Farm Party: The Details!

Phew! The big farm party is over, and we had lots of fun! I already showed you the invitations, and I wanted to share some of the creative details that went into making our modern house into a virtual barn. A ton of planning and time went into this party, and it was so worth it. We made some great memories!

The goody bags were just white bags painted with black spots.  My favorite part was the back:

I searched high and low for cow tales to put on the back of the bags.  They are yummy anyway, they are perfect for toddlers, and they belong on the back of a cow bag!

Inside the bags I put haystack cookies...

... and some farm stickers, tattoos, and a rubber duck.

I made homemade (read: free) coloring books with coloring pages from the internet.

And I used another piece of clip art as inspiration for "Bessie."  We played pin the tail on the cow, and here is what she looked like when the kids were done:

Simple flowers in mason jars were used as decor, and I also used stuffed animals and books that Brennan already had:

On the dining room table I used vinyl tablecloths from the camping section at Wal-Mart, a hay bale I bought on ultra-clearance last fall / early winter, a cowboy hat that Brennan already had (he was born in Dallas, after all!), some farm animal masks that my mother-in-law gave me when she retired from teaching, and bandannas from Oriental Trading Company (each kid got to take one home). 

Besides pin the tail on the cow, we made farm animal magnets from Oriental Trading, put on tattoos (also from OT), and we played "animalround-up" by tossing stuffed cows and pigs into a galvanized bucket. That silly game was the hit of the party! 

Food was a lot of fun with this theme.  We had "straw" (potato sticks) and "hay" (pretzels)...

... lemonade from the "duck pond"...

... and some delicious fruit from the watermelon pig!

And, of course, what is a birthday party without cake?

Brennan was more excited about this cake than anything else.  He talked about it for weeks before the party, so I knew I had to deliver!

In the end, it was a terrific day, and I'm glad I had an opportunity to do these things for my sweet boy.  The real test will be to see if I do something like this again next year, or whether we just go someplace and pay someone else to take care of the details!!