Party Pieces
Great for general party supplies and fabulous cake making kits. Now you can make a cake like a professional! Party Delights One of my favorites for good value party-ware and favors. PartyBox
Another site worth checking for all those regular and not so regular party supplies. Jokers Masquerade
Great for costumes for adults and kids. Fancy Dress Outfitters Excellent value costumes and a great site to navigate.
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Shindigz.com Party supplies at low prices and lots of fun and unusual items. Makesparties
For party-ware and favors at rock bottom prices. Birthday in a Box
Party-ware and favors and super all in one party packs
Need crafts for the kids to do? Well this is definitely the place to start looking. Buy Costumes
Super choice of good value costumes.
-- Cowboy Party --
Cowboy Party Invitations
Cowboy Billy (use name of birthday child) invites you to hit the trail for a Wild West Show Down
Round up at the Ranch: Address
Saddle up Time: Time of party
Wear your best bib and tucker (cowboy costume)
RSVP to the Sheriff
Wanted poster: Using a computer make a wanted poster with a picture of the birthday child as the "Wanted". Write the details below.
Cowboy hat : Make a template of a cowboy hat. Fold a piece of craft paper in half and cut out the template design, making sure that the top of the hat sits on the fold. That way you can open up the hat invite and write the details inside. Attach a sheriff's badge to the front of the hat.
Sheriff's badge : Make a template of a sheriff's badge and using craft paper, copy the template. Put the guests name on the front of the badge with the party details on the back. Attach a safety pin so that they can wear it to the party
Ask the kids to come dressed in their "Best bib and tucker" (cowboy outfit) or to wear a cowboy hat or to dress up as Indians.
For those guests who need a bit of help, have to hand some neckerchief's or cowboy hats for when they arrive.
You can get some great cowboy party accessories and costumes at the following places:
Cover the party food table in a red and white checkered cloth and hang up a sign saying "SALOON"
Place lots of plastic snakes around the place or hanging from trees
Use a real cowboy hat, turned upside down and line with a check napkin to hold chips etc.
Create a saloon bar for the drinks and prop some stools against it
Make a jail out of a large cardboard box
Put straw bails around the yard. The kids can sit on these when they are eating
-- Cowboy Party --
Cowboy Party Food
The easiest thing would be to have a BBQ and serve burgers and beans. Serve the food in tin bowls or disposable foil pie tins. Use tin mugs for the grog. Eat round a camp fire and then eat toasted marshmallows and sing cowboy songs afterwards.
If you have more time, consider making other foods using the cowboy phrases below:
Bug Juice : another word for whiskey but you would use fruit juice!
Calf Slobbers : Meringues
Chuck: Food
Chuck Wagon Chicken : Bacon
Cowboy Cocktail : Really straight whisky but again use fruit juice
Dough Gods : Biscuits
Round Browns : Cow Chips
Choker holes : Doughnuts
Star cookies
Sheriff's badge : Biscuits cut into the shape of a sheriff's badge
Quick ranch cake : Prepare a basic chocolate/vanilla cake using a packet cake mix or my my all-in-one cake recipe. Decorate to look like a coral by using toy plastic fencing, animals and cowboys.
Face painting Give the boys moustaches when they arrive
Camp fire chin wag At the end of the party, make a campfire and sing cowboy songs and tell stories of famous outlaws. Amazon have a couple of great CD's with cowboy songs that are easy to learn and to sing to. (See right).
Horse trail Hire a couple of ponies or even a real cowboy to teach the kids how to use a lasso.
Sheriff's badge Make a cardboard sheriff's badges and get the kids to decorate and put their name on them. This is a good activity whiles the kids are waiting for all the guests to arrive or especially if you don't know all the kid's names.
Cattle roundup Give each child a stick and a balloon and see who can be the quickest to round up their cow (Balloon) though an obstacle course and into the pen.
Wagons and horses Wheel barrow race
Escape from Jail Divide the kids into 2 teams of bandits, each with a sheriff. The sheriff has to catch a member of the opposite team by touching them. They are then considered to be in jail and must stand still. Their team mates can rescue them by crawling though their legs but if they are caught doing so, they are also have to stand still and are in jail. First team to catch all the other bandits is the winner.
Horseshoe toss Set up some plastic bottles filled with sand. The kids have to see if they can toss the horseshoe over the bottles. If you don't have any horseshoes, just use rubber dog rings.
Water gun shoot out See how many plastic cowboys they can knock down using water pistols
Bandit hunt Hide some plastic cowboys around the yard or the house. See who can find the most. Also hide a sheriff's badge. They can keep what they find and the person who finds the sheriff's badge can be the sheriff in the next game.
Boot Toss The children need to try and toss the bean bags into some big Wellington boots or a large cowboy hat.
Penny in a hay stack Hide pennies, small toy horses or other cowboy items in a large pile of hay the get the kids to pile in and find them
Panning for gold/nuggets Spray paint small bits of gravel in gold and bury in a paddling pool filled with a mixture of sand and water. Give each child a disposable aluminum pie tin with holes punctured in the bottom. Let them sieve the sand/water and see who can find the gold nuggets. These can be exchanged for candy or prizes afterwards although you will find that most kids want to keep the gold!!
Gold Rush Hide chocolate money around the yard or house and send the kids on a gold rush to see who can find the most coins.
Rattlesnake rumpus Make a rattlesnake out of a long sock stuffed with a rattle at the end and then padded out with newspaper. Sit the cowboys/girls in a circle and put on some music. Whilst the music is playing, they have to pass round the rattlesnake but once the music stops, the person left holding the snake is said to have been bitten and sits out of the game.
Piñata Having a piñata is always a great success at kids parties. Make your own pinata or buy one from my top Pinata Suppliers below:
Use brown paper bags and stick a sheriff's badge with each child's name on each bag. Alternatively, fill a bandana with the goodies and tie up with a piece of rope and attach to a stick.
Did you know?.....Buffalo Bill whose real name is William Frederick Cody was born in Iowa, February 26, 1846. He got his nickname for supplying the Kansas Pacific Railroad workers with buffalo meat. But he is probably best known as the man who gave the Wild West its name. He produced a colorful show called Buffalo Bill's Wild West and Congress of Rough Riders of the World, which gained an international reputation and helped create a lasting image of the American West.
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