COWBOY BIRTHDAY PARTY
Are you ready for a rootin tootin cowboy birthday party? Well get those cow-boys and girls ready to round up the cattle, dig for gold and hunt the bandits, not to mention the sing a long round the camp corral fire.
One reason why I like a cowboy birthday party theme is that it is such an easy party to prepare. Costumes are easily available in any toy store or they are easy to make yourself and it is a good birthday party to have outside especially if you have quite a large number of kids coming.
Do remember though that some parents are not keen on their kids having guns and pistols so do be a bit sensitive.
COWBOY BIRTHDAY PARTY INVITATIONS
Making your birthday party invitations is pretty easy. ¨Pick an idea below and then add some cowboy lingo like I have used.
- Wanted poster: Using a computer make a wanted poster with a picture of the birthday child as the "Wanted" person. Write the party details below.
- Cowboy hat: Make a template of a cowboy hat. Fold a piece of craft paper in half and cut out the template design, making sure that the top of the hat sits on the fold. That way you can open up the hat invite and write the details inside. Attach a sheriff's badge to the front of the hat.
- Sheriff's badge: Make a template of a sheriff's badge and using craft paper, copy the template. Put the guests name on the front of the badge with the party details on the back. Attach a safety pin so that they can wear the badge to the party
Howdy Cowboy X (name of guest)
Cowboy X (name of birthday child)
Invites you to hit the trail for a Wild West Show Down on: Date
Round up at the Ranch: Address
Saddle up Time: Time of party
Wear your best bib and tucker (cowboy costume)
RSVP to the Sheriff
COWBOY BIRTHDAY PARTY COSTUMES
Ask the kids to come dressed in their "Best bib and tucker" (cowboy outfit), to wear a cowboy hat or to dress up as Indians. For those guests who need a bit of help, have on hand some neckerchief's or cowboy hats for when they arrive.
I love these Assorted Colors Kids Straw Western Cowboy / Cowgirl Hats. They are great value, you get 12 in a pack and they are perfect for boys and girls. Use them for team games and you can have each team wearing a different colored hat.
COWBOY BIRTHDAY PARTY DECORATIONS
- Put a large ranch sign at the party entrance and name it something cool such as "Jake's Western Hideout".
- Print off some wanted posters of famous outlaws or to make it even more fun, get hold of some photos of the guests and put them on the posters beforehand.
- Place some paper or real horseshoes on the path leading to the party entrance.
- Create a teepee out of a large sheet and some wooden batons.
- Create a large cactus out of card or even buy up some inflatable ones.
- Cover the party food table in a red and white checkered cloth and hang up a sign saying "SALOON".
- Place lots of plastic snakes around the place or hanging from trees.
- Use a real cowboy hat, turned upside down and lined with a check napkin to hold chips etc.
- Create a saloon bar for the drinks and prop some stools against it.
- Make a jail out of a large cardboard box, cutting out a window and then gluing on cardboard strips for bars.
- Put straw bails or upturned pails around the yard. The kids can sit on these when they are eating.
COWBOY BIRTHDAY PARTY FOOD
The easiest thing to do for a cowboy birthday party would be to have a BBQ and serve burgers and beans. In fact that's what I would do as I like to keep things easy!.
Serve the food in tin bowls or disposable foil pie tins. Use tin mugs for the grog. Eat round a camp fire and then eat toasted marshmallows and sing cowboy songs afterwards.
If you have more time, consider making other foods using the cowboy phrases below:
- Bug Juice: a cowboy word for whiskey but you would use fruit juice!
- Chuck: Food
- Chuck Wagon Chicken: Bacon
- Cowboy Cocktail: Really straight whisky but again use fruit juice
- Dough Gods: Biscuits
- Round Browns: Cow Chips
- Choker holes: Doughnuts
- Sheriff's badge: Biscuits cut into the shape of a sheriff's badge.
- Ranch cake: Prepare a basic chocolate/vanilla cake using a packet cake mix. Decorate your cowboy party cake to look like a corral by using toy plastic fencing, animals and cowboys.
COWBOY BIRTHDAY PARTY ACTIVITIES
- Face painting Face paint mustaches on the boys and perhaps stars for the girls, unless they want mustaches too!
- Cowboy Sing-along At the end of the party, make a campfire and sing cowboy songs and tell stories of famous outlaws.
- Amazon have a couple of great CD's with cowboy songs that are easy to learn and to sing to. Try this Cowboy songs CD from Amazon.com
- Horse Trials. Hire a couple of ponies or even a real cowboy to teach the kids how to use a lasso.
- Sheriff's Badge. Make a cardboard sheriff's badges and get the kids to decorate and put their name on them. This is a good activity whiles the kids are waiting for all the guests to arrive or especially if you don't know all the kids names.
COWBOY BIRTHDAY PARTY GAMES
- CLICK HERE for some really cool Cowboy Games such as: Rattlesnake rumpus, Cattle roundup, Bandit Hunt, Water Gun Shoot-Out and more.
COWBOY PARTY FAVORS AND PRIZES
I think it is really cool to use brown paper bags and it's cheap too. Just stick a sheriff's badge with each child's name on each bag and then fold over the top. Alternatively, fill a bandana with the goodies and tie up with a piece of rope and attach to a stick. Here are some of my favorite cowboy birthday party favors:
- Bandannas
- Sheriff badge
- Water pistols
- Mini horse animals
- Lone Ranger masks
- Mini cactus plants
- Plastic or rubber snakes