Hissyfits Photography Blog

Alright!! Here is another entry in my quest to get all of the parties I have done organized!! YAY!! {Check the Party Shoppe tab under Categories above to see the rest!} This was Huntler’s third birthday…a Barnyard Bash! As I said in the last party post, these images were taken nearly two years ago…long before I was into photography at the level I am now. So, while they aren’t award winning shots, they are priceless to us no matter what!

So first of all…I can’t take credit for all of my ideas! Sure, I manage to bring them all to life, but I find SO much inspiration on the web and from other moms! Seriously…what would we do without the internet? One of my favorite party planning websites is Birthday Party Ideas. Once you know your theme, you can sift through all of the entries that other moms have so kindly submitted and take what you want from them! I have done that very thing for every single party we have had! Amazing Moms is another great one to hit up. And I of course just Google the theme too and see what else turns up from that! With blogging it is amazing what you can find out there!!

First up is the invite. I had high, high hopes of creating my own fun invites for my special little guy, but the time escaped me so I had to rely on fabulous Swoozie’s to come to the rescue! And while these particular invitations weren’t hand made or unique, they were still cute and fit the theme!

I searched online for wording ideas and then took what I liked and tried to incorporate it! We also added in bits and pieces of our own thoughts to get exactly what we wanted! And sorry about the spacing…Wordpress has “issues” and won’t let me gather it into groups like I want to! It read as follows:

Hay…It’s Huntler’s Birthday Baa-sh!

R Lil’ Buckaroo Is Turning Three {The “R” was actually backwards on our invite!!}

So Saddle Up And Mosey On Over ‘Cuz

We Be Havin’ Us A Barnyard Party!

Round ‘Em Up And Moo-ve ‘Em In

4:30 PM, Saturday, September 22

At The last name Family Farm

Neighs Only 222-222-2222

Ya Lil’ Farm-Hands Best

Wear Yer Farmer Duds

For Yer Chores…

And Ya’ll Come Hungry

For Dinner And Dessert Now,

Ya Hear?!

Thank you notes…IF I did them for this party, they were just simple store bought ones that didn’t even go with the theme! I say “IF” because there are several of us in a playgroup and we all attend each other’s parties. Way back when we chatted about all the time and work it takes to send thank you notes and how we are all busy with kids so we have somewhat of an understood “rule” that we don’t have to send them to each other!

All of the tableware for this party was simple red and black…nothing patterned or themed whatsoever. I did however wrap the silverware in red napkins and tie raffia bows around each set! SUPER cute! I love to do this for our parties. It just adds a little extra touch!! I also LOVE galvanized tubs and buckets and they worked perfectly for this theme!! The cow print bandana is from Hobby Lobby.

On the menu for this party was barbeque beef sandwiches! We bought briscuit and cooked it in the crock pot and served it up! We also had chicken nuggets and mini pigs in a blanket for the kiddos! Baked beans, pasta salad and fruit salad rounded out the spread!

I mentioned before that an idea I just love is use cookie cutters that tie in with the theme to cut fruit and sandwiches out of. I have ordered from Off the Beaten Path several times in the last couple of years and have had only wonderful experiences! They have more cookie cutters than you could ever imagine and are sure to have what you want!

While chatting about food, how about the cake?! While I LOVE to plan out the intricate little details of these parties and actually do most of the work myself, I won’t even attempt the cake!! Cupcakes maybe, the cake never!

For Huntler’s party we once again used the fabulous Elizabeth to create this masterpiece for us! She also did the cupcakes. And she did a WONDERFUL job!! The detail and thought put into this cake was phenomenal! At the time Huntler always said, “Cow Barn,” so I wanted that incorporated into the cake.

Sweet little cuppies…

So the invites, food and cake are covered…how about the decorations?!

Here is that same galvanized milk jug from the ladybug party being used again! This time with fall flowers!

And these are actual chicken feeders I bought at a livestock store! Yes, I ventured into a livestock store!! Since the party was at the end of September, we went with candy corn for the fall feel and then “Chicken Feed” that I made! {It isn’t a direct link so you’ll have to scroll down just a bit!} While these looked super cute, they were more for display than anything! The holes are just too tiny to fit fingers in and munch from!! {And just in case you are wondering, I had to buy the jars separately…they came from a craft store.}

Here is our entryway! We went with red, green and blue as the accent colors for this party! The cow print balloons came from  here.

Huntler’s banner came from here. The mylar cow balloon did as well. And there was also a pig but he didn’t make the cut for the pictures I am posting!!

As each little guest entered, he or she received a cowboy hat! {If you looked at the link, you’ll notice I took the stars off because I didn’t like them!!} Each child received a red bandana to wear while at the party as well! I am pretty sure you can buy the bandanas at Wal Mart or somewhere cheaper! However, for me, sometimes it is just easier to pay a little extra and order online!!

So how about the rest of the favors now? I mentioned in the ladybug party post that I ordered chocolate lollies. I had quite a fiasco with that bash, but this one went off much better! I ordered this set off of Ebay and they were absolutely darling! The one thing to keep in mind with these though is the season and the climate where you are because they WILL melt!!

Since this party I have taught myself how to make these sweet treats! They are seriously super easy and actually pretty fun!

And here is a little peek at the favor buckets!! I LOVE putting together the party favors!! The challenge of finding coordinating little goodies that are both useful and fun is just well, fun!!

I found these buckets online, of course!! I wish I could remember what size I ordered, but I just can’t!! I would guess that they were one of the ones that is about 4 inches high? ! I do know that I ordered them from The Bucket Outlet though. Here is a direct link to the galvanized buckets!

The photo above shows the buckets for the littlest guests! They received a four piece farm animal puzzle from Wal Mart, a coloring book from Michael’s, a bitty stuffed animal from the dollar bins at Target and a rubber ducky! Each favor bucket had a farm animal ornament tied around the handle as well. Those were from the dollar bins at Michael’s.

The bigger kids received a coloring book, a push up farm animal, a rubber duck and a sticker set where you dress a different farm animal. I can not find where I bought the sticker sets from, but I am sure it was online and from a party site! Don’t forget that all of the kids took home a hat, bandana and lollipop as well!

This was the first party Chris ever designed BINGO cards for!! He did a great job! We didn’t laminate this set, but they held up pretty well considering all the little hands that were touching them!

This party was two years ago and while I am not seeing the exact set of graphics we used on iStockphoto, that doesn’t mean they aren’t there! There are a TON to choose from! And here is the direct link to the font used on “Barnyard Bingo.”

We used candy corn for the markers! And yes, that is Huntler front and center in a diaper! Gosh he was so tiny!!! Can we go back in time for just a day?!

Since by the end of September it is somewhat tolerable out, we headed outside for a couple of games. I found these egg/spoon race games at Target and bought a couple of them on sale at the end of the season.

I also blew up a ton of pink balloons that were supposed to serve as pigs! There were two fly swatters and the kids were supposed to have races where they shooed pigs from one place to another. As always, the game really didn’t happen and it turned into a free for all but they did have fun scooting the balloons along and playing outside!

Yes, Huntler again in no clothing!!

But see, he WAS dressed to fit the theme at one point! I ordered him some cute little overalls off of Ebay and he sported those for part of the party anyway! {And just ignore the effects I put on this picture. That was done way back when and I must have thought it looked good! WHAT was I thinking?!}

Our little roller skating farm boy at the end of the day!!

Filed under my-lil-lollies, party-shoppe, by Bethany