For the 4th of July this year we decided to do a spin on burgers and hot dogs.  Everyone always thinks that these parties take me a lot of time so this time I decided to time myself.  I worked for about an hour on Wednesday and another hour and a half on Thursday.  On the 4th I only spent about 15 minutes putting everything out and making it look just right.

This year We did a build your own slider and sausage bar.  I created recipe cards for a few different combinations of burgers and sausages just in case there were to many choices. 

I did not label all the food.  I felt there would be to many labels and not enough food.  So this time I only labeled the burgers, turkey and beef, and the different types of sausages.  Everything else was pretty self explanatory.

For the table I didn’t go totally Red, White, and Blue.  I was trying for something a little more elegant.  I think it worked out well.  I only wish that the tulips, my mom’s favorite, had been the deeper red that they had had the week before. That will teach me to wait until 2 days before to look for decorations.

For the buffet I prepped everything the days before.  I cut the onions, tomatoes, pickles, olive, well you get the picture, and stored them in plastic bags.  Note to self, store the onions in a freezer bag or your whole refrigerator will smell.

The day before, I cooked the onions, bacon and bell peppers. I also put mixed up the hamburgers and covered them on a plate with plastic wrap.  On the day of the party I just put everything into the serving bowls and sent my husband out to the BBQ to cook off the meat.  All in all it was a relatively easy party to throw together.