If you're planning on hosting a Fourth of July party on your houseboat, why not make it a little extra special with some quick and easy Independence Day ideas? With themed food, games, and decorations, you can invite even more patriotism onboard without breaking the bank or breaking much of a sweat, either. Check out some great ideas below!

Food

Stepping it up a notch with your party punch is surprisingly easy, according to this clever trick shared by Colleen and Brianna on their Like Mother, Like Daughter blog. You just need to be smart with your three drinks’ sugar contents and use plenty of ice. To make a nice Independence Day themed drink, they filled a punch dispenser all the way to the top with ice. Next, they filled one third of the dispenser with their most sugary drink (in their example, fruit punch). Slowly pouring the next drink onto the ice cubes to gently disperse the stream, they added the second sugariest drink (Blueberry Pomegranate Gatorade), then did the same for the third drink (Sprite Zero). There you are! A beautifully layered beverage.

To appease anyone with a sweet tooth, another yummy and festive idea is whipping up some Fireworks Pudding Cookies by Dorothy Kern on CrazyForCrust.com. You can find the recipe and directions here—and rest assured this is an easy cookie to put together. Full of red and blue sprinkles and Fourth of July M&Ms, these cookies bake in 9-11 minutes and are very soft and chewy.

Games

To put a new twist on an old classic, touch up your ladder golf frame with red, white and blue paint. In a matter of minutes, you’ve got a perfectly patriotic game ready to go! MomEndeavors.com also has instructions for crafting your own ladder golf frame out of PVC pipe if you don’t already have one and are feeling in the mood to tackle a pretty straightforward project.   

If your family and friends are into ring toss, try playing it with glow sticks! Shared on Listotic.com from the Momma Did It blog, you can throw together your own ring toss set by using whatever you have on hand for a pole and snapping together some glow sticks of whatever size you want to use as rings. Or, you can cheat a little and just buy a Glow Ring Toss Game on Amazon.com for 8 bucks. Either way, this is a game you can play into the night, right up until the fireworks start!

Decorations

For a soft touch of warm light, check out these simple Tin Can Luminaries on Crafts-For-All-Seasons.com. Basically, save some soup cans and fill them with a mixture of water and sand to freeze. Punch holes in the side (stars, fireworks, you name it) with a hammer and nail before letting the contents inside melt and dry. Then touch up the cans with some festive red, white, and blue stripes and throw some tea candles inside, and you have a simple but tasteful decoration that bonuses as a light source for a late-night barbecue party.

Easy to hang around the top deck or in your living room, throwing together this denim and burlap lighted garland by Jill on CreateCraftLove.com would be a cinch. Jill explains that all you need is a strand of white mini lights, red and white burlap rolls, and a denim roll. Simply cut strips of each and tie them along your strand of lights, and voila—an easy and classy Fourth of July garland to touch up your houseboat with a little extra patriotic charm!

Photos (in order from the top) credited to Like Mother, Like Daughter blog, CrazyForCrust.com, MomEndeavors.com, Momma Did It blog, Crafts-For-All-Seasons.com, and CreateCraftLove.com