used other grocery delivery services in the past. They’ve always run out of something by the time it got delivered. So, we tend to schedule the delivery two days before the party; this way, we have time to run to the grocery store for last minute items. This order was our first Peapod order, and everything came in and on-time. We were also able to snag $20 off our first delivery!
Knowing that we could go to Stop & Shop once–and have it delivered!–gave us more time back in our day.
Red, White, and Blueberries
When it comes to planning a Fourth of July picnic, the first thing that comes to mind is Red, White, and Blue. But think beyond the flag and use those colors as a starting point.
- A patriotic flower arrangement.
- Patriotic elements in food, table settings, and decorations.
Classic Picnic Favorites and New Twists
Your picnic menu should include some classic crowd-pleasers, like burgers and potato salad before you offer new twists on other favorites. Feel free to switch it up, but please don’t put raisins in potato salad!
Take a classic, like corn on the cob, and bring it to the next level. We’ve been looking for an easy recipe for grilled corn on the cob for some time. I went to Stop & Shop’s Savory tab to find a recipe. There are so many helpful and straightforward recipes on this site. I found a great tip to prepare corn on the cob, so it stays juicy on the grill. We paired that hot tip with a great recipe for Parmesan Grilled Corn on the Cob. The corn was flavorful and remained juicy after being on the grill–it was a hit!
We made a delicious grain salad and everything sugar snap peas as sides. Check out how to make the sugar snap peas in the video below.
Recipes
- Everything Sugar Snap Peas
- Bulgur Wheat Salad with Cherries
- Southern Potato Salad
- Parmesan Grilled Corn
Food for All
If you have kids or expecting your guests to bring their kids, be sure to keep them in mind, too! Older kids will be able to eat what’s on the table, but sometimes the infants will be a little more tricky. With our son exploring all sorts of fun food, we made him these Bean Burger Patties, so he could eat burgers with us. We also had lots of fruit on hand, too!
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- Star-cut Watermelon and Blueberries
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- Bean Burger Patties
Recipes & Tips
[Don’t] Keep Guests Thirsty
Think beyond beer and wine. It’s July, and it’ll be hot in most of the country. So aside from plenty of water offer a variety of drinks. Try some cocktails, rosé (it’s not a summer party unless there’ rosé), and homemade iced tea. However, you know your crowd, so buy the soda if that’s all they’ll drink (and get Peapod to deliver it)!
Drink Recipes
Rosé Party Tips
- Garnish with herbs like rosemary or lavender.
- Throw in raspberries or strawberries to add sweetness.
A Refreshing Dessert
Your dessert should be the fireworks at your soiree. It’ll be one of the last things your guests will eat (and likely remember) from your party. So make a show stopper in both looks and taste. If you can, make it refreshing. Cake is good, but ice-cream cake is better. We made this red velvet icebox cake because 1. it’s easy to make, 2. it’s cold. It was to-die-for. We got those red, white, and blue sprinkles from Stop & Shop over two months ago! Whenever we get closer to a holiday, we can never find themed sprinkles, so we picked them knowing we’d need them eventually!
Enjoy the Party
Pour yourself your favorite beverage and enjoy the party. How will you be celebrating the Fourth of July? Let us know in the comments below.
