Monday, January 14, 2013

Amelia's Horse Themed Birthday Party!!

This girl of mine sure loves horses!!  Her 4th birthday party was a Woody and Jessie's Round Up Theme (horses). We did a fairy themed birthday party last year instead of horse/pony themed party. It was a nice break but I knew we'd be back in the saddle this year. ;)

I do not like to give out lots of candy as party favors. The kids are already having cake and ice cream, they don't need more sugar. I think it is more fun for guests to have props/things to use during the party that they can take home afterward.  At her 4th birthday party- that was also indoors- we gave foam cowboy hats to each child and everyone did a sheriff badge craft that they wore once completed.

For Amelia's 6th birthday I decided to give bandanas to each child. The only place I could find them was a party supply store (since I didn't think we could get them if I ordered them online) for almost $2 apiece. No thanks. I decided to go to a local fabric store and found a great fabric, bought a yard and a half of it, and cut them into triangles.

For a horse themed craft, I got paper grocery sacks from a store, looked online for a tutorial, and cut 17 bags into cowboy/girl vests. This seemed like a great idea until I figured it took about 7 and a half minutes per vest. The things I do for my children! ;) The kids had a great time decorating them. I also think it is a great idea to over plan for kid parties, so for those who wanted something else crafty to do, I had a 2D paper horse craft that they could color and cut out and glue at home.

For games, Amelia wanted to do Pin the Tail on the Horse, and I wanted to have a Horseshoe toss, at an indoor party. We also brought down Amelia's rocking horse she got for Christmas and the kids took turns with that.

For decorations we hung some pink balloons and for the table I decided to use a cute roll of polka-doted wrapping paper I found at the dollar store as a table runner instead of using a table cloth. (I can't handle table cloths at kid parties. Even when you tape them down they slide everywhere.)

Most of the guests invited were from her kindergarten class, and because of privacy laws the only way we could get invitations to friends who had parents I didn't know, was to pass them out in class before the bell rang.

I love planning parties for my kids!! I also love how fun it is for Amelia to help- read: lots of coloring and cutting- and how much she and her friends enjoy themselves. We had a great turnout! All of the kids had a great time!


Brodrick loving all the party action!
Pin the Tail on the Horse DIY: I found a color page of a horse Amelia liked that had a tail that could easily be removed for game purposes. I right clicked and copied the color page. Then I put it into a word document. I then enlarged the image to a size I liked and then traced the image onto the poster board with a pencil. I had to shift the poster board and the image on my computer screen in order to trace the whole image, but it turned out nicely! We did the same thing for the tails and then traced them with a sharpie and colored them in for all the guests.
...traced out on poster board...
.
Horse Cake using this tutorial for the general shape...
The kids had great fun coloring a 2D horse craft and decorating their paper bag vests.
More friend! Also, notice the table runner.
Tim cut out some horse shoes out of 3/4 inch particle board and devised an indoor stake for a game of horse shoes!
Some horse themed cupcakes. Toppers were from a coloring page,  sized in a word document, printed onto cardstock, colored, cut out, and hot-glued onto toothpicks.
Friends!
Our politically incorrect game... the kids had fun shooting at the robber with a rubber band gun.
Miles enjoying the horse shoe game! Also check out his stylish bandana around his neck.
This party was much easier with mostly 5 and 6 year-olds. They are used to taking turns and waiting in lines which is golden for party games.

Happy Birthday Amelia!! It is a joy and great privilege being your mom!

2 comments:

Mary said...

Very cute party! I wish we knew each other in "Real Life" (as creepy as that sounds) because I know my daughter would love having playdates with Amelia. How fun.

Princess Tea Party Los Angeles said...

Wow,horse party theme sounds really unique. all decorations are pretty much impressive. and i loved horse cake and oh look at those beautiful girls around the cake..seems they are having wonderful party !!