A Birthday for My Little Cowboy!

This past Saturday we celebrated John-Heath's 6th birthday. Normally, we just celebrate his big day with family, but as he has begged for a while to have some friends come over (just like his big sis) we allowed him to invite a few. Of course, when making out the invites he wanted to invite everyone with whom he had been in kindergarten, including his teacher, but we told him for this party he just needed to start small. I knew he would be beside himself with excitement with only a few. Had a whole class of kids come, I would have probably ended up having to put him in a restraint jacket.

About one day before I sent out the invitations, he decided he would like to have a cowboy-themed party. So, on a schedule short of time and without breaking the bank, I tried to give my little guy something he would remember. It helps that there are so many people out there who have already done this type party. Their great ideas are almost limitless.

His invites were printed on construction paper which was glued to cardboard colored cardstock. I won't even tell you how long I worked on these trying to find the fonts I needed. It really is shameful, but I learned some valuable computer lessons in the process.
The first thing everyone got to do was have their picture taken in our homemade Wanted poster. I painted this in my kitchen the night before. The letters were cut from construction paper and Modpodged to the board and the bandana was added when everything was finally dry.

For a cowboy-themed relay game we had stick horse races. The horses were made from a horse head template printed on the computer and construction paper, which I later laminated, and yardsticks that I painted white.

They were told to gallop like a horse but I'm pretty sure John-Heath just ran.

And, of course, we had to play Pin the Tail on the Donkey.

I had several other games planned but, like John said, kids will make their own games up as they go along.

A homemade birthday banner, made from construction paper and letters cut from my Cricut, and hung using leather string and colored paper clips.

The glue stick I used yellowed a bit on the paper- but that just gave it a more vintage look I thought.

Beginning to gather around the kiddie table to eat. We served bbq, hotdogs, chips, baked beans, slaw, watermelon, strawberries, and soft drinks iced down in a large galvanized tub which sat in a corner of my kitchen floor.

Other than the birthday banner and a few balloons, the only decorations we had were canning jars filled with daisies around the house.

Even though we weren't going for a Toy Story look, this was the only cake I found on such short notice that had a cowboy theme. It came from Walmart and I thought it turned out pretty cute.

The sign on the gift table so the kiddos would know to take a treat bag when they left.

We made treat bags out of red and blue bandanas, tied with twine and a thank you card, and filled them with...

...western goodies, including old fashioned caramels, a sheriff's badge,a cactus stir stick, Chinese yo-yo (okay, but it was in the colors I needed), and a bag of gold (bubble gum sold at Cracker Barrel).

John-Heath saying goodbye to a couple friends.

The celebration finished up with an evening swim with the cousins...

...and a "wardrobe malfunction".

It was a great party! When asked what he liked the best, John-Heath quickly answered, "my presents, eating cake, and my friends coming over to play." He went to bed a happy boy. Success!

Linking up to some of these.