A-Z Guide: Western Party Games

We'll wrap up our first A-Z Guide with a few fun party games that fit in perfectly at a Western party.

© Land of Nod

1. Classic Pin the Tail on the Donkey

Land of Nod has this vintage game. Their version has reusable sticker tails so the birthday child can play after the party guests have all gone home.

2. Lasso Practice

Family Fun's guide to a Western party has this fun game idea in which you take a hula hoop, a wooden rocking horse and a kid and have some good old fashioned lasso practice. Wee Festivity might even decorate the hula hoop with red handkerchiefs cut into strips and hot glued around and around to make it more festive. Last time we checked, hula hoops came in bright, fluorescent colors that don't really match and it's all about the wee-tails you know.

If you have the energy for a third game, we suggest this additional idea from the same Family Fun guide: Sidewinder Jump in which...

"...guests have to avoid the "bite" of a deadly rattler. Make your snake out of an 8-foot length of rope. At one end, glue a piece of thick cardboard cut and painted to resemble a rattlesnake's diamond-patterned head. On the other end, create a rattle by filling a few film canisters with a teaspoon of dried beans or rice. Punch a hole in the top of each canister and poke a pipe cleaner through, balling up the end beneath the cap to keep it from slipping out. Glue or tape the canister shut. To play, have adults or kids hold each end of the rattlesnake rope and whisk it back and forth along the ground. Children try to jump over the wriggling snake without touching it. For older kids, try raising the rope a few inches off the ground."

We've enjoyed planning a Western party with you this week.

Y'all come back now, ya hear?

A-Z Guide: Western Party Favors

At the Noodle's party, a western hats & badge was given to each guest as they arrived and the items doubled as their party favors. One of many advantages of a small guest list is the affordability of higher quality favors, like a hat for each guest.

Hats from Birthday in a Box's Cowboy theme.

A bag of badges was found at Diddams.

A-Z Guide: Western Party Food

For the food at a western party, the possibilities are endless. What comes to mind most obviously if you need to serve a meal would be chili, or hot dogs & beans.

We timed our party such that we only needed snacks for folks. As such, we went with the Noodle's favorites which was strawberries and more strawberries. He is a bit fond of the strawberry. Okay we also threw out a bowl of chips or two.

A sign above the snack-laden table in our kitchen.
Found at Diddams

Baking is not how I like to spend my creative energy. So I opted for a local bakery's chocolate sheetcake that they wrote on for me. However, I giddily embellished the generic cake with more strawberries and a toy cowboy. You can find the details on this idea in a prior Wee Festivity post.

The most fun part was serving the cake and ice cream. I picked up some Handi-Foil pie plates at the grocery store and used those instead of standard party plates. They were one of the biggest hits at the party and the kids were adorable eating from them.

A-Z Guide: Western Party Decorations

Decorating for the Noodle's western party was so much fun!

A giant paper star from Diddams marked the house for guests.

A steer (also from Diddams) greeted folks at the front door.

Cow & horse balloons carried the theme outdoors.
(from Birthday in a Box's Cowboy theme)

Appropriate table linens were rented,
along with the child-sized round table and chairs.

Dad and the grandparents built a Western Town from refrigerator boxes acquired by mom at a random appliance store. My only regret was I didn't discover Mr. McGroovy until the night before our party. Drat!

The crowning authentic touch was a RENTED bale of hay from a local feed supply store. Because who wants to buy hay just for a party? Learn from us though: don't forget to bring gloves and two people to pick up and return the hay.

Tomorrow we will share food ideas for a western party.

A-Z Guide: Western Party Invitations

Wee Festivity is proud to introduce our A-Z Guides, in which we'll outline an entire party from invites to decorations, food, favors and games.

Our first Guide is for hosting a Western-themed party.

Here are two invites to get started, these are actual invites created by Rosina Red Designs (RRD is the main creative outlet for the founder of this blog). One invite was for her Noodle's fifth birthday and the other was designed for her friend's daughter.*

The Noodle's invitation

Bella's invitation

As you can see, RRD used two completely different color schemes, but both clearly set the mood for an authentic Western party. No detail was overlooked, including coordinating the envelopes with coordinating liners (Bella) or artwork (the Noodle).

Tomorrow we will share photos of decorating ideas.

*Note: Since these invites were for real children, we have blurred out identifying information on the invitation.

Party Planning: Treasure Strings Game

Let's wrap up the week with another tip from the wonderful Birthday Cake book: a variation on a treasure hunt for younger children.

Treasure Strings involves a different color ball of yarn for each little one at your party. Write each child's name on a tag and tie it to one end of the ball of yarn. Now comes the fun part: winding the yarn all through your chosen area (house, yard) being careful to go over and under things and crossing the yarns. Cut the yarn and tie a small treasure to the end of it, then hide the gift under something. During the game, the children follow the trail of their assigned color and are rewarded with the little treasure. Maybe the first person to find their treasure also wins a prize!

How much fun is this? We think this would be great for the preschool & kindergarten set. It would even be a great activity for a playdate on a rainy day.

Wee-Tails: Glazed Flowers, Leaves and Fruits

It has been said that you learn something new every day, and the Birthday Cakes book is an inspiring teacher. Here is a tip from the book on how to add a precious wee-tail to any cake.

Carolyn Miller writes:

"A frosty glaze makes fresh flowers, leaves, and fruits even lovelier for decorating cakes and cake plates. To glaze, simply beat an egg white until it is frothy, then dip the cleaned item in the egg white, or brush the egg white on with a pastry brush. Lightly dredge in super-fine sugar, then sprinkle more sugar over to cover any missed places. Let dry on a wire rack. Use the same day."

Wee Festivity particularly loves how the authors instruct us to decorate the cake OR the cake plate. See? That is a wee-tail right there, they just didn't know the lingo yet. Also, we would use this on a cake for any celebration, not just a child's birthday.

Reading: Birthday Cakes

I picked up this book, Birthday Cakes: Recipes and Memories from Celebrated Bakers, last week at the library.




Kathryn Kleinman and Carolyn Miller have put together a treasure trove of birthday beauty and information. The photos are amazing and the variety of cake stands? Let's just say I might need to replace the library's copy because I drooled all over theirs.

I will share some of my favorites from the book for the rest of this week.

Inspiring Ideas: Sno-Cone Machine

© A-1 Party Rental

Did you know you can rent Sno-Cone Machines? No need to save this inspiring idea for next summer, Wee Festivity suggests planning a winter party just because you can. The kids will love it, undoubtedly. But we have a hunch the grown-ups will be lining up as well.

Another Wee PSA

Wee Festivity is very excited to participate in tiny*prints affiliate program.

Their products blew us away more than a year and a half ago (at least) so it is with pure glee that I have their banner shining in my blog.

Decorations: Polka Dot Balloons

Kids never tire of balloons just as the sun never tires of setting in the West.

© HometownCelebrations.com

Elevate your next party with these modern polka dot balloons. We'd do blue & orange, pink & orange, or pink & green. Anything but traditional pink & blue.

Wee Festivity also likes to rent kid-sized round tables and kid-sized chairs for parties and tie one balloon to each guest's chair. Then there's no fighting over balloons!

Sticker Show-Off

After posting yesterday, this blogger went to pick up her Noodle from kindergarten. With a surprise beach trip planned for after school, a lunch needed to be packed. Cinnamon letter cookies somehow jumped into a wax paper bag (which must be sealed with a sticker of course).

A cute little monster was found in a parenting magazine. Here is his journey:

He was craft punched and introduced to the 2.5" Xyron machine.

And then he served his duty as Official Sealer of Cookies.

As for the Noodle?

He nearly cried when he accidentally ripped it a little.
Wee Festivity takes that as a sign of success.

Supplies: Container Store Gift Wrap

Now that you know how to make a sticker, here's a thought: You can make stickers out of anything, especially gift wrap. The Container Store sells some of our favorite wrapping papers ever. Their designs are fresh, modern and colorful.

Wee Festivity really likes this reversible one:

© Florapoluzza, the Container Store

We could imagine making a double layer with the black polka dots as a large square sticker under a smaller square floral sticker. You could then top the whole thing off with text on a round sticker and put the whole shebang on top of an invite to a tea party!

Also remember that Xyron offers multiple sizes of sticker machines and you can also find craft punches in every size and shape. Here is just one Google result for "craft punch."

You are limited only by your imagination but we know that sometimes you want to see an idea to spark yourself to try one of your own so we will keep on sharing stickers we make with you.

DIY Tutorial: Make a Sticker

We mentioned last week that we'd come back with a tutorial on how to use the Xyron 150 "Create a Sticker" machine.

Here's the machine on top of our paper.

This is the back of our Martha Stewart Scalloped Circle Punch.
It is helpful because it helps you position your paper "just so."

Go ahead and insert your paper.

Squeeze the punch firmly.

Drop your punched paper in the middle of the Xyron 150's slot.

On the opposite side, you can see where to start pulling the tape.

Pull until your paper has cleared the cutting edge.
(If you pull too far, the only consequence is wasted adhesive tape).

You almost have a sticker now.

Flip it over and rub it several times.
Five-year-olds are good at this part.

Flip it back over and peel off the clear top layer.
Wee Festivity would like to thank our hand model, the Noodle.

The cookies never lie.
Wasn't that easy?

On a separate note, these stickers are perfect for sealing wax paper bags.
And wax paper bags are a great alternative to plastic zip bags!

New Poll

Over to the right, you can see the results of Wee Festivity's first poll about party budgets and our new poll about what time to have a party. The poll will be open until next Friday, October 10th.

Vote!

Dreamy Invites: A Pirate Halloween Party

Do you have a little one with an October birthday?

Hero Arts has the cutest Halloween clear stamp set that will jazz you to combine pirates and the greatest holiday for kids. It's like a triple-play of fun with a classic kid theme, a national holiday and a birthday.

© Clear Design Owl-oween

Wee Festivity would use the following card stock from Paper Source:

an A2-sized Poppy Ric Rac flat card

on top of an A6-sized Black flat card.

We would print our party details on the bottom 2/3 of the poppy card and then stamp HOOT at the top and the adorable pirate owl under "HOOT." We recommend black ink from Clear Snap's Color Box line and clear embossing powder to make the image nice & shiny.

Warning!

The entire Clear Snap site is Flash. It does not provide direct linking and will resize your browser! Wee Festivity finds that highly annoying but we don't hold it against their products. Their ink rocks. You can find their stamp pads at a multitude of stores.