For my son Ryan's 4th birthday in September we decided to have a cowboy theme party. (We had just watched Toy Story 2 and were inspired!) Since we were in the middle of remodeling our house,
we needed to have the party at another location. So I looked online and found Morning Star Farms, a horse stables in nearby Novato, CA that does birthday parties and so we went out to see it.
They have a perfect set-up : fenced in party area with playground equipment, picnic tables and a small petting zoo! For their birthday parties they offer pony rides and a jumpy tent. We had
18 children coming to our party, so we opted for 2 ponies and the jumpy tent.
I sent out invitations using a cowboy theme with the Liability Release forms that needed to be signed by both parents before the kids could attend the party at the farm. For the hard copies, i used the Help Wanted Poster from Martha Stewarts website and pasted a photo of my son in a cowboy hat on it. On the back i wrote: Calling all Cowpokes! Dust off your boots and mosey on down to Ryan's 4th Birthday Roundup! Morning Star Farm CA (date & time) There'll be pony rides jumpy tent petting zoo cake pinata and tons of Happy Birthday fun!" For decorations I had a bouquet of party balloons cowboy print plastic table cloths western print plates napkins & and party bowls (from the Party Store). I made signs using the same wanted poster from the invitation plus signs with directions of how to play each game (below). I also put up a sign with the schedule of party events so everyone knew what to expect. The day of the party I set up games for the kids to play while they waited for the rides: 1.) "Yikes! There's a Snake in my Boot!"(kids toss 10 small rubber snakes in a cowboy boot) 2.) Cowboy Bean Bag Toss (from Oriental Trading) 3.) Squirt Gun target practice (kids used squirt guns to shoot down plastic bottles) and 4.) plastic Horse Shoe Game (from Oriental Trading). I also had a craft table set up with 3 crafts: 1.) Small brown paper bags with handles for kids to decorate with stickers Western Stamps & washable ink pads crayons markers etc .(all from Michael's Art Supplies). The finished bags were hung on a tree branch and saved to use for the pinata prizes. 2.) Scratch Art Cowboy Boot (OT) 3.) Western Sand Art Pictures (OT) For background music we brought a boom box with 2 Country Music compilation CD's (from the Party Store). When the kids arrived we gave them straw cowboy hats and bandanas (Craigs Wharehouse / OT). Then they could jump in the jumpy tent / play on playground / do crafts /play games/ ride ponies. Followed by the supervised petting zoo.( I brought hand sanitizer and wipes for their hands when they got out). The party was from 2 - 4:30 so for food I put out some snacks - juice boxes & waters kettle corn grapes cheese sticks pretzels tortilla chips salsa & guacamole dip carrots & celery with ranch dressing dip and cheese booty. Pizza was delivered around 3:45 from a local pizzeria followed by a birthday cake decorated with a farm scene and Woody (from Toy Story) standing by a fence ( beautifully done by United Market's bakery dept.!) After all the activities were over and the food & cake was eaten it was pinata time. We hung the red & blue cowboy boot pinata (OT) with a rope on a tree and the kids took turns hitting it with a bat. Since the kids are young (2yrs. - 5 yrs.) we did not blindfold them. Inside the pinata were packets of gummies (My Little Pony and Gummy O's) and western wrapped mints (Party Store). Then I gave out additional Goody Bags for them to take home- clear plastic (red yellow & blue star patterned) goody bags filled with a Western Pencil with cowboy boot on it and Western Note Pad (OT) a small plastic horse and snake (Party Store) Western Shaped Lollipops (OT) Western bubbles and small cloth bags on which I wrote "Gold Nuggets" and filled with Corn Pops cereal (Craig's Wharehouse). I tied the goody bags with yellow raffia and a felt Western Shape Tag (Michael's Art Supply) with the child's name on it. Thank You cards were western theme note cards (Michael's) and my son helped decorate them with the leftover western stickers. The party was a big success and everyone had a rootin' tootin' good time! "
