BARNYARD BASH - For my son's first birthday his gift from us was the Fisher-Price Power Wheels Bubble Tractor. Working from that I decided upon a barnyard theme.
From my local educational aid shop I purchased red (15ft) & white (8ft) bulletin board paper from which I created a barn facade that decorated the double doors as guests entered. 4 ft. of red on either side of the door and a roof along the top 14 ft. long. I covered the doors (each 3ft. wide) with white and drew out the X's like a barn door and used red tempera paint to fill in around. With the remaining white, I cut out the trim for the roof and side walls. Pales of hay sat at the door along with my nephews dog (tied up of course) wearing a red bandana. Inside I created a "corral" - I used round cardboard tubes painted brown for the posts and cut out cardboard painted brown for the fencing. Inside I borrowed a rocking horse and a hobby horse from friends for the smaller children to play on. I set up a table with pictures of farm animals and crayons for older children to color. For the food tables I covered in white and purchased chicken feeders from local feed store that I filled with "chicken feed" (chex mix & candy corn) for guests to snack. For lunch we served "pigs in the blanket" (hot dogs wrapped in croissants), chilli (to either cover hot dog or eat separately), chips (can also be used to make frito pie), cheese, onions, lemonade. I had a local cake maker make a large " 1 " and used pieces from my sons Little People Farm Set as toppers. I decorated room in red, yellow & green balloons and pales of hay. Also had a live rabbit in a cage. Outside we had a hayride. For party favors I found old fashioned tops of plastic with a farm scene painted on top at a local children's store to which I tied a small stuffed farm animal and a thank you note. I received many compliments and for my first effort into the birthday party scene, I was very pleased.