Yee Haw Cowboy!

Giddy-up Cowboy!

We had a Cowboy party for Andrew's 6th birthday ~ I had such a fun time putting this party together for him.  The theme just suited his sweet personality perfectly (he was a cowboy for Halloween for 3 years. :) )  And the morning of his birthday when he was jumping up and down with excitement next to my bed ~ made the "work" (fun) worthwhile. 

I'll share the details as I know I have a few party throwing friends and one with a sweet little boy in particular, that usually wants to know my sources. :)



I went to 4 stores looking for white daisies.  Didn't think it would be that hard to find white daisies!



Andrew's cake design was the compilation of a couple that I saw online.  I was planning on doing the silhouette on top (fondant) and Dan suggested that as an homage to Dad we use the University of Wyoming cowboy (his alma mater).    What a fantastic idea!  I know Dad would be so pleased. :)  Wish I could have seen him standing at the table smiling at it.  I could picture it perfectly.

It was a "S'Mores" cake with with Chocolate and graham cracker cakes filled with toasted marshmallow frosting.  The graham cracker cake was a time consuming cake to make and VERY crumbly.  I was sick when I turned the cake out of the pan and this happened:



The frosting filling was Roasted Marshmallow frosting.  It was SO good and found  here.



Andrew's invitation was from Etsy.  Found here.  So cute.  It reads:
"WANTED A stampede of friends to wrangle this outlaw
Andrew John Zeamer
AKA "The Kid"
for Crimes including cookie stealing, horsin' around, and turnin' 6!"



I found these free "Wanted" posters online.  I can't find the link any more, but if anyone does a cowboy party email me, I have the file on my computer, I'm happy to share.



So great that we had this photo of Andrew from when he turned 5.  See?  He's always been our little cowboy.  The sherriff badge is from the dollar store.  I just put a glue dot on it and stuck it on the frame.



The table...the plates, etc. came from Hobby Lobby.  Fringe from Jo-Ann's, burlap runner, I just purchased some yardage from Jo-Ann's as well and used it in a lot of places ~ it's very inexpensive.



Oriental trading Co. had some of these candies, as well as the Dollar store.  See the red paper silhouette on the side of the crate?  That was my back up in case the fondant cowboy fell apart. :)



It's not a party without sugar cookies.  A hat, sherriff badge and boots.  I especially enjoyed my friend Rachel's company when she came over and chatted away the night with me while I decorated cookies.



Caramel apples.  So yummy, but a little hard to eat.  Photo of that to come later. :)  I bought a roll of twine from walmart and used it on a lot of things. The cute tags came from here.  The recipe is here.  I just rolled them in mini chocolate chips after I dipped the apples.



The "Saloon."  People sort of munched on these treats during the party.





These were SO good. S'mores pops.  A marshmallow dipped in chocolate and rolled in graham crackers.  I could probably eat 12 of them.



Favor bags....see the wreath?  It's made of coffee filters.  I had seen them on blogs and wanted to make one.  Four hours later, two blistered fingers and a pretty nasty burn on my leg, I had my wreath.

Worth it?
Hmmm...not so sure. :)

But if you're up for the adventure, you can read about how to make it here.   Target has the brown filters at the end of their coffee maker aisle.  I folded the filters too many times, I think that's why it took me so much longer...it required more filters.

Shannon dressed it up for me with a rosette and I printed off the number six from a free font Shannon found for me online called "Outlaw."  It's what I used for the party signs too.   Oh, and the cow balloons were at Hobby Lobby too.









We played games outside and we found it was best to turn these bottles upside down They fell over easier that way when shot with water guns. 



The wood paper was from Michael's.  The kids threw hoola hoops over Dan's childhood "horse" which suited the calf roping perfectly.  :)



Katie (in her $4 post Halloween costume that Mom found last year:) ) ran around all morning saying, "Yee Haw Cowgirl!"  :)



We poked holes in pie tins and the kids panned for "gold" (river rocks painted gold) in the sand box.



The kids did Apple Bobbing too.  I was taking a picture when Katie came and put her hands in the container.  I loved her sweet hands there.

A big thank you to Shannon who always comes the night before party (stays late) and does whatever needs to be done, and always adds some cute idea that I didn't think of before.  Mostly, it's just fun to spend the time together.  I'm sure it's a memory some day we'll look fondly back on.

And I can't forget the Grandparents who help so much with cleaning up and entertaining little ones!

Party pics will come next!  That's always harder as there are always so many sweet faces and it's hard to narrow it down.