Down here in Texas, we are known for doing things big! Birthday parties are no different. No self respecting mom would throw her cowpolk a small shindig here in the heartland. And since my li’l buckaroo missed his first birthday due to adoption visa trouble, I especially wanted to make this birthday one to holler about! Here’s how we celebrated my son’s 2nd Li’l Buckaroo Birthday Party in a big way without needing to rob a bank or me losing “the cattle”!
I am sure you have noticed. Homemade is back with a vengenance. I love it because I am nuts about easy ideas you can do at home without the pricetag. Women now want to do fabulous creating at home that often looks store bought, but at the same time have a very personal touch. 
Keeping my son’s party personal as well as fun was important to me. To keep Ethan and his guests the focus of the party, I created Wanted posters of each child. I emailed each parent and had them send me a photo of their child. I then simply used photoshop to put each photo into a sepia aged look and printed them off. I then typed Wanted posters up and printed them on brown card stock (to save my ink)! 
Because this hoedown was aimed at pint-sized buckaroos, I gave the Wanted posters applicable sayings. For example: Wanted: Awake or Asleep for stealing cookies, stealing hearts, for being too cute, etc. I then hung multiple Wanted posters of each child around our yard.
If you were to throw this party for an older child, the sky is the limit on what you could write! Everything from not eating green beans to Batman envy would be fabulous.
I implemented a similar Wanted poster look for the invitations. I printed out 6X6 “mini” wanted poster invitations with both my son and the guests’ photo on the front side by side. (I know the invitations were kind of large, but I live in Texas. You could take it down a notch if you live in Delaware.) I then added a large red gingham ribbon to the front for my own sake. On the back of the invitation, I printed the party information on aged cream paper.
Here is the wording I used on my invitations. If you are not in love, there are many fun ideas on the web of cowboy invitation wording. The creativity is truly amazing. I printed out this template on cream paper and attached it to the back of the Wanted poster invitations.
I fell in love with these balloons and had to have them at the party! After scouring the internet, I felt Birthdayinabox.com had the best prices on them. Check them out here. These balloons were a perfect addition to our red gingham tableclothes and wanted posters. And let’s be honest, no real rough and tough cowboy wants frilly crepe paper around (not to mention the frustration crepe paper brings to a certain mother of a certain rough and tough cowboy). Balloons are much more manly …and easy. 
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Here are the little piggycakes we served! Tomorrow I’ll post the “so-easy-you-probably-already-know-by-looking-at-them-how-to” on making these simple cuties.
The cake had to be a cow. And yes, those are sugar cones for horns. I told you homemade was in – don’t judge.
Each guest absolutely needed their very own cowboy hat, bandana, and sheriff badge! This is a must in my book. Having all the kids dressed the same is so cute. For older kids I would definitely do the classic paper grocery bag western vests. Check out dollar stores for cheap hats and bandanas.
Loot bags are a must. Simply print dollar signs on paper bags, fill them with “loot”, and tie with a piece of rafia. I got the idea for these from Chic Galleria. It was just too cute and too easy to pass up!
Check out our other Kid Birthday themes:
You Are My Sunshine Party
Party for a Pixie Princess
One Lucky Duck 1st Birthday Party
A Ratatouille (Rata-2-ee) Birthday
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