Just because Valentine’s Day is over doesn’t mean the fun has to stop! President’s Day is right behind it, and there’s a lot of fun ways you can make this day a little special. I love any excuse to teach my kids about our wonderful nation, and to pay respect to the many people that helped make our lives possible today!

This year, I think we’ll definitely be focusing on George Washington himself! We are a homeschooling family, and this year for our history we’ve been focusing on the early years of our nation, including the Revolutionary War. And of course, we can’t talk about these crucial years of our nation’s history without learning about General George Washington! As we’ve been talking about the Revolutionary War and all that happened leading up to it, I am so grateful to those early colonists who had the courage to stand up to King George III and unite themselves despite differences. I love learning about George Washington, and the incredible leader and man he was. I want my kids to have the same respect for him, and I want them to remember what they learn- so why not throw a little food into the mix? ;)

You can start your day by serving hoecakes for breakfast. This was allegedly George Washington’s favorite breakfast! Made from a mixture of cornmeal, salt and water (and sometimes yeast and eggs), it’s essentially a cornmeal pancake! Fried in butter and topped with honey or maple syrup, this would be a sweet and spectacular tribute to honor a great man! Although if you really wanted to stay authentic, you would fry your hoe cake in beef fat instead of butter- but I’m pretty sure that’s not an essential ;).

Here’s a recipe from Mount Vernon to help you out:




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President Washington was also a big fan of melons! This would be easy to incorporate in any meals! You could just keep it simple with slices of watermelon, or make a fruit salad involving lots of different flavors (cantaloupe, honeydew, watermelon, and some pineapple for the sake of tastiness!).

He also loved mashed sweet potatoes. This is one of my personal favorites too! I would be curious to find out if he preferred sweet or savory when it comes to sweet potatoes- I’m definitely a fan of the savory! You could serve this as a side dish with a main course of fish- because apparently this was another favorite food of our first president!

And while we’re all familiar with the story of little George and the cherry tree, George was actually a fan of cherries- and he particularly loved cherry pie! No wonder we think of pie as being so American!

It could be fun to host a little tea party, in honor of the Boston Tea Party. You could host it in the afternoon, serving peppermint and other herbal teas along with foods that were popular to that time. If you wanted to condense your celebrations, you could host a little President’s tea party, and serve melons fruit salad, hoe cakes and little slices of cherry pie.

So many tasty ways to celebrate a day that honors one of the most important men in our nation’s history. Whether you decide to get creative with your food choices that day or not, be sure to take a minute to express gratitude for all those who helped build our country- especially George Washington!