Spend your July 4th partying like a Revolutionary. That’s right, rock it 1776 style. Independence Day means abolish traditions. You don’t have to celebrate like you did last year. Instead exert your independence, change things up, party like John Hancock, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson and Roger Sherman. You can march to the beat of your own drum.
1776 Party Check List:
Eat local fruits and vegetables.
Travel by foot, paddle boat or horse.
Visit your local village bake house.
Begin your day with a bowl of porridge or a bowl of cornmeal pudding called mush…or a beer.
Use only reusable bowls, cups and utensils. (In Colonial Times, people often travelled with their own untisils because they were hard to come by.)
Keep a bag of parched corn beaten into a powder with you in case you get hungry. I mean, you’d have to be REALLY hungry, but apparently it will fill you up fast. It was the Colonial power bar.
Read the Declaration of Independence.
Put down all digital devices & play a few (odd) colonial games. Or some more common colonial games, like hopscotch.
Wait a minute, it’s starting to sound like a lot of work to party like it’s 1776. I don’t even have time to plant and harvest my grain so I can make my breakfast beer before July 4th – an aMAZEing amount of work! Ba dum chh.
Ok, how about just a 1776 commemorative party? With a few of these practical things to do:
Ditch disposables – You can take your own plate and utensils to a party that might have disposables, or if you are planning a party, make sure there aren’t disposable items. Sure, it might be more cleaning later, but be glad you’re not cleaning your dish in a creek in the dark.
Buy Local – No matter where you are, there is local food, local crops, local beers, local coffee, etc. And they are probably fresher and better than the ones trucked in.
A/C – In Colonial times there was no air conditioning. A/C is a huge power hog. Dial it back to use less energy when you’re not in your home or business. To remember, you can pretend A/C stands for Always Colonial.
Carpool – Wherever you’re going, try to carpool… and be glad you’re not all packed in the back of a hot and stuffy horse drawn carriage. Unless you actually have a sweet horse drawn carriage, then definitely drive that on the 4th! That would be a rad ride.
UNPLUG! – This will make you so much happier for the 4th, and will also save electricity. Unplug. All of your devices. Do you really need to look at a screen all day? Nope. Turn it off. You don’t need it. For one day you can enjoy the great outdoors, the company of friends or a good book. Seriously, turn off all your devices, go ahead and do it now. Right now. Actually, check out this Historic Foodie Blog, THEN turn it off.
Happy 4th of July from RagBags.
May your day be happy and revolutionary.
(Now you can turn it off.)
