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Easy 4th of July Centerpiece and Table Settings

By Rachel

published 06/28/2023

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Last Updated on November 17, 2023 by Rachel Granholm

Celebrate America with this easy 4th of July centerpiece and table settings!

Happy Independence Day! This Summer holiday is so much fun, full of barbecues, yard games and sparklers. If you are like me and enjoy putting together a festive table but don’t want to spend all day nor lots of dollars, I got you! You truly can create happy and well thought out celebratory decor on the cheap. Come along as I share this easy 4th of July centerpiece and table settings!

If you are new here, I’m Rachel, the writer and content creator here at The Antiqued Journey. I’m so happy to have you! I encourage you to stop by the ‘about me’ page to get to know me a little more. Here on the blog, you will find loads of inspiration for decorating with vintage and antique decor, simple DIY crafts and many thrifting adventures. If that interests you, I invite you to sign up for my e-mail. You will receive a free digital download as a thank you!

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We’ve been hosting various friends and family at our house over the past week which has gifted me the opportunity to create a pretty table! I love to provide our guests with decor that goes with the season but that is also functional for the occasion at hand.

For this tablescape, I mainly used items and decor that I already had to design it. I normally shy away from 4th of July decorations because they tend to be bright and overwhelming. However, the few ‘loud’ patriotic accessories that I found at the dollar store are toned down a tad when combined with my white dishes and other vintage decor. You can totally re-create this tablescape for yourself. Let me show you how!

Items Used for a July 4th Table

blue glass vase
paper star napkins
faux white flowers
burlap flags
mini tin buckets
blue stones
blue and white tablecloth
white dishes
clear drinking glasses

Shop 4th of July Table Decor on Amazon

Easy 4th of July Centerpiece and Table Settings

Let me walk you through the process that I used to create a 4th of July tablescape. As always, this is meant to be a guide. Take the ideas shared here and tweak them a bit to make it your own!

Choose a Base.

When creating a new tablescape, I always like to start with a clean slate. I remove all other decor, placemats, napkins, etc…and give the table a good cleaning.

Then, I figure out what to use for a base. Options for this could include a table cloth, table runner, extra fabric, or even burlap!

Tip: I always like to re-use linens that I already have at home but if not, thrift stores are amazing places to find base layers for super cheap!

For this particular table, I chose to use this vintage white and blue linen tablecloth that I recently found at an antique store. It’s a gentle nod to the patriotic holiday!

Build the Table Settings.

Next, to ensure that there was going to be enough room for my planned centerpiece, I put together each table setting.

When building a tablescape, I like each individual table setting to feel grounded. By this I mean having an anchor piece for the dinner plates to sit on top of.

So, to achieve this idea but in keeping with the overall color scheme, the first thing I did was make some fabric chargers. I didn’t have any other chargers to go with the patriotic theme and I had more of this thrifted fabric leftover, so I thought I would put it to use again!

To do this, I simply traced around a dinner plate but went slightly larger than the circumference so that the fabric would stick out a little from underneath.

Then I cut them out with and voila! Fabric chargers!

Next, I placed white dinner plates on top.

Tip: I highly recommend thrifting a set of white dishes. They are the perfect neutral color and super versatile. I found this beautiful set of dishes at the thrift store for under $20!

Then, I folded paper star napkins the long way and placed them on top of each dinner plate.

I kept the napkin longer in the front for an extra pop of color.

Then, I placed a salad plate on top of each napkin.

Lastly, I added flatware and drinking glasses.

Do you see how I have the area in the middle now to arrange my centerpiece? Just as I had hoped 🙂

Creating a 4th of July Centerpiece

The inspiration piece for my centerpiece is this vintage blue glass vase. I found it at an antique store many years ago. The deep blue color is just stunning!

I figured the 4th of July is an ideal time to use it.

Then, I placed 3 flags in it. I used these last year and still love them. They are burlap, making them feel more vintage-y.

Around the base of the vase, I haphazardly arranged some miniature tin pails that I found at the dollar store.

The vision for these little buckets, in my head, was to make it seem like they were being played with at the beach or a pool and just got thrown around as the day wore on.

I added two stems of white flow-y faux flowers amongst the flags for some texture.

They bring a bit more life to the display as a whole.

After that, I moved onto my favorite part of the whole centerpiece which are these blue stones. I found them at the dollar store and loved how they matched the color of my vase.

My idea for the blue stones was to place them in and around the tin pails to make it look like water spilling all over.

When I was little, I used to love filling buckets up with water and dumping it out. That’s the thought behind it!

There is no rhyme or reason to this process. I just randomly stuck the blue stones here and there, inside and out and in-between the buckets.

I tried to keep the stones as far away from the table settings as possible as to not interfere with the drinking glasses and such.

Aren’t they so cool?! Without the blue stones, this table would be a bit meaningless. But, since I created that little scene or story in my head beforehand, it all makes sense.

Finished Look

With that, we have a finished patriotic table, just waiting to host a fun 4th of July bash.

This is about as ‘loud’ as I can get with a red, white and blue table setting. It has enough of the theme that others will notice and understand the concept yet still neutral and vintage-looking.

I’ve waited a long time to use these white thrifted dishes in a tablescape but that wait was well worth it.

The dishes look gorgeous paired with the table linen!

As I stated at the beginning of this post, you truly don’t need to do much to create a delightful and pleasing patriotic table.

If you put your mind to it and get your creative thinking hat on, you will be amazed at what you can come up with!

Also, I will say that I didn’t think that this table was good enough to share with you all. My head was telling me to add more and put something else on top of each plate.

I stopped, looked at my hubby and he said, “Less is more most of the time.” So, I left it and am so happy with how my red, white and blue table looks! It’s simple and minimal yet vibrant and eye-catching.

Closing Tidbits

I truly hope this easy 4th of July centerpiece and table settings inspires you to use what you have! Decorating your home for seasonal holidays doesn’t need to be stressful nor expensive. Please don’t compare yourself against others. You do you! Go slowly and enjoy the process. Styling your home is like a work of art. Be proud of what you create! Be encouraged to design a festive home, finding joy and meaning along the way.