I love clever people! And I love this cowboy party by Meredith Eisele! Check out her blog for a few more photos. Meredith shares some details of her party, "My favorite part of the party was the cardboard box western town. I had my in-laws save me large boxes from their furniture store, and I stayed up nights painting them. I painted cowboy and cowgirl photo ops, a sheriff's office/jail, "best western" hotel, and a "soda saloon" complete with swinging doors. The kids had the best time going in and out of the buildings. It's amazing how much fun some cardboard boxes can be!There was a seating area made of hay bales around a campfire made of real logs and cellophane paper. And of course, tons of balloons. I made two cakes for this party. One was a cowboy boot, which I had seen in one of the Parents magazine. The other was a tiered white cake with chocolate icing cow spots. They both surprisingly turned out really cute. For the invitation, I took a picture of Graham in a pair of overalls and some cowboy boots out in a field, printed it in sepia and sponged the edges to look burned. I used red card stock invites, threaded with twine. The inside held the party information, distressed the same as the picture on front.
Games were: pin the badge on the sheriff ( I painted a poster board of a sheriff), drop the snake in the boot (plastic snakes from the toy section), and pop the pigs (kids had to sit on pink balloons that I added curly tails and drawn on faces) Of course, the kids never really got around to playing the games. They were too busy playing in the western town.
For favors I made each child a stick horse out of felt, yarn and dowel rods. I also made them individual paper bag coloring books with a picture of Graham in his cowboy boots that said "It was mighty fine of ya to come to my party. Hope ya had a rootin' tootin' good time!" Each child was given a cowboy hat, bandanna and sheriff's badge (purchased from Oriental Trading).
We set up a "chuck wagon" for the food. Typical picnic food: hot dogs, hamburgers, baked beans, etc. And we had a "waterin' hole" set up for the drinks. I made individual labels out of wooden star shapes strung around the beverage dispensers.
"This was a really fun party to plan. It was easy to find decorations, and a classic theme that kids will always love." Thank you Meredith!More clever party ideas:
Another clever gal is Cher from Love Actually-Blog. She came up with the terrific "Wild West Shooting Range" game using empty cans and a rubber band shooter! If you would like a free download of the bottle label, click here.
Cher created this party for a date night for her hubby - complete with poker chips. Click here for a free download for her poker chip label. Check out her site for creative romantic ideas on a budget - she is very resourceful!
