8 Fresh and Fruity Ideas for the Fourth of July

Decorations and fireworks don’t have to be the only thing that’s red, white, and blue this Fourth of July. Serve your guests a dessert tray that pops with American pride. The simplest and most creative of these patriotic desserts can be made with fruit and ingredients already found in your kitchen. Enjoy!

	1. American Flag Fruit Kabobs Make your own American flag fruit kabobs, thanks to this idea from Menus4Moms.com. Start by stringing strawberries (or raspberries) and bananas interchangeably onto a bamboo skewer to mimic the red-and-white striped pattern. Thread blueberries onto the tops of four sticks to give your flag its stars. Share and enjoy!
	2. Patriotic Toast Spruce up your morning with a little patriotic spirit, courtesy of MealPlanningMommies.blogspot.com. Top off your typical jam and jelly-spread toast with bananas and blueberries. Spread raspberry or strawberry jam onto your toast to serve as a red base for the bananas that will go on top. Cut the banana slices in half and line them in rows to act as stripes, while blueberries can be placed in the top left corner to act as stars. - Advertisement -
	3. Triple Berry Frozen Smoothies Blueberries, strawberries, yogurt, milk, honey, and ice cubes are all you need to make these triple-layer smoothies from InKatrinasKitchen.com. Use all ingredients to make each layer, alternating between the blueberries. Let each layer sit in the freezer for 10 minutes at a time and in 30 minutes you will have a delicious smoothie worthy of an Instagram upload. Making these smoothies also doubles as a great project for children.
	4. Patriotic Parfait Go festive this Fourth of July with layered blueberries, strawberries (or raspberries), and cream cheese with whipping cream in your very own patriotic parfait. Vanilla yogurt can be substituted for the cream cheese for a more healthy option. Check out the full recipe here, from Recipeboy.com.
	5. Red, Watermelon and Blue Fruit Sundaes  Want to make your ice cream festive for Fourth of July? STL Cooks suggests swapping chocolate chips for fruit as your sundae topping. Watermelon, strawberries, raspberries and blueberries sprinkled onto vanilla ice cream makes for a patriotic twist on this classic summer treat.
	6. Sweet Summer Ice What’s better than fresh fruit? Frozen fruit. NewlywedMcGees.blogspot.com offers an easy idea: Freeze your blackberries, strawberries, blueberries and raspberries by putting them into water-filled ice cube trays. These ice cubes are a much more fun (and festive) way to flavor your water.
	7. Layered Firecracker Drinks Quench your thirst with a red, white and blue drink, thanks to this idea from InKatrina’sKitchen.com. Pour cranberry juice into a glass and pile ice cubes to its top. Add a layer of pina colada-flavored juice, to fill the glass’ middle and top the glass off with a layer of blue G2 Gatorade. Plenty of ice cubes and a steady pouring hand are the key to making this drink look like a firecracker popsicle. Boom. - Partner Content - Engage New Audiences and Increase Your Profits Ask the Digital Expert: Does Email Marketing Still Work for Businesses in and Around the Main Line?
	8. Rice Krispies Sparklers Give the kids a tastier (and much safer) version of a sparkler this Independence Day. Mom bloggers 5MinutesForMom.com suggest threading blueberries onto a bamboo skewer, using a strawberry as a base and top it off with star-shaped Rice Krispies treats. Delicious and dazzling.