Birthday's & Lil' Buckaroos

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It’s always a lot of fun for me to plan my kids’ birthday parties. I especially like themes. This was Justus’s first birthday party where we invited friends over to help him celebrate so he was pretty excited.

I get a lot of ideas from browsing the web but probably my most favorite site for planning birthdays is Birthday Party Ideas. Who would have thought?

Most of the ideas I used for Justus’s party, if not all, came from that site.

This cake was so simple but fun.

I used these figures from the toy box. There were a few tails missing from the horses and the cowboy had lost his arms from the elbow down but I couldn’t find any figures at the store. Isn’t that amazing? All little boys have played cowboys and indians and now they’re not available?! What have we substituted in their place but pop stars and nasty looking creatures. Don’t get me started; I’ll be on a rant for sure.

Back to Justus’s party.

Maybe bad taste – but I couldn’t resist.

The Cowboys!

We started the party off with Pin the Star on the Hat of the Sheriff. We even got the daddy’s to participate. Yea, for the daddies and big brothers and older boys who were good sports that day and joined in the games! I love when they can just have fun and not be worrying about how silly it might look.

Then we all gathered around the grub table. Mmmm. BBQ Shredded Beef/Elk Sandwiches, Coleslaw, Corn on the Cob, Baked Beans, Relish Tray & Dip and Watermelon. I realized my mistake in serving lunch first when I thought of how s-l-o-w I eat and how fast little boys can be. So I had to chomp down my food quicker than I like.

I have to tell you what happened to me just as I was getting ready to eat. I heard a little noise come from my plate. I looked and lo! a bird had placed a white dropping right into my beans! Ugh. Why does this always seem to happen to me? My family is convinced it’s because I’m paranoid about it.

The first game we played was Stomp the Flies. I told the kids that their horses had been waiting a long time and the whole time they had been bothered by pesky black flies. Their horses were stomping their feet to try and get rid of them. So, the object of this game, as you probably know, was to stomp the other person’s black balloon and to try and keep your balloon from getting popped.

Then they had to ride their (pretend) horses to Rattlesnake Pass. We had a big rope that we wiggled back and forth across the ground like a snake. The kids had to jump over it but if they were touched by the rope they were bit and had to step out. For the older kids (13 and up) we raised the rope off the ground and wiggled it while they jumped over.

Barrel racing was fun. We timed each individual person as they ran around the 2 barrels on their stick horse. They got to run twice to see if they could improve their score and beat the person who had the shortest time.

This event really got the older kids and Russell’s competitive, male testosterone side going.

Then came calf roping.

We also did a Tin Can Shoot using squirt guns and plastic cups. This event needed a little perfecting, neither did we get any pictures of it.

Then came the bull riding… My husband had said he would make me some kind of contraption that the kids could use for bull riding. I had a simple idea of a barrel with springs attached hung from the garage ceiling but somehow that idea never took hold in his mind. So the morning of – he came up with this.

I was wondering where he planned to put the saddle. Maybe on top of the beam? Maybe the kids would have to walk the beam to actually get into the saddle? This could get very interesting not to mention dangerous. I hadn’t been planning on broken arms and injuries so had not thought to restock my first-aid kit.

But no – he had other plans. The finished product…

Ride ’em cowboy!

The little ones had a hard time making a qualifying 8-second ride.

We ended the planned activities with a pinata which turned out to be one of the best events of the day with the surprise we had…

That pinata really took a beating with so many kids hitting it. So some repairs were in order. My husband was joking saying that pretty soon it was going to be the indestructible pinata since it had so much duct tape wrapped around it.

Finally, the pinata was broke open only for everyone to discover there had been a robbery. The candy had been stolen and instead there were only bags of pinto beans! Russell told them he had heard Black-hearted Bart was in the area and that he must have stolen the loot.

Unbeknownst to everyone Black-hearted Bart (a.k.a. Seth)was hiding on the hillside nearby. (see him in the background?)

After the announcement about Black-hearted Bart, Bart (a.k.a. Seth) rose up with a yell and shot off his gun (which were blanks).

He then tore down the hill and raced through the crowd, carrying the loot in his bag. The kids were chasing him trying to catch him as he ran and hollered.

They finally caught him and made him give up his treasures.

Black-hearted Bart caused quite a stir but also brought a lot of chuckles and smiles.

We set up a gold panning station, too. We filled an old miners bathtub with sand and water and hid 200 pennies in the sand along with a few dimes, nickels and quarters. It was surprising to see how much the kids enjoyed this. It made for great pictures.

Happy birthday to my little buckaroo.