25 Fun Ways to Celebrate the Fourth of July At Home 

Stream a Virtual Fireworks Show

We know what you are thinking, but don’t knock it until you try it! After all, have you opted for the fake Christmas tree after all of these years? Don’t feel that it’s impossible to view fireworks this year, even if your state doesn’t allow some of them. Instead of hiding in your home and wishing you could watch fireworks, find a virtual fireworks show. It might not be like having one in your backyard or community, but you can still make it fun.

You can have a backyard BBQ and then set up a big screen to view the fireworks once they start. You can also decide to have s’ mores on the grill or through a fire pit. If you live in a state that allows a few visitors, pick some of your friends and family to come over and watch with you.

Have a Backyard Grill Out

You’re allowed to go outside; you might have restrictions on how many people can be out with you. Don’t feel the need to ignore the Fourth of July. Instead, set up a time to have lunch or dinner in your backyard by grilling your favorite foods.

Make it into a feast while you let your kids run through sprinklers or watch an Independence Day themed movie outside through a homemade theater. You can have some hotdogs, hamburgers, veggie burgers, corn cobs, potato salad, watermelon, and anything else that you feel is necessary on your picnic table.

Make Homemade Popsicles

You’re probably in an area where it’s rather hot. You might have second thoughts about stepping outside for the Fourth of July weekend because of the weather. This safety doesn’t mean you can’t have a little fun inside and then take the results outside.

All you need to do is make some homemade popsicles. You can make some great Yogurt Swirl Pops or find a recipe that gives your treats some red, white, and blue. There are dozens of recipes online. All you need to do is head to Google and ensure you have the ingredients for fun!

Go Camping In Your Backyard

You might have a family tradition of going camping or heading to your favorite lake for the Fourth of July, but this year it’s nearly impossible because of the current crisis. The places around you might be closed, or you might not want to go because of the current situation, but this doesn’t mean you can’t go camping.

The trick is that you stay close to home. You can set up a campsite in your backyard. You can even surprise your children with it by setting it up and calling it a unique name. Include a bunch of fun treats and some small and safe fireworks for children, such as sparklers.

Introduce Your Children to New Games

You can have some fun and educational opportunities during the Fourth of July. I know your children aren’t interested in learning in the summer, so why would you want to bore them with educational facts about the holiday? Because it’s important and you can use games to make it fun.

You can use trivia games or even find some online. You can also have your children draw a famous Founding Father or a picture as to why they think the Fourth of July is essential. You can also forget about education and introduce them to a game like hopscotch, Simon Says, or make up a fun and silly game with them.

Get Some Confetti Cannons

Do you live in a state with many restrictions on fireworks, such as any ones that leave the ground are illegal? This issue can put a damper on an already dull Fourth of July because you need to stay at home or can’t do your usual activities.

Nevertheless, you don’t need to let the state or the current crisis take all the fun out of the holiday. Instead, you can ditch the regular fireworks for confetti cannons. They can make your children excited without considerable noise as they can still get the same type of excitement and colors.

Cool Off With a Backyard Water Party

One of the best things about summer is getting wet so you can cool down. There are so many fun activities you can do with water. You can get a water table for young children and squirt guns for the older kids. You can even get sprinklers so people can run through the water, a pool, or make water balloons to throw at each other.

Another fun activity to look into is getting a water slide. Of course, if you have a water hose, you have everything you need. Let your children get in their swimsuits and have fun. Don’t worry about any mess they make because you can all pitch in to clean it up later.

Host a Hot Dog Eating Contest

Do you want to bring some competition into your family fun Fourth of July? Try a hot dog eating contest. You can even have more than one if your children are far apart when it comes to age so you can keep it as fair as possible.

You can even change the contest up a bit, and instead of eating them as fast as you can, have everyone make their type of hot dog and taste them to see who made the best. For instance, have you tried coleslaw on a hotdog? What about adding onions and pickles? You can even go with the good old chili cheese dog. The possibilities are endless when you let your creativity decide what type of hot dog to make for the competition.

Enjoy a Root Beer Float Social

You probably don’t let your children have too much soda throughout the year, but the Fourth of July can give you a reason to spoil them a bit. Get different drinks from Sprite to Strawberry and a bunch of vanilla ice cream and have the kids make the floats.

They can try different types of floats and make one for each other. Don’t worry about how much soda they try unless there are health reasons to think about it. You can even set it up like a bar so your children can have regular drinks and a bowl of ice cream while you all sit around and be silly or watch a patriotic movie.

Plan a Family Game Night

You know what games your children like to play, whether through a device or board games. You can get as many games as you can think of together and plan to play each game for a certain amount of time. You can even try to make this into a contest by who can win how many games or what game your family can play the longest.

You can also include other fun activities into the game night by having each child make up their own game or read a book to help settle your children after a bunch of busy fun so they can get a good night’s sleep.

Show Veterans Gratitude

Many people don’t think about it, but you want to continue to thank Veterans during the Fourth of July. You want to explain to your children that you appreciate them not because they fought during the Revolutionary War but because they continue to fight for your freedom so everyone can celebrate this holiday in the United States.

You can show veterans gratitude during this time to have your children write thank you letters and then send them to veterans in the nursing home or those they know. You can also contact Veteran’s charities in your area after the holiday is over to find out where to send the letters if you don’t have an idea.

Perform Famous American Speeches

If you want to get a bit of history and education into the Fourth of July for your children, look at teaching them about a few of the famous speeches in history. Let them learn as much as they can and perform the statement themselves. They can also say the address in their own words, so you know that they understand it.

At the same time, you can make it fun by letting them dress up or play their favorite historical characters like George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, or John Adams. They can even give Martin Luther King Jr’s “I Have a Dream Speech.”

Take a Family Bike Ride

If every member of your family has a bike or you have a way to carry the younger children on your bike, get some exercise and go for a bike ride. You can go around town or go to an area that you think is fun and can have a good time, such as a park or out in the country by a small lake to relax for a bit.

You can even make it a little fun by decorating each bike in red, white, and blue to bring some of the holiday spirit into the bike ride. Your children can even pretend that they’re in a Fourth of July parade. If you’re having a BBQ in your backyard, go on the ride before eating so you can work up an appetite.

Put on a Family Concert

Think back to the Partridge Family and how they were a family band. You can do the same thing – just without all of the touring. You can build your stage in the backyard or just set up an area where your kids and the family can perform.

Let your children pick some of their favorite songs and grab some instruments you have around the house. You can also look online on how to make drums or anything else to make noise. Then, play music and have a jam session. Your children can put on a concert for you, or you can invite a few friends and family members to have a concert while distancing from each other.

Bake Red, White, and Blue Treats

Did your children like to make the popsicles and now want to continue baking? If so, there are many treats that you can make that are Fourth of July themed by adding red, white, or blue food coloring.

You can make an Independence Day cake or cupcakes to have for dessert. You can make a salad that focuses on fruits that are red and blue. Of course, the white can because yummy cool whip to mix in or add on top. You can also create lemonade or other drinks to add to a delicious backyard BBQ.

Go for a Walk

Unless you state says otherwise, you don’t need to stay home the whole Fourth of July weekend. You can go for a walk or find a hiking trail and spend a day in nature. You might need to travel a bit and maybe find an open park, or you could just go for a hike in your own backyard, especially if you have a wooded area to explore.

You can even create a game during the walk to keep your kids occupied. For example, you can ask them to collect times that they’ll see on their hike, such as leaves and rocks that they can use to create a craft when they come home.

Spend Time Doing Crafts

You can walk around your home to see what type of crafts you can come up with. You might find that you can make musical instruments or find some old pots for plants. You can then paint them red, white, and blue and get flowers to add to them. You can make your own Fourth of July plants by getting flowers that are the same colors. It’s also possible to find decorations, such as small American flags or other items to show off your patriotic side.

The key is to try to find items that you can turn into a craft around your home. It will help you cut down on waste and show your children how they can start recycling.

Make a Dinner Fit for the Founding Fathers

It’s Independence Day, and that calls for a special meal. You can decide to order some pizzas to make it quick, or you can turn to your cookbook and see what you can come up with. You can also find foods that the Founding Fathers would have eaten during the 1770s.

It might mean a trip to the store, but you can also let your children dress up like it’s that period. You can also take this time to talk to them about the historical significance of the Fourth of July while you’re eating. You might even think, “If the Founding Fathers were alive today and coming over, what would I make them?”

Relax in Nature

You will want to take breaks inside to cool off or head to the pool if it’s hot, but as long as you’re not being forced inside because of the rain or a thunderstorm, you can spend your day outside doing a lot of various and fun activities.

You can bring your family for a walk, bike ride, play basketball or many other games. You can even decide to host a family fun Independence Day movie event. The possibilities are endless and depend on your creativity. Of course, if it’s heavily raining or dangerous to be outside, you can always bring many of these activities into your home.

Throw a Pool Party

It’s possible for many states to have small get-togethers, whether it’s with under ten people or more. The key is to know your limits to ensure that you’re following the law. With this said, there is nothing in the books that states you can’t invite people for the Independence Day Weekend.

You just want to have people come over whom you know well and who are healthy. You also want to make sure that all members of your household are healthy. You might invite grandparents, parents, aunts, uncles, friends, or neighbors.

Notice Any Fireworks

It’s always possible that you will see fireworks from someone else’s house or through a community show. You might be able to view them in your backyard. If you start to see someone else setting off fireworks, take your children outside and watch them like you would if they were right in your yard.

Even if you don’t directly know who is setting off the fireworks, it’s okay to watch. It happens more than you think during the Fourth of July weekend, and for at least a week after the actual date. Who knows, you might be viewing fireworks for several nights in a row!

Light a Campfire

Another way to celebrate Independence Day at home is to have a campfire. Once it starts to get dark, start the fire and find some sticks to roast some marshmallows. You can then make S’ mores with the kids and tell silly and scary stories. Of course, you’ll want to keep these stories age-appropriate. You can always tell the more frightening stories after the youngest children go to bed.

It’s also possible to invite a few friends over for the fire. You don’t need many people to have a good time. For instance, you might see your neighbors come out and invite them over for a bit.

Help Your Children Change Their Room

Do you have a child or a couple that wants to change their room? They might be getting a bit too big for all the toys they have, or they want their walls painted a different color. They might also have an idea of how they can rearrange and decorate their bedroom.

If this sounds familiar, take this Independence Day weekend and make it unique for your children. They might be feeling like they’re missing out on much fun that they usually have during this time, so doing something special for them will help brighten up their Fourth of July weekend.

Let Your Children Be the Independent Guides

It’s Independence Day weekend, so it’s time to do something fun, especially after the last few months. One way to do this is by letting your children decide what home activities they can do. You can do this by giving them a list and telling them to pick their favorite activity. You’ll then spend your day doing what they request, giving each child a turn.

You don’t have to do any of those crazy 24-hour challenges, but playing some silly games with your kids will make them happy. Even if it is for 30 minutes, you both will appreciate the time you spent together. Of course, you can always have a special treat at the end to give them a bigger surprise. Welcome to the cool parent club!

The Key Is to Have Fun

No matter what you decide to do during the Independence Day weekend, the key is to have fun. Get the whole family involved and complete activities from this list or come up with a few of your own.

You might want to focus on a few that you’ve never done before, such as have a hot dog eating contest or even a pie-eating match.

Sources:

“No fireworks, no problem: 7 creative ways to celebrate Fourth of July this year.” Charles Trepany, USA Today. July 2020.

“20 4th of July Activities To Enjoy On This Patriotic Summer Holiday.” Women’s Day. June 2020.

“18 4th of July Activities to Keep the Family Entertained All Day.” Country Living. June 2020.

“5 Fun Ways to Celebrate the 4th of July at Home.” Catherine Schmitt, Mommy Nearest. June 2020.