Fun and Simple Ways to Dress Up Your Pets for the 4th of July

When it comes to celebrating the 4th of July, our family doesn't stop at just decorating the house in red, white, and blue. We like to celebrate Independence Day in a big way with flags, buntings, colorful fireworks and patriotic clothing.

Dressing up the pets for the 4th of July is also part of our family tradition. While most pet stores carry cute patriotic outfits for dogs and cats, our family thinks it's much more fun to assemble our own outfits using colorful tees, scarves, ribbons, or dollar store finds. Need inspiration? Here's some of the ways we dress up our pets for our family 4th of July celebrations.

The $5 graphic tee. Retailers such as Old Navy, Shopko, and Target all sell 4th of July inspired graphic tee shirts priced at $5 or less. With sizes ranging from newborn to Big Man, finding a cheap tee shirt to fit your pet is really quite easy. To show off the colorful tee shirt graphics, the shirts must be put on the pet backwards so the front side of the shirt is on the pet's back. If the shirt hem rests a little too loose around your pet's waist, twist the extra fabric into a tight spiral shape and tuck beneath the shirt to hold in place.

4th of July bows. For pets who don't handle clothing well, a simple, patriotic bow around the neck is a colorful alternative. You can easily make your own custom bow using an assortment of patriotic themed fabric ribbon which is available at all craft and fabric stores. If bow making leaves you nervous, ready-made fabric bows with a twist tie back are a good alternative. These ready made bows can be attached directly to a pet collar and are found at most discount stores for $2 or less.

Patriotic bandanna. While you can buy your own 4th of July bandannas from the pet store, it's much more fun -- and cheaper -- to make your own. Fabric stores carry a great assortment of patriotic prints priced as low as $3 a yard. A 2/3 yard panel is enough to make four no-sew bandannas.

Headbands, tiaras, and party hats. Dollar stores and discount retailers carry a great assortment of child-sized hats, tiaras, and 4th of July headbands which will work for pets too. To keep the headgear from sliding off, a couple of rubber bands can be slip knotted over the ends and tied together to make a chin strap.

More by this contributor:

Easy to make 4th of July party favors.
How to make a 4th of July parade noisemaker.
How to plan a 4th of July treasure hunt for the kids.