For my son's 5th birthday we had a Cowboy party. We took a picture of him as a bandit (scarf, hat, cowboy outfit and a "bad guy" look) on the digital camera and created wanted poster
invitations. I put it on yellowed paper in black and white and used a western font for the print. Wanted cowpokes and cowgirls to help Nathan celebrate his 5th birthday!
I had cowboy hats and scarves (Western material at Wal-Mart cut into triangles), broom stick horses- really easy to make with an old sock, some yarn, and googly eyes- I made them for under $1.00(use brooms form the dollar store if you don't have any hanging around) We made old western signs out of cardboard and hung them around the yard and house--Welcome to The Wild Cherry ranch pop. 5, rattle snake gulch, gold mine--We had a gold mine in the sandbox (10-15 pennies wrapped in plastic wrap (one for each guest and buried), a toss the ring over the cactus game (cactuses painted cardboard) pin the badge on the sheriff (A blown up picture of my son in western wear minus the Badguy look). For food we had those little drinks in barrels, a cowboy cake and ice-cream. Red scarf print plates and cowboy napkins on a red and white checked tablecloth. Goodies were in a brown bag I sewed out of an old brown sheet and tied with a piece of rope. Gold choc coins, a sheriff's badge, gold nugget gum, a plastic harmonica, plus their hat, scarf and horse. The kids of all ages loved it and my son and I had a great time planning it. All the work before is well worth it, they remember it for a long time. For thank you notes, we sent his good guy look (big smile) picture on a note card saying " Thanks partners". This was a very inexpensive party, too, except for the hats, which could be omitted, not everyone wants to wear them anyway.