For my granddaughter's 2nd birthday, we had a Barnyard Bash.
The invitations were red barns cut out of cardstock that read "Baa, Oink, Quack, Moo, Mackinsey is turning two, Please join us for a Barnyard Bash at 'Old McStephenson Farm'" date, time, etc. For decorations, we used lots of balloons and streamers, red bandana table cloth. We found plates, cups and napkins at the Card and Party factory that were trimmed in red bandana and had a cowboy on a horse. The cake was a barn with hay stacks, pigs, cows, chickens, horses. For the punch,I bought several packs of Koolaid coolers in the plastic bottle and put them in ice in a #3 washtub. Along with the cake, we had homemade chocolate chip cookies and ice cream. We had different animals in pins close to the party that the kids could look at, & some they could pet, such as miniature horses, a lama painted with different colored spots, a pig, baby puppies, a cat, ducks, chickens, & cows. Each child recieved a straw hat, bandana and stick horse at the beginning of the party, that they took home after the party. We cut horse heads out of thin plyboard and nailed them to 2" square boards cut to lengths for 2-3 years old, tied rope around the neck for a halter/reins for stick horses. They used the stick horses to play rodeo and stick horse barrel races. We had an old Farmall B tractor that my husband restored, we used it to pull the trailor loaded with square bales of hay for the hayride. As he pulled us down through the pastor, over the tank dam, and through the woods we sang Old McDonald had a Farm. For games we had pony rides, pin the tail on the donkey, stick horse barrel races, hayride, roping the steer, and a pinata shaped like a horse filled with candy and toys. Party favors were a foam book shaped like farm animals , a twisted straw, farm animal blow toy, farm animal cards, bopping balloons, and farm animal sunglasses (all found at the dollar store) I wrapped these in a clear bag and tied the top with jute. On the invitations we asked each child to wear denim overalls or jeans. They were all tired and dirty cowpokes by the end of the party, but they all had a good time.
