So my daughter LOVES horses and we are not the typical Oklahoma cowboy/cowgirl family so for her theme I made it a Rebel Cowgirl. Although I do enjoy the rustic country items I came across a bit more than I had realized so I guess maybe deep down inside I might have a little bit of cowgirl in me. Most stores carry only the typical cowboy/cowgirl items for b-day parties and I didn't really have a lot of money to be buying it all so I tried to come up with as much stuff as I could to make and also to give it more of a personal feel for my little Cordi Lou. The birthday turned out amazing and I may have went a little overboard, but I would not change a thing. I enjoyed putting it together so much!!
I had seen this on another site and I just can't seem to find it now to give them their credit, but if you look up cowgirl birthday parties on pinterest you will run into it. The kiddos loved the popcorn, but had give the cones back since these had pointy ends and I didn't need them impaling each other. lol.
Some more of the goodies the kids got were m&ms muddy buddies, caramel apples and of course cupcakes. I got the caramel recipe here
http://www.howdoesshe.com/apples-dipped-in-heaven-part-2/. It turned out really good, but I recommend going on with the recipe she gives. This caramel is very very sticky and it was hard to even get the wrapper off. In her original recipe she goes on to add white chocolate and cinnamon and sugar.
And of course you have to have pics of the birthday girl. The wanted one was also an idea I found on Pinterest. And the little flower is the hair flower I made her to wear in the pictures. She was supposed to wear it that day, but I never got around to putting it on.
The horse centerpiece was amazingly cute!! And she loves putting her baby dolls on it and letting them ride the horse. I found that horse at hobby lobby on clearance! Originally $70 I paid $14!! I got a steal! The horse shoes were 4 for $10 at a feed store that specializes in horses. I made the tic tac toe board and will be selling those in my etsy shop soon. And the cupcake stands were yet another pinterest idea. (some times I really really hate saying that). Although the ones I saw did not have cute little scenes on the top. I did that. So Ha Pinterest!
The goody bags ended up being really fun. Behind them are two jars that had some candy for the kids to choose from and inside the goody bag was a ziploc for them to create their own trail mix. They had popcorn, muddy buddies, and m&ms for the trail mix. They loved putting it all together.
Close up of the wonderful tic tac toe. Cordi and her brother Dorian loved playing this.
Cordi Lou's cupcakes. The frosting did not cooperate with me. but at least I had my amazing cupcake toppers to still make them cute!
I had a sister who really loved the Root Beer and kept stealing them for the adults. Claiming the kids should not have glass, jokingly of course. She just wanted an excuse for the adults to go home with something so I made this the adult treat.
Some of the outside fun included horse shoes, beanbag toss, and horse races. The kids loved all of that as well.
And remember that cute horse decoration on the wall. That was my pin the tail on the horse game. I really loved this and Cordi now has it hanging in her room with it's full tail and it is just too cute.
Then we had fun with the mustaches! I loved that I even got the big kids to participate in this one.
I have now started a new tradition for my little family. I have enjoyed making the cupcake toppers so much and didn't like the idea of just throwing them away so they turned into birthday wishes. Once you get your cupcake, take the topper off the toothpick and write a wish for the birthday kid and place it in a fun keepsake jar. On Cordi's jar I made a pic saying Cordi's 3rd birthday and will make one for each birthday placing it on the jar to show what all birthdays she got wishes. I will do this with my two boys as well for their next birthdays. I just thought this was a good way to get everyone involved in the birthday and the child will have something to look at when they get older. :) I am also selling these in my Etsy shop.
Overall this is by far one of my favorite birthdays to put together and I look forward to doing more fun things for my other two children.
