23 Potluck Themes to do in July 2023

July is the middle of summer with the kids out of school and the temperatures are starting to get really hot. This means lots of fun in the sun and lots of great food. Let’s have a potluck in July with friends, family, and or co-workers, but what theme should we do?

Every party is better with a theme, so we have compiled a fun list of Potluck Themes to do in July. Some are silly and some are more serious, but they are all the starting point that you need to host an awesome party!

July Potluck Themes

We have formed a list of different food themes that would be great for your next potluck. These will work for pretty much any event that food is brought to enjoy and will work for breakfasts, lunches, and dinners too.

National Creative Ice Cream Flavors Day (July 1)

Not that we really need a specific day to have an Ice Cream Social, but there is a perfect day to have one! July 1st falls on a Saturday this year, so what better day to have an Ice Cream Potluck! Invite your friends, family, and even kids over to share unique flavors of ice cream. I would even go so far to have an Ice Cream Champion for making the best unique ice cream flavor.

National Eat your Beans Day (July 3)

Of course, on National Eat your Beans Day, we should have a potluck dedicated to beans! Before you think I am crazy, keep in mind that chocolate comes from the Cacao bean. Think of all the fun and possibly vegetarian options we will have for dishes. Let’s make some hummus, baked beans, white bean soup,7 bean salad, black bean burgers, and of course something chocolate for dessert!

Independence Day (July 4)

To celebrate July 4th, we can have an outdoor barbeque potluck which is pretty common, or we can go for a Color Party! Let’s bring dishes that are red, white, and or blue! So many foods fit into these colors and we can combine the colors for even more fun. Think of the blueberries, raspberries, potatoes, shrimp, sausage, and so much more options. (If you need inspiration, check out Blue Foods, Red Desserts, and Red Side Dishes.)

National Graham Cracker Day (July 5)

On the 5th of every July, we celebrate this humble graham cookie/cracker. For the more creative folks, I would challenge you to have a potluck where we try to incorporate graham crackers into a dish. I see lots of fun snacks and desserts from smores to graham cracker crust pies!

National Fried Chicken Day (July 6)

Yummy! Fried chicken is one of my favorite comfort foods because it is usually surrounded by all my other favorite comfort foods! I see a Picnic Potluck where everyone pitches in a dish that goes well with Fried Chicken. We can have mac and cheese, potato salad, watermelon, corn on the cobb, green beans, and maybe even apple pie with vanilla ice cream to top it off!

National Macaroni Day (July 7)

Macaroni may be a simple pasta shape but it can really do so much! We can have a whole potluck lunch dedicated to dishes made with macaroni. I see macaroni salad, mac and cheese, chili mac, goulash, and more! We could even have the ultimate Mac and Cheese Cook off to see who makes the best in our circle.

Video Games Day (July 8)

At one point, most of us play a video game and have you ever noticed that most video games somehow have food in them? Mario is always looking for mushrooms, Pokémon has eggs, Strawberry Cake from Harvest Moon, a bunch of Fruit in PacMan, and the Ninja Turtles were always down for pizza. Let’s throw a potluck lunch or dinner, where every guest brings a dish inspired by a Video Game! For extra fun, let the guests guess what game each dish is from!

National Pina Colada Day (July 10)

Pina Coladas are typically made with coconut, pineapple, and rum. These 3 ingredients can be used a million different dishes, so let’s throw a Pina Colada Potluck! If this is a work event, we will have to skip the rum and just focus on pineapple and coconut but there is plenty of sweet and savory dishes that use one of both. If this is an after work event, we can also change the theme a little to foods that pair well with Pina Coladas! I see shrimp skewers, Caribbean or Jerk pork, Jamaican rice, fried plantains. Lots of fun island flavors available for this potluck!

National Cheer Up The Lonely Day (July 11)

This special day always falls on July 11th and what better way to cheer someone up then to bring in some good food! We can have a potluck that is all about bright and cheery food or we can just have a great meal of comfort foods. Either way I predict a lot of smiles!

National 7-Eleven Day (July 11)

Since July 11 is literally 7-11 on that calendar it makes sense to take this day to celebrate the convenience store chain. I am thinking this is a perfect day to have a Potluck Party inspired by items you would typically find at a gas station. Follow my train of thought here, I see dishes that use beef jerky, nuts, chips, and even candy! Let your guests get super creative and make some awesome food for this party. (Pro Tip: gas station food is typically very expensive especially if you are serving a crowd, so I suggest that guests don’t actually buy their ingredients at the convenience store! Hop on over to your regular grocery store for this one!)

Eat Your Jello Day (July 12)

Did you know Jell-O (aka gelatin) has been around since the 15th century? WOW that is a long time. Jello is a also a very well-known potluck food, so I say we embrace the Jello mold and have a Jello Potluck! Grab an old cookbook from the 50s or cruise on over to Pinterest. There are tons of savory and sweet jello concoctions that we can try!

Embrace Your Geekness Day (July 13)

I think we all go through a point in our lives where we feel like a geek or we geek out on trends in pop culture. Maybe you missed Video Games Day, so for this Potluck Theme we will be Geeking Out on foods related to all things music, games, comic books, science, or popular culture. So we could have spinach for Popeye, Orange Juice for Donald Duck, Creamsicles for Thor, Tacos for Zatanna, or even nachos for Batman! This could be so fun and we can even ask guests to dress in their Geeky Best to make this a true Theme Party!

National Corn Fritters Day (July 16)

Maybe Corn Fritters is a little too specific for a whole meal, so let’s celebrate with a Potluck dedicated to Corn or to Fritters! Savory corn dishes are easy with cornbread, corn casserole, and corn on the cobb, but there are a few sweet corn dishes like caramel corn and cornmeal cookies. If we go for the fritter option, we actually have a lot of choices because a fritter is really anything breaded or in dough that is then fried! Examples of fritters would be fish and chips, apple fritters, beignets, croquettes, falafels, hush puppies, and more!

National Yellow Pig Day (July 17)

This is an actual day that is all about the number 17 and it really started back in the 1960s by mathematicians. Of course we need to celebrate this truly weird holiday with a Potluck Party and I am thinking we have to have a color party! Let’s bring all the Yellow Side Dishes and Yellow Desserts.

National Sour Candy Day (July 18)

No, I am not crazy enough to do a potluck all about the mouth puckering sour candy, but this does give me a fun idea for a Sweet & Sour Theme! I would have all my guests pull a “sweet” or “sour” from a hat and then bring a dish that matches what they pulled. Sour could be dishes that use limes, lemons, vinegar, or buttermilk. We could even throw a couple “Sweet & Sour” in the hat just for some extra fun. Items that are both sweet and sour could be meatballs, chicken, and even a peach lime salsa. There is a lot of dishes that fall into sweet or sour, so we could have a nice spread!

National Moon Day & Space Exploration Day (July 20)

I love a random holiday and I really love making them into Potluck Themes! Let’s have a Moon Party and for foods we can have anything associated with the moon or outer space. Examples could be cheese (people thought the moon was made of cheese), Pop Rocks, and even moon shaped foods like melon balls and crescent shaped cookies. Let’s see just how creative our friends and family can be!

Pi Approximation Day (July 22)

If you missed out on Pi Day on 3/14, now you can celebrate Pi Approximation Day. Basically the fraction 22/7 works itself out to be almost Pi so 7/22 is just another day to celebrate Pi! This screams Pie Potluck Party, so we will be bringing all the food dishes related to pie. Now before you think we are having a dessert party, keep in mind there are Pizza Pies, Onion Pies, Meat Pies, and Tomato Pies. Get creative and bring a pie to share. We can even have a contest for Best Sweet Pie and Best Savory Pie!

National Day of the Cowboy (July 22)

This year National Day of the Cowboy falls on a Saturday, so let’s have a fun outdoor Potluck! Everyone can wear their Cowboy boots and hat, and then also bring a food associated with Cowboy or Cowgirl Life. Examples of dishes to bring would be beans and wienies, trail mix, biscuits, coffee, dried meats, and dried fruits. We can even bring foods that were cooked over a fire or that used a Dutch oven. There are tons of possibilities with this one!

National Drive Thru Day (July 24)

This is another silly holiday that celebrates the amazing 1947 introduction of the drive thru window for restaurants. I don’t typically recommend bring fast food or drive thru food to a potluck, but I do love a good Copycat recipe. So, for this Potluck Theme let’s bring copycat dishes of our favorite restaurant food. There are so many copycat recipes on Pinterest from Starbucks to Longhorns to Olive Garden. Make sure everyone brings a little sign for their dish, so we know what “restaurant” we are dining at with their contribution.

National Merry-Go-Round Day (July 25)

July has a bunch of whacky holidays and Merry-Go-Round Day is one of them. Since the whole point of a Merry-Go-Round is to go round and round, I am thinking our Potluck theme has to be round foods. We can have a round cheese ball, Jell-o molds, bread bowl dips, fruit pizzas, and even deviled eggs are round! This could be a great snack potluck party where we can play cards or board games that go around the table too!

National Refreshment Day (July 27)

Every year on July 27th, we celebrate those super refreshing drinks that taste so good in summertime. You know the lemonade, ice cold beer, iced tea, and even sparkly sodas. The drinks that refresh you from the heat and cool you down. These drinks are super tasty and lots of them can be used in cooking as well. I will be challenging my friends and family to make dishes that use a refreshing beverage! I’m thinking beer can chicken, beer chili, beer bread, blueberry lemonade squares, and even root beer cake. This one could get very interesting, and guests could try to guess what refreshment is in each dish!

National Lasagna Day (July 29)

Thankfully National Lasagna falls on a Saturday this year, and I think this is a great night to have a Potluck. Let’s have a couple of different lasagnas as the main dishes like a veggie version, a traditional version, and a chicken and white sauce lasagna. The guests can then bring dishes that pair well with lasagna like a Ceasar salad, garlic bread, antipasto platter, bruschetta, and of course tiramisu for dessert!

National Avocado Day (July 31)

Ohhhh I love avocados and they are actually very versatile! To celebrate this beautiful and tasty fruit (Spoiler Alert: avocados are actually berries with a single seed). We can either bring a dish that includes avocados like guacamole, avocado egg salad, or avocado brownies! Or as an alternative you bring a side dish or dessert that is Green!

Unique Potluck Themes to do in July

We hope this list of potluck themes inspire you to host a party with your friends, family, and or co-workers. We could all use a good meal and time to socialize, and potlucks are a great way to do that!

For more information about potlucks, check out “Potluck Wedding: Tips and Tricks” and “How Much Food to Bring to a Potluck?”