Birthday Extravaganza

Today is my son's 3rd birthday, but we had his party last Saturday. In honor of his birthday I will share the party festivities. It was a cowboy themed party which included a layer cake, straw pit, badge decorating, and horse rides.

I made the birthday cake which was box chocolate and vanilla with matching icing out of a can. I made the bottom chocolate in a 9x13 pan, and then cut it into a square instead of rectangle. The second layer was vanilla made in two 8" round pans. The 3rd tier was the slice of chocolate I cut off the rectangle bottom. I covered it all with icing, and  tried to make some design that resembled a handkerchief. The cake topper was a cowboy riding his trusty stead that was my husband's as a kid.

I bought some straw bales from a former student which served as our straw pit. We put down a tarp and spread out the straw bales. We threw $1.50 worth of pennies in it, and had all the kids dive in and find them.

My husband traced a star pattern on 1/4 mdf board and cut them out with a band saw.  We hot glued pins on the back. Once the party started the kids decorated them with markers, crayons, and colored pencils. Paint would have taken too long to dry. They wore the badges with their cowboy hats and bandannas.

We ended the party with horse rides. A former student of mine was raised with horses, and I knew the family very well. I called the mother of my former student and asked if she could bring one of her horses to our house in town to give short rides. She was very nice, and agreed. Her horse was such a prince, and all the kids were able to give him treats and ride him.

It was a great party, and I know all the kids loved it. My sons want to get a horse now. I keep telling them to ask their grandparents.