Full 4th of July Menu-- Step 1: Creativity & Planning

I'll be honest... preparing this entire menu all in one day was a little ambitious on my part, HOWEVER-- it was worth the blood sweat and tears. This complete menu is here for anyone to incorporate into the perfect 4th of July spread.

For those who know me personally, I like to go all-out when planning a party. The prep even before I stepped foot in my kitchen was a decent amount of work, but ended up being SO adorable.

Step one was obviously deciding a menu that was BBQ- friendly and light yet filling for a hot summer day.

This is when my creative juices really started flowing. How can I present this beautiful menu for my guests?

So i printed small menus on a heavier weight paper, punched a few holes in the top, and added the finished touches of navy and red ribbons:

You can't have cute menus without an equally fantastic napkin to go along with it! (Clearly, my mom read "If You Give A Mouse A Cookie" too often growing up).

Along with 90% of the rest of people during quarantine, I did a little tie dye project. Thank goodness I picked blue for the napkins because they were perfect for my patriotic theme!

Then... i realized i had no napkin rings... so i had to get creative again. Remember in school how you could put all of your flashcards on a ring to hold them together? Well, for some reason I have 15 of those rings and 0 napkin holders.

I wrapped some festive ribbon around the flash card rings so that none of the metal was showing, secured it on the napkin, tied a pretty bow, and voila!

Yes, I was exhausted before I even started cooking.

The final product:

Now that the table is set, LET'S GET COOKING!