{giddy up! a very happy 2nd birthday party, cowgirl style!}

I love throwing a party … and nothing is better than planning a fun party for my two favorite girls!

I really do enjoy the preparation – the invitation designing, banner sewing, glue-gunning, sign-painting part of planning my girls' parties is fun for me. It lets me use my creative side that I don’t always get to use in my day job :) But the best part is when everything comes together - and friends start arriving and music is playing - and I get to watch my girls take it all in. I love watching their reactions and how they interact with their friends. I love celebrating them!



This year they were both really shy at first and wanted to be carried. But they warmed up after a bit. Lexi’s face lit up when her Daddy came outside in full Sheriff gear. Kenzie was way into the piñata and collecting candy (she was partial to the smarties) in her goody bag. Lexi loved the red velvet cupcakes (especially the cream cheese frosting), while Kenzie preferred the vanilla/chocolate cake and ice cream. They both had a blast galloping around with the big kids on their stick ponies. They loved opening their presents … and it was difficult for me to keep up with them :)



We had a pony corral ...




Fun western photo-booth props ...



Kenzie & Lexi's country store ...




We ate some good grub ...








Made some fun crafts at the Craftin' Corral ...


Pinned the tail on the horse ...


And no party is complete without a little pinata fun!


It was a rootin tootin good time!






Lexi is still trying to perfect showing 2 fingers to match her age ... "TWO!"


So happy that both Omi & Granny could be there for the fun! 

Thanks to all of those - big and small - that joined us for the celebration!  Our house was filled to the brim ... and it felt so nice to have everyone there celebrating our girls!


Party Details:

I created the Invitations, cupcake toppers, birthday banner, favor tags, goodie bag labels, food labels, etc. in PhotoShop using some great free Western fonts from dafont.com.

I made the fabric pennant banners, cake topper pennant banner, pin-the-tail-on-the-horse game, and burlap table runner myself using my new sewing machine.

The photo-booth props were printed from online templates and self mounted on foam board.

Cowgirl boot piñata came from Pinata.com.

Paper goods came from Target & Party Source.

Mini Hay Bales, Apple Crate Baskets, etc. come from Michaels.

Party Favors: Hats, bandanas, sheriff badges and western foam picture frame craft kits came from Oriental Trading. They have a ton of western stuff to choose from. Stick ponies came from Horse.com (they make galloping noises and neigh) and were a big hit. I was looking for the Dollar store version of these but apparently they don’t stock them until late spring/summer so splurged a bit on the nicer ones.

Saddle: lent to us by our neighbors. Thanks Dick, Debbie & Rachel! I really wanted to have live pony rides at the party but given the uncertainty with the weather … esp. since they were forecasting 40 mile per hour winds opted not to have them.

Food: I had planned to make more of the food myself, but when Kenzie was so sick leading up the party decided that I would outsource all of this :)
    - Cake & Cupcakes: Servati bakery
    - Barbeque & sides: City Barbeque
    - Cutout cookies: Diane's Cake Candy & Cookie Supply
    - Cowgirl Caviar: made by my mother & mother in law

Thanks to Sara (our fabulous Nanny) for taking all of the great pictures during the party – thanks to her I was able to actually relax and enjoy the party!