We celebrated Ella's 4th birthday over the weekend, and it left me wondering where in the world the last 4 years have gone. Her actual birthday is this week, but the shin-dig took place on Sunday. It was a rootin' tootin' good time.
We did it up cowgirl style this year! All of the kids (and some adults) were able to ride horses. It was such a fun day.
Once I knew we were able to book the stables for her event, I went to work on the cowgirl invitation. I loved how they turned out. Once I finished laying it out, I just printed them out (2 per page), cut and folded. For a little extra country feel, I hole punched the ends and threaded a piece of twine through to tie it closed.
I then decided that I would tackle a rag banner for her cake table. I had tons of her old clothes tucked away in the attic, so I went through and picked out pieces in tones I liked that would tie in to the theme. I went with denim, a few cotton florals with pinks and whites and browns, brown cotton, pink and white stripes and white. I cut everything into 8 inch long, 1.5 inch wide strips. Once that was done, it was as simple as cutting twine the length I needed, knotting the ends, and then tying the fabric strips on. I put plenty on so that it was nice and full, and I made sure to space out strips with the same pattern, so that all patterns and colors were evenly distributed.
We had tons of cardboard tucked away in our garage from another project, so I pulled it out and went to work on a couple of cutesy things for decoration. First, I penciled out a big number four, cut it out with a razor knife, and then wrapped the whole thing in twine. With some of the leftover fabric strips from the rag banner, I made a little bow that I attached to the "4" with a clip.
I also used a section of cardboard to paint a horse silhouette and popped it into a frame I had on hand. It was a quickie project that called for printing out a large horse silhouette, attaching to the cardboard, and then painting over. Once it dried, I pulled the paper silhouette off to leave the unpainted horse shape. I wanted this to look rough, so I didn't go heavy with the paint, and I used a short roller (usually used for painting trim) to give it a smudgy look. I had a couple of clip on daisies from a previous party, so I just clipped those to the frame.
Cardboard was also used to cut a large frame for my Wanted poster photo prop. This made for perfect keepsake photos. I had a black cowboy hat used for picture posing varmints (although Ella had her own special cowgirl hat in pink & white!).
I ordered some bandanas online in pink and brown for the goodie bags. I filled them with cowboy themed favors like: trail mix, moon pies, sherriff badges, stick-on mustaches, water pistols, cow tails (candy) and toy horses. I was also able to find little cowboy themed candy packs (like sweet tarts), so I threw those in, too. Too cute!
With a few of the extra bandanas, I tied together a bandana banner for the drink table. I already had the burlap for the table cover. I grabbed a couple of lanterns I had, some flowers, a white tissue paper flower and one of Ella's toy horses (with pink saddle) to help decorate this table.
I put together a quick layout for my table signs: Food Trough for the food table, and Watering Hole for the drink station.
I served pulled pork BBQ and boneless BBQ chicken with coleslaw and corn on the cob. For drinks, I offered sweet tea and water for adults, and chocolate milk and pink lemonade for the kiddos. Of course, there were lots of extra goodies, too, like strawberry and chocolate sugar wafer cookies, after dinner mints (they come in pretty pastels), and cowgirl candies.
I made chocolate cupcakes, iced them in pink and brown, decorated them with miniature candy pearls and horseshoe rings (the kids could wear and keep the rings as part of their party take away!). For the big cake, I made a four layer strawberry cake (think pink!) with white frosting. I added a cake pennant to the top and called it done. Simple, but nice.
I stumbled upon a great idea for favors that tied in perfectly with this party theme: cowgirl cookies in a jar. I layered the ingredients, printed off the ready to roll tags (thanks, Bakerella!), used my paper punch and attached them to the jars with double sided tape. I cut some of my bandanas to use to cover the tops and then tied it off with pink ribbon I had on hand. They made a great take away for each family!
INGREDIENTS (per 1 quart jar, listed in the order to be added):
Psst--Be sure to firmly pack each layer as you go, or you will run out of room!
1 1/3 cup all purpose flour, spooned into measuring cup & leveled
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup cooking oats
3/4 cup m&ms ( Iused pink and white)
3/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
1/2 cup white sugar
1/3 – 1/2 cup pecan chips
INGREDIENTS (per 1 quart jar, listed in the order to be added):
Psst--Be sure to firmly pack each layer as you go, or you will run out of room!
1 1/3 cup all purpose flour, spooned into measuring cup & leveled
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup cooking oats
3/4 cup m&ms ( Iused pink and white)
3/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
1/2 cup white sugar
1/3 – 1/2 cup pecan chips
The party was a huge hit. All of the kids had an amazing time, especially my Ella.