How to Entertain Kids at a Western Theme Birthday Party

If your little cowpoke has a birthday coming and a wild west roundup is in your future than you're in luck. Finding creative ways to entertain kids at a western theme party is easy because the theme is simple and loved by boys and girls alike. The key to success is keeping things moving with plenty of fun activities.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Things You’ll Need:

• Cardboard
• Several pair of scissors and glue
• Acrylic paints
• Paper
• Wood blocks
• Plastic toy horses
• Horseshoes
• Rope
• Bandanas
• Party Favors

1. Entertain kids busy while waiting for all the guests to arrive by having them make their own branding irons. Have them draw their designs on cardboard and then cut them out. Glue the cardboard brands (backwards) to smooth blocks of wood that are easy to hold. Later when the glue is dry, they can practice using their brands with some acrylic paints and paper and then take them home as a party favor.
2. Play a game called Sleeping Cowboys. Let the birthday child be "it" and have everyone else lie flat on their backs and stay as still as possible. The person who is "it" has to try to make the cowboys laugh by making faces or doing silly things but not actually touching anyone. The first cowboy to giggle is out, and play begins again. The last one left in is the winner.
3. Buy a bulk bag of small plastic toy horses and hide them all over your yard or in a large room. Send the kids on a treasure hunt to find the horses. If you have different breeds, instruct them to get one of each. If they find one they already have, then they can choose to put it back or hide it in a new place. Whoever finds the most horses wins. Let the kids keep the horses as party favors.
4. Make sugar cookies in the shape of a horse or cowboy hat. Lay them out on a table with different colors of icing and sprinkles, and let each party guest decorate their own birthday cookie.
5. Set up a game of horseshoes. Kids can play it as a party game, and the game will also entertain the adults afterwards while the kids are doing other things.
6. Hold a western roping contest. Make a lasso by tying a slipknot in a piece of rope. Cover a bicycle with a blanket and have the kids take turns trying to rope the "steer."
7. Arrange chairs in a circle around the birthday child and have all the party guests sit in a seat. As the guest of honor chooses a gift to open, have the child that brought the gift join the birthday child in the center of the circle. Give the party guest a bandana filled with candy or small western theme toys as a party favor, once the gift is opened.

Tips & Warnings

• Make sure you plan more western theme birthday activities than you believe you need. They often don't last as long as you anticipate, and keeping kids busy helps things stay under control.

Who Can Help:

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