I was all set to mention the lump of black rock with the bicentennial logo etched on the face when I noticed I already had, nine years ago. It turns out it’s likely a lump of coal. Oh, and I also have a whole mess of bicentennial quarters squirreled away in various places. I used to always save them when I was a kid.
Thanks, that made me smile.
MLS, Canadian and missed our Centennial by 2 years.
Heh, Norway celebrated its centennial in 2005 and will be celebrating its bicentennial in 2014 
This is because Norway really has two founding, or re-founding, dates: its own constitution in 1814, and the end of its union with Sweden in 1905.
The centennial in 2005 was downright low-key compared to the US in 1976. I’ve put the guys on notice though that if they start painting the fire hydrants red-white-and-blue in 2014, I’m going abroad for a while, because I’ve been there, done that 
Your themed room sounds like fun, voguevixen.
Most of my friends were working on bicentennial quilts that year and I was working on a baby boy. He and I both tried but we missed the Fourth of July by four days. I’d said that if he was born on the fourth I was going to give him the middle name of George.
My suggestion is to look for the JC Penney catalogues from 1975 - 76; there’ll be tons of stuff in them to look for.
Back in those days, Ben Franklin was kind of like a low-key Woolworth’s and had tons of stuff. I remember buying some three-ring binders with Bicentennial themes (I think I might actually still have them somewhere), Bicentennial pencils and pens, and I do remember seeing a square trunk with stars and stripes on it.
You could also look around for one of these with the Bicentennial theme. I remember actually seeing one at a lot, and it was very pretty in real life: http://www.carlustblog.com/2009/01/buick-free-spirit-indy-500-pace-car-replicas.html
My parents still have a bicentennial dish set and a made-to-look-old candelabra from then. If they hadn’t been newly expecting a baby that July 4th, maybe they would have spent more money on bicentennial crap. Who knows?
I had this poster.
As we approach the 10th anniversary of this zombie thread from 2001, I think this new relaxed policy sucks.