Cowboy Party

I had so much fun planning my son's 5th birthday party. It was a Cowboy theme.

Decorations:
1.) Homemade sign saying Happy Birthday made by Billy & I with cowboy papers, twine and paint
2.) Wanted posters for each attendee with photo, name, nickname and reason for being wanted.
3.) cloth checker board (made with cowboy fabric), Checkers are bottle caps and washers
4.) Hobby horses placed in carboard box with fence drawn on it and sign with "Okay Dokey Horse Corral"
5.) Homemade cardboard "Williamtown jail" for "Bad Guys" I wanted to make an entire cardboard western town but didn't get to it. I needed BIG refridgerator/ washing machine size boxes so the kids would fit inside
6.) centerpiece - cowboy boots, snakes, scattered plastic western toys on checkered table cloth
7.) Lot of balloons- mylar blue stars, Red, yellow, blue and white latex
8.) To hold the food- cowboy hat turned upside down with bandanas in them. Snacks included licorise rope, pretzels, BBQ chips, popcorn
9.) little signs held by rocks- CHUCK WAGON and COME AND GET IT on the food tables, and SALOON next to the drinks, Outhouse sign for bathroom
10.) Head in horse photo opportunity
11.) Used a denium patchwork planket to place gifts on and a quilt for extra seating on ground
12.) The guests dressed up "made" the look. I asked everyone to come in their cowboy clothes and dressed them further once they arrived. Though I loved the little boy who had to come dressed as Darth Vadar instead. He was willing to wear a badge. :)

Dress Up:
Upon Arrival say "HOWDY" to all guests
Give cowboy hats and badges
Brand with temporary tatoos
Draw mustaches on anybody who wants them with a new clean brown eyebrow pencil. Stubble added by making dots.

Games:
1. Stick Horse Race (I asked guests to bring their hobby horses if they had them so we had plenty)
2. 3 legged race- tie legs with western hankerchiefs
3. Calf Roping- have the kids try to "rope" a small rocking horse with a hula hoop for a roping contest
4. Sheriff says (just like simon says)
5. Cow-Cow-Steer (played like Duck Duck Goose)
6. Hokey-Pokey
7. plastic Horse Shoe Game
8. clothes pin drop. Kids stand on sturdy park bench/chair and drop wooden clothes pins into a glass mason (canning) jar. Whoever gets the most out of 10 wins

Games we didn't do but are cute and low-cost:
1.) "Yikes! There's a Snake in my Boot!" or "Rattlesnack Round-Up" (kids toss 10 small rubber snakes in a cowboy boot)
2.) "Shoot Out" at the Okay corral- Nerf Guns or Squirt Gun target practice of plastic bottles or aluminum soda cans painted black
3.) Rattlesnake Ruckus (Play like Hot Potato Game): Use a plastic snake or make a rattlesnake by filling a tube sock with newspapers. Add a rattler to the end of the sock made from a small plastic container (such as a film canister) and dried beans. Plastic google eyes are fun! Seat guests in a circle. As music plays (use cowboy music), the rattlesnake is passed around the circle. When the music stops, the one holding the snake (bitten by the rattlesnake), is out of the game. Continue game until one player is left.
4.) beanbag throw. refridgerator box with a 3x3ft square cut out with painted bandit. Cut out some of the teeth.
5.) jello-eating contest. Use lime Jello, set them in pie tins, and put them on the tarp. The kids leaned over and chowed down. This was one of the most amusing games for the adults to watch
6.) Pan for Pennies- Use any container filled with sand (you can buy playground sand at the hardware store), add pennies and dig for "GOLD" using hands, beach sand sifters etc.
7.) Pass the Pony- like Hot Potato but use a toy horse!
8.) Cowboy Hat Toss- Kids try to toss a cowboy hat onto a rocking horse or stuffed animal!
9.) Play pin the tail on the horse, or pin the badge on the Sheriff, or pin the cowboy hat on the cowboy (for this, an enlarged photo of the birthday cowboy can be used.)

prizes:
Rubber, plastic or wooden snakes
Box of malted milk balls with "rattlesnake eggs" label
little fabric bag of "Gold" -Corn pops cereal
craft to make little covered wagons (bought at Michaels for $1)
western coloring book
giant lollipop

Crafts:
1.) decorate grocery bag vests- stamps, crayons, pens, stickers
2.) decorate balloon cowboys from Oriental Trading Co.

Music:
Boom box with country music
Home on the Range, Back in the Saddle Again, Cowboy, Take Me Away, Happy Trails, plus the theme songs from GunSmoke and Lone Ranger (Just do a search for Roy Rogers and Gene Autry we used a bunch of theirs

Snack Food:
juice boxes & waters
Root beer, cream soda & orange soda in glass bottles
lemonade (rattle snake juice)
kettle corn
grapes
pretzels
carrots & celery with ranch dressing dip
cheese booty or popcorn

Lunch:
Baked Beans and Hot Dogs and cole slaw
Green Hawaiian punch and ginger ale for the drink to make "catus juice"

Dessert:
"Cake" was cupcakes in the shape of a horseshoe and then frosted to look unified. Silver cupcake holders and frosting.
Cupcakes with circle picks with western cutouts on them.
My fried made the cutest campfire cake to look like logs
cookies shaped like a star and said "Sheriff".
Ice cream