We decided to celebrate our twins(boy and girl) turnig three and our littlest daughter turning one with a Farm Birthday Theme! Both birthdays are in August two weeks apart and we take advantage of the summer weather and hosted the party outside.  INVITATIONS: I had invitations made.They were shaped like a farm house and invited 25 children and parents to a back yard birthday extravaganza.  DECORATIONS: We set up a white tent and had all the tables draped in red table cloths. We had large mylar balloons of all our favorite barn animals tied to the deck, fence and colored balloons and banners surrounding the tent. The back gate entrance I set up bales of hay I got at a local farm and placed a few of our sandra boynton stuffed animals (duck and cow ) to greet our guests. Once inside the backyard I had a corner set up with a colored gate. I used the plastic pieces from a child safety system and then used large cardboard boxes I painted red and cut in the shape of a barn with the doors that could open. ACTIVITIES: We hired a traveling petting zoo for 1 1/2 hours. They set up three gated areas in the driveway with various baby animals. We had bunnies, baby pig, baby goat, roosters and geese. It was great to have the guests walking up the driveway to be greeted by all these animals. the children were allowed into the gates to pet the animals. Of course we had a wash station with lots of purell and wipes to keep the little hands clean. It was a huge success. Once everyone had a chance to visit with the animals the festivities began inside the backyard. Within the gated barn area I fabricated, I placed hay all over the ground and hid small plastic farm animals I purchased at a local craft store. I walked all the children over to the fabricated barn doors and handed them each a small pail. I then explained all the animals were loose and we needed to find them. All the kids ran in and hunted for all the little animals, At the end I had a large red metal bucket filled with prizes, such as animal stickers, books about farm animals, playdo, pencils, fruit snack packages, tub crayons, and tub colored pellet jars,and trinkets I purchased at the party store. Everyone was able to choose a prize. WE also played pin the tail on the cow. I made a cow out of posterboard and used double sided tape for the kids to place on the cow. I blindfolded the kids with a red bandana. Then everyone could pick a prize. The next game was a bean bag toss. I found bean bags shaped like cows and had the kids try to knock over cups I painted like farm animals. These games kept the kids very busy and they had lots of fun. We had a big backyard BBQ with the works. Hamburgers, hotdogs, pasta salad, watermelon and lemonade. The food was perfect. I made our cakes.THe first was a 3D duck cake for our little one year old to enjoy all to herself. The other was a large cake shaped like a cow. I used a sheet cake and for the head the animal crackers cake pan which I placed on top and anchored by cake loafs from underneath. The cow was white with black patches and was a big hit with the kids and adults. FAVORS: I made favor bags out of multicolored gift bags. I placed boxes of crayons and had small farm coloring books made from an internet site with my childrens names and thanked everyone for coming, Farm stickers, animal cracker boxes and playdo. The party took about two months to organize but it was worth it, my children will remember it always!