Josselyn's Cowgirl Birthday Bash

Josselyn had a great time ringing in her 5th year with her "Cowgirl" themed birthday party.
In preparation for the party, I had quite a few late nights. From the plywood cutouts to the cake, practically everything was homemade.

We started the day getting the party set up. The Wild West village featured a cowboy, cowgirl, a wanted poster, and a jail. The cutouts were all homemade in the nights before the party. The "gear up" station had 24 hats hanging from Jute twine. The bandanas were hung along the fence behind the hats. The dessert table featured a homemade wreath and birthday banner. I also made a two tier cowgirl themed cake. In addition to the cake, we made s'more pops and kettle corn cones. Then to set up the games and activities: bobbing for apples, a "paint some good luck" station, a piñata, and the burlap sack showdown. For the food and drinks, we made fruit kabobs with watermelon cut into horse shapes, puppy chow, spinach dip, cheese and crackers and two different kinds of punch. We had hotdogs ready to go on the grill, but the kids were too busy eating the other stuff that they didn't want hotdogs.

Once the party was set up, it was time to get the birthday girl ready for her big day. For her outfit, I made her a purple pettiskirt and paired it with a purple shirt, Jean vest, denim leggings, a brown hat, and purple and brown cowgirl boots.

The kids loved the games and activities. They all bobbed for apples in the watering trough (and even ate the apples before getting another one!) At the painting station, the kids painted horseshoe wands that I made out of wooden horseshoes and Popsicle sticks. For the burlap sack showdown, I broke the kids into two teams and then explained how to do a relay race. The kids didn't quite understand how it worked, but they had fun running the race in the sacks anyway. Each child got a turn at the piñata before my 10 year old broke it open for them.

A huge highlight was when the neighbor came over with two of her ponies. The kids pet them, led them around the yard, gave them a good brushing and waved goodbye when it was time to cut the cake.

It was a lot of work, but Josselyn will have such wonderful memories of her 5th birthday party.

• What People Ate

  Snacks and sugar: fruit kabobs, puppy chow, spinach dip, cheese and crackers.

• What People Drank

  Pink lemonade punch and orange pineapple punch

• Desserts

  Chocolate cake with chocolate chip butter cream frosting, s'mores pops, and kettle corn

• Party Favors

  Bubbles

• Activities / Games

  Wild West village, piñata, painting station, burlap sack showdown, bobbing for apples, playing with ponies