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Arts & Entertainment

Sparkling Fun For The Fourth!

Fun Facts, Bright Lights, Patriotic Pop!

The Fourth, by the numbers:

Did you know that $3.2 million is the dollar value of U.S. imports of American flags in 2010?

More than half of this amount ($2.8 million) was for U.S. flags made in China.

In 2010, the dollar value of exports of U.S. flags was $486,026. Mexico was the leading customer, purchasing $256,407 worth.

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Fifty is the number of U.S. flags that are flown 24 hours a day at the Washington Monument.

Other places where American flags are flown continuously include Fort McHenry in Baltimore, MD; the United States Marine Corp Memorial (Iwo Jima) in Arlington, VA; on the Battle Green in Lexington, MA; and over the White House in our nation's capitol.

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The Lone Star State is the leader in the production of cattle and calves.

The chicken on your barbecue grill probably came from one of the top broiler-producing states: Georgia, Arkansas, Alabama, North Carolina and Mississippi.

The lettuce in your salad or on your hamburger probably was grown in California, which accounts for nearly three-quarters of  U.S. lettuce production.

Fresh tomatoes in your salad most probably came from Florida or California, which, combined, produced more than two-thirds of U.S. tomatoes.

The ketchup on your hamburger or hot dog probably came from California, which accounts for 95 percent of processed tomato production.

As to potato salad or potato chips or fries, Idaho and Washington produce about one-half of the nation's spuds.

For dessert, six states — California, Florida, Texas, Georgia, Arizona and Indiana — combined to produce about 80 percent of watermelons last year. 

All of this comes courtesy of Fun Facts for the Fourth!

Fourth of July lanterns

Now let's add some flare to your Fourth festival and have the kids join in, while making these lights.

They look great hanging from a string with battery-operated tea lights inside them, and they are so easy, even a small child can help make them.

To begin, you will need some red white and blue paper. I also used some scrap booking paper.

Picture 1 - Materials

Take a 9 x12 sheet of red white or blue construction paper and fold in half the long way. Now mark one inch in on the open folded side and one inch apart going up and down the short side.

Picture  2 - Measurements

This will leave you a line to cut to. Do not cut beyond this line! Now cut strips about 1 inch wide to the edge but not beyond where you folded. Add different colored papers to decorate the top and the bottom. I used scrapbook paper and I also used white paper that I colored stripes on.

Cut the paper into strips and attach to the top and bottom of your lantern.

Next, cut a handle about 1 inch wide.

Picture 3 - Banding

I cut a circle about ½ inch bigger than the base of my lantern and made slits around the edge

Picture 4 -Base

I then glued this base to the inside bottom of the lantern. It now will hold a battery-operated tea light for the holiday.

Picture 5 - Glued base

Now cut out stars or buy stars to glue onto the sides.

Picture 6 - Stars

I like to make a bunch of these and string a ribbon with these tied in between.

Pictures 7 - Hang


Fireworks punch

Make a red and blue drink mix drink and freeze them as ice cubes. I used a star shaped ice cube tray.

Picture 8 - Ice cubes

In a cup, pour a clear lemon lime or ginger ale type soda. Add a few red and blue ice cubes and watch the bubbles appear. As the ice begins to melt in the glass, the bubbles will surface and they are red and blue. It is fun to watch them rise to the surface. They begin to look like fireworks in the sky.

Picture 9 - Sparklers (although it was hard to capture on camera)

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