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Celebrating the Fourth of July on the Water

Posted on 24. Jun, 2009 by Mary Lutz in Archives

There is no better place to be than on our boat during the Fourth of July! We pack food, supplies and other necessities and spend late morning to late night on the boat on the water. We usually boat around the large lake we live near, stop and swim, boat some more, swim, beach it sometimes and then watch the fireworks from the boat as they shoot them right over the lake!

Spending the entire day on the lake takes some preparation, especially if you want to make it festive for a Holiday like the Fourth of July. We have a smaller, 27′ boat that doesn’t have a lot of storage space or a galley, so we have to use coolers and totes or bags.

1. You can purchase red, white and blue paper products for meal time to make it more festive.

2. The key to keeping food cold in coolers on long boating days is using lots of ice and be prepared to purchase more ice if necessary. If you have two coolers, use one for beverages and the other for food. Put all of your food items in zippered freezer baggies to seal out moisture. Put the beverages on the bottom of the cooler first then add ice on top. In the food cooler, put the ice first then the food on top.

3. Prepare as much food at home as possible. Here are some ideas, tips and suggestions:

4. Chopped vegetables, divided into separate baggies

5. Cheese cubes

6. Sandwiches, prepared, wrapped in aluminum foil and placed in individual freezer baggies

7. If you are planning to grill hamburgers on the beach or at a park, make your burger patties at home. Place a piece of wax paper between each pattie and store in a large freezer bag.

8. Purchase separate squeeze condiment bottles that you use specifically for the boat.

9. Remove pickles with a small amount of juice from the jar and place in freezer bags. This is safer and will lighten the load.

10. Individually wrapped, sliced cheese needs to be placed in a freezer bag as well to prevent moisture from seeping in.

11. Tote bread, chips and other dry goods in cloth grocery bags.

12. Remember, drinking and driving don’t mix, even in a boat! If you are going to serve alcoholic beverages, make certain you have a designated driver for the boat!

How to make a Patriotic Windsock

Your kids will love helping with this! Or if they are old enough they can make it themselves!

• Cut the bottom off a cylinder shaped oatmeal container
• Wrap the oatmeal container in blue construction paper
• Cut out stars using white construction paper and glue to the blue construction paper around the cylinder.
• Cut some red and white stripes from crepe paper and glue or staple to one end of the cylinder.
• Punch 4 holes along the top of the cylinder, across from each other.
• Cut two pieces of string about a foot long. Tie the strings to the wind sock (tie the opposite ends of a string to holes on opposite sides of the cylinder).
• Tie a longer piece of string to the smaller pieces – you’ll hang the wind sock from this piece of string.

Have a safe and happy 4th of July!

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Related posts:

1. Making the Fourth of July Festive on a Tight Budget
2. Fourth of July-Beach Style
3. Inexpensive Fourth of July Party
4. Party in the Park on the Fourth of July
5. Cool Salads for a Hot Fourth of July

Tags: food ideas, fourth of july, water