Did you know Memorial Day was originally Decoration Day and dates back to the Civil War? It wasn’t until 1967 that the federal government changed the name to Memorial Day, and it became the day when all lives lost in battle were honored. On this day many people visit military cemeteries and place flowers on the graves of fallen soldiers. There’s even a poem, “In Flanders Fields” written by Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae, which refers to poppies, which is why poppy flowers are the official flower of this holiday.
Nonetheless, for most of us, Memorial Day is the unofficial start of summer, and when most of us deem it okay to wear white. It’s also the first three day weekend most of us have with our kids, which begs the question, “What to do?”
1) Fly flags! You can buy them for cheap at craft stores, grocery stores, or even party stores. (You can also make them. There are some cute ideas on Pinterest using popsicle sticks or even just drawing them to hang inside. Get crafty and share!) Small ones in your lawn do just as well as large ones. Some stores even sell shirts with flags on them or you can just wear red, white and blue. The point is to educate our children about the red, white, and blue and help build patriotism.
2) Go to a parade. Most towns have a Memorial Day parade, full of veterans and other service people, and what nicer way to respect those who dedicate their lives to protecting our freedom. Here’s a parade list, to help you find one near you.
3) Eat red, white and blue foods! This is my favorite because you can get the kids involved. Here are 3 really simple recipes I discovered a few years back:
a) Take a yellow box cake and bake it in a rectangular pan. Then, I use cool whip to ‘frost’ it, and using strawberries and blueberries, I make the stripes of a flag. (You can cube up watermelon, bananas and blueberries to create an even healthier ‘flag’.)
b) You can use star cookie cutters and cut out watermelon stars and make a ‘salad’ of stars, blueberries and mini marshmallows.
c) Kick your popcorn up a notch and add some white chocolate and red and blue sprinkles. Pop the popcorn as usual; then put it in a large pan or cookies sheet. Melt the chocolate and then pour all over the popcorn. Add the sprinkles and mix.
BONUS: Listen to patriotic music while cooking or driving all weekend. If you are a Pandora or Spotify listener, you can easily program a station. Otherwise, a quick search with your preferred music style is easy enough to do.
How do YOU plan on celebrating Memorial Day?
