Whether you are celebrating the 4th of July, Memorial Day, or just summertime in America, these easy crafts are not only fun to create, but make festive decorations when you’re through. With a few simple and affordable tools, you and your family can enjoy the process of making the crafts as much as the finished project. Here are 7 simple crafts for your next patriotic party.

Wind Streamer: Using an oatmeal can, construction paper, and a roll or two of paper streamers, you can create a festive wind streamer perfect for the porch or picnic area. Simply cover the can with blue paper, adhere cut out stars and stripes, then affix long streamer tails to the bottom of the can. Now enjoy watching the stars and stripes flutter in the breeze!

Statue of Liberty Hats: Take a paper plate and cut in half, then paint blue. Use a hole punch to punch a hole on either end of the plate, then tie a thin elastic string to either end to create the band that will hold the crown on the head. Cut out large triangles from red and white foam paper, then attach to the plate with foam adhesive dots to make the spikes in the crown. Cut out white foam stars and decorate the blue part of the crown for a finishing touch.

Sand Candles: Start by gathering colored sand in red, white, and blue, available at your local craft store. Take a drinking glass that is slightly larger than a small glass votive candle holder and pour a bit of sand into the bottom of the drinking glass, then set the candle holder inside (you’ll want the top of the holder to sit just below the rim of the glass). Using a funnel, layer other colors of sand in the gap between the drinking glass and the candleholder, for a fun and easy patriotic centerpiece.

Handprint Flag T-shirts: Start with a white t-shirt (fun to make one for each member of the family!) and fabric glue in red and blue. Pour the blue paint onto a plate and have your child place his or hand palm-down in the pain, carefully covering the entire palm evenly. Next, stamp the handprint onto the upper left area of the front of the t-shirt, leaving plenty of room to add red stripes to create an American flag.

Fireworks Wand: Buy a few small rolls of red, white, and blue wire star garland from your hobby store, and adhere it to a wooden dowel or pair of disposable chopsticks with red or blue floral tape, leaving enough of the garland trailing off the end of the sticks to look like an exploding sparkler. Wrap the rest of the handle in the tape so that all stays secure and make a nice, neat handle.

Popsicle Flag Banner: Take popsicle sticks from your craft store and paint or color a few in red, a few in blue, and a few in white. Create the stripes of your popsicle flag by alternating three red sticks with two shite sticks, and glue together. Cut the blue sticks in half, and layer three of the halves in the top left corner to create the blue field for your stars, then glue to the red and white layer. Add paper cut out stars to the blue square to complete your flag. Repeat for more flags and then glue each to a long ribbon to create a decorative garland.

Clothespin Wreath: Start with a wire wreath frame from your craft store and spray paint it white. Take a 100-pack of clothespins, and divide into three groups, spray painting one group blue, one red, and one white. After all dry, clip the clothespin to the middle rings of the hanger, creating a flag pattern with the colors (clip 15 blue, then alternate 5 red with 5 white, for the remainder of the wreath). Make sure to fit the pins in tightly together to create the wreath shape. Glue paper stars to the blue section, let dry, and hang!

Written by: Megan Hammons