My family is traveling to San Antonio on Friday for our annual so-hot-we-might-melt long weekend in honor of my dad’s birthday. In his tony, tiny suburb, there’s a really cute small-town parade. It’s homey and adorable — everyone walks, there’s a pick-up band that plays “When the Saints” and if you don’t wear red, white, and blue, you’ll be kicked to the curb.

Last time I was caught by surprise and wore, at the last minute, my red-striped thermal pajama bottoms and a white gauze tunic.

This year I was going to try to do something a little better.

Alas, I don’t have much red in my closet. Not a lot of white, either.

But I just came across this pithy but inspiring post from the blogger behind What I Wore. With Jessica’s advice in mind — not to mimic the flag slavishly — I am going to wear that same white tunic, a denim pencil skirt, turquoise ballet flats (or black patent Gizeh Birkenstocks or old, old pewter sandals), and sparkly silver headbands from Anthropologie. (To me, the Fourth begs for silver rather than gold.)

Another option is to choose one of our flag’s colors and stick to that, and I like this option, too. Here’s Michelle Obama from last year, looking festive and appropriate, but not over-the-top. (This dress is described as black and white but I’d like to think it was really dark navy.)

And it’s not necessary to pick bright white, navy, and true red — as Jessica points out, variations of those colors look patriotic without looking goofy. This dress is one example, and you could pair it with an orange silk scarf, like this one by Eileen Fisher, for a festive, cool look.

What will you wear? Leave a comment and let us know!

(Ketura Persellin is an image consultant and fashion writer in Washington, DC. Sign up for her free email newsletter here and find out what satisfied clients say here.)