Our family has always hosted our annual Fourth of July celebration on the Saturday prior to the 4th of July. It traditionally features a massive water balloon fight, several kegs of beer, an amazing firework show, and most importantly, excellent displays of food. We always have something catered, usually chicken and various sandwiches, potato salads, sushi dishes, etc. One year we hired a pig roaster, and it was exciting, but simply wasn't cost effective at all. Last year, however, we decided to do a clambake celebration, and it was the best 4th of July party in our family history.

If you have a catered party in the summer like ours, I think you should have the caterers serve seafood. You are going to spend a good sum of money on catering, and for just a little bit more money, you could serve interesting seafood rather than the run-of-the mill catered food like chicken and macaroni that you often find at these events.

For the last couple of years there have been approximately 200 people to our 4th of July parties. Experience tells us that it is not likely for all 200 to be there at the same time, but an overall estimate for this year is the same as usual. I wouldn't suggest throwing a clambake celebration with less than 40 guests, due to it being a little wasteful. If you expect more than 40 participants though, a party of this kind might be fun!

The clambake celebration that we hosted was obviously through a catering company. We ordered a full menu, including clams, mussels, lobsters, and quahogs. They bring over live lobster, and kill/cook them in front of you. Half of the fun (both for the children and the adults) is to watch the showmanship of the chefs doing this. They also have a lot of rocks and seafood laid out that they serve the food on top of.

When we purchased, we chose the "standard clambake," but they also offered a "New England clambake." The difference in price between the two choices was negligible but the New England one seemed to have more items from that area. The standard clambake was perfectly fine for my needs. I don't have any experience to comment on the New England clambake but I wouldn't mind trying it.

We are glad to announce this years clambake celebration party on July 4th. The planing has been done already, we can't wait for it to be July! Serving clambake was such a success last year and we expect the same for this independence day. Make sure not to miss the fireworks and the water balloon fight! There will be plenty of beer.