For my daughter's 2nd birthday we threw a "Barnyard Bash". Since it is December, we had to keep all the activities indoors, so having any live animals was out of the question. We announced the theme with the invitations which I made from red cardstock. I cut the cards in the shape of a barn, trimmed with white, with doors that opened revealing the party information inside. All the guests were asked to come in their overalls. On the actual party day, we started the theme with a big posterboard sign by the front door which read "Welcome to Isabel's Farm! - Grab a hat and a bandana and come join in the farmin' fun". We had a basket full of brightly colored bandanas and straw hats for the kids to wear. The center of all the decorations was a floor to ceiling barn front that we created out of a king size red sheet. We draped the sheet over the doorway into the dining room and cut a slit in the sheet so that everyone could go into the "barn". The sheet was pinned on top to make the slanted roof shape and painted with white paint to make the trim. The living room was the barnyard area where we set up some artificial turf fenced off on three sides with cardboard white picket fencing. Inside the fence we put inflatable animals from Oriental Trading. The kids loved to play in the "pen" with all the barnyard friends. On the floor next to the barn we placed bales of hay with more animals perched on top. The overall effect was fabulous! Inside the barn was where we had food set up and a table for coloring with lots of farm animal printables that I got off various free on-line sites. We also decorated with coordinating streamers, balloons, tableclothes and party ware. We used the area under the dining table as a coralle for the "pigs", which were pink balloons with faces painted on and curled ribbon for tails. One of the games was a "pig drive" where the kids tried to herd all the pigs from one room to the other without using their hands. The little kids didn't get the rules, but still had a great time with their "pigs". For food we served pizza, garden veggies, animal crackers - of course, cookies cut in animal shapes and a barnyard cake. The cake was a basic sheet cake iced with green icing with a decorating tip to make it look like grass. Then we crumbled honey graham crackers to make "dirt" for the paddock and chocolate graham crackers to make "dirt" for the vegetable garden. We fenced in the paddock area with pretzle sticks and placed a few plasic animals inside. We piped green sprouts on the vegetable garden to make rows of veggies. In the corner we placed a barn made from pound cake and frosted in red icing and piped white icing on the edges of the barn for the trim. The cake was great and the birthday girl got the special treat of being able to eat the barn! For goodie bags the kids got mini metal pails with their names painted on filled with baggies of animal crackers, animal stickers, and plastic animals. The kids also each got to take home their straw hats, bandanas and an inflatable animal. The birthday was such a success that my 4 year old said that she also wanted a "farm party" for her 5th birthday.