How to Make Patriotic Flowers

A red, white and blue flower bouquet is the perfect touch to a 4th of July picnic table. To represent the colors of the flag, you may need to use some food coloring to dye some of the flowers the correct colors, then decorate the vase of flowers as you see fit. This is a great craft for kids, and makes them feel like a big part of the celebration.

Instructions

Difficulty: Easy

Things You’ll Need:

• White and red roses
• Small flags
• Red, white and blue decorative ribbon
• Blue and red food coloring
• Water
• Vase for the bouquet
• 3 Small vases

1. Fill all three small vases with water. Leave one vase full of clear water. Add several drops of blue food coloring to one of the other two vases until it is a deep blue and the water is fully saturated with dye. Add several drops of red food coloring to the final vase until it is also saturated with dye.
2. Trim the ends of the white carnations and some of white roses. This will help the flowers soak up the water and coloring more easily. You can also trim the stems of the red roses and put them in the clear water to sit so they won't dry out while you are working with the other flowers.
3. Divide the white roses into halves. Half of these roses you will keep white, so put them in the clear water with the red roses. Put the other half of the white roses in the blue water to begin dying them blue.
4. Separate the carnations into thirds. One third will be kept white, so they can be placed in the clear water with the other roses. A second third should be placed in the red water to turn the carnations red, and the rest are put into the blue water with the roses to begin dying that set of carnations blue.
5. Allow the flowers to sit in the colored water for a few hours, or until they are the desired shade. The carnations will show more color around the tips of the flowers and should take on color faster than the roses due to the vascular system of the flower.
6. Rinse the ends of the stems of all the flowers under clear running water to rinse away any excess dye.
7. Arrange all the flowers to your liking in the large vase. This vase should be filled with clear water. You can add small American flags to the bouquet if you like to accentuate the colors of the flowers. Tie the red, white and blue ribbon around the vase to give the bouquet an extra patriotic touch.

Tips & Warnings

• Trim the ends of the flower stems to allow them to take up the colored water more quickly.
• You can make one flower three colors if you split the stem into thirds, place one third in clear water, one third in red water, and one third in blue water.
• Adult supervision may be needed for smaller children working on creating a patriotic flower bouquet. Little kids using food coloring can be quite messy.
• Make sure all dyes used to color flowers are non-toxic.

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