How to Throw a Cowboy, Cowgirl and Western Birthday Party

Your little dude or dudette wants a Western Themed Birthday Party. Hopefully these ideas will let them and their guests have a ropin' good time.

Create the mood early by creating horseshoe or sheriff badge shaped invitations out of construction paper or on your computer. Tell your guests to come dressed in their favorite Western wear or as their favorite cowboy or cowgirl.

Set up a craft table with a red and white checkered tablecloth. As your guest arrive, direct them to the table to create their own sheriff's badges and cowboy vests. Have yellow stars cut out and glitter, glue, and markers to decorate them with. Provide brown paper grocery bags, cut up one side, armholes and the bottom of the bag to create a vest. Let the cowpokes decorate these as well. Have cowboy hats and bandannas to complete the look.

To decorate your home tie helium balloons to horseshoes to hold them down. Cut out cactus, horses, and cows from cardboard or craft paper and hang them on your walls. Buy bales of hay from your local farmer's market or gardening center and form them into a circle around the "campfire."

It is easy to serve cowboy and cowgirl food. Have hotdogs, beans, chili, corn on the cob, and cornbread. Rootbeer is an absolute must. Don't forget the beef jerky. If you have a fire pit or charcoal barbecue you could turn it into a cook your own hot dog and s'more party with plenty of adult supervision. Decorate the birthday cake with plastic horse and cow figurines. Serve it all on enamelware plates like the cowboys used.

Have the cowboys and cowgirls show off their shooting skills by setting up empty pop bottles in a line and letting them take aim with a squirt gun. Play Pin the Badge on the Sheriff or Pin the Cowboy Hat on the cowboy/cowgirl. Fill a cowboy boot shaped piñata with candy and prizes and le the cowboys and cowgirls take turns hitting it with a stick. Do a dress up relay, where the teams have to put on boots, gloves, hats, vest and bandanna, one team member at a time.

Send all the cowpokes home with a western themed goodie bag. Fill a bandanna with rope licorice, toy badges, western stickers, plastic figures, and a lucky horseshoe and tie the four corners together to create a knapsack.

A Western themed party can be fun for cowboys and cowgirls of all ages. These ideas should help you throw a fun party for your child and their guests.