I have been preparing for Mason's 4th birthday for quite some time now. I probably started about June with the theme and collecting a few things here and there. Mason and I decided on a barnyard/farm themed party. It has been super fun and exciting checking out what others have done and I have taken and modified some ideas that I have seen as well as created some of my own. Many people (especially Justin) say that I am doing way tooooooo much, and that it is "way over the top", but only the best for my baby boy!!!
I will post pictures as I make things. So far I have made the invitations (super cute-barns), painted milk bottles with cow spots, and made the stands for the cake pops (pig pens and pastures). I have purchased some things here and there, egg cartons which I will probably use for the party favors, tiny white pails which will be used for the "chicken" cake pops, a pinata (actually found one that that looks identical to the invites, Party City), and some small goodies for the favors. I still want to create some games for the kiddos to play. I made some "fried egg" bean bags and was thinking of doing some sort of bean bag toss game (toss the egg in the chicken basket???) and made a scarecrow for the "veggie garden" vegetable platter. I am going to start working on another game, pin the tail on the pig or pin the apple on the horse's mouth. I am also making a barn (out of a cereal box, thanks for the idea mom!) for the table decor. I am going to purchase large hay bales and drape them with gingham fabric that I purchased (from Joann's) and use them for seating. My mom and I purchased white and red plates and cutlery and some red and white gingham tablecovers (Party City). I intend to buy some white daisies and some galvanized buckets and use them as table decor. So far that's about it.
The inside of the barn invitations I made. Had to block out the address and my phone number for the crazies!!! Found wording samples on the internet and just combined them and added a few words to make them my own. I found pictures of the animals on the internet which I printed out and colored and cut and then glued them on.
The adorable, "over the top" (as my hubby says) barn invite! It took me awhile to get the perfect "barn" shape, but once I had one it was easy to trace and cut the rest from red cardstock. I used white card stock on the doors and hemp for the "rope" around the barn doors. I cut a small square from black cardstock for the window.
The "fried egg" bean bags for the bean bag toss game (super easy, just used felt and cut out pieces in the shape of an egg and hot glued both sides together and then stuffed with beans) (Sorry, I think this picture is upside down, but you get it)
Sorry about this picture...not sure why it wouldn't rotate. The little scarecrow I made for the "veggie garden" vegetable platter (used left-over casualties from my dogs chewing up the decorative yard stakes I purchased from Walmart).
The "pasture" my mom and I made which will be holding the cow and sheep cake pops! We used styrofoam which I cut into rectangles and covered it with green card stock and then cut some construction paper fringe for the grass and then threw in some green paper shreds.
The "pig pen" we made to hold the pig cake pops. Again, we used the styrofoam and then my mom (love her so much for helping me) cut popsicle sticks in half and painted them white to look like a picket fence. I used non drying modeling clay for the "mud."
The super cute "moo milk" bottles. Now this I will say was by far the most stressful part of the planning thus far. I searched everywhere for these. I could not find glass milk bottles anywhere (well those that were reasonably priced). I had seen others use them and post pictures, but no luck. Then, I had the fantastic idea to use Starbuck's frappachino bottles. Success!!! Lots of coffee drinking (for two non-drinkers), but yea!!! I peeled the labels and scrubbed the sticky stuff off and then painted them white and added the black cow spots. These will be used at the party and filled with either regular, chocolate, or strawberry milk with a red straw!Well, that is pretty much what I have made/accomplished thus far. I will post more pictures and pictures from the party later!
