Country Western party: Max is 1!

I have to tell you, it’s the biggest thrill to have a professional photographer inquire about one of my themes – especially a photographer as talented as Adrian Hindes of Canyon Photography. When she asked about teaming up to work on a country-western party for her son, Max, I couldn’t say “sign me up, pardner” fast enough! It was SO much fun to put the theme together with her, and to hear about how she made Max’s first birthday party so special. Read on, cowgirls… : )

To create rustic signs on the cheap, Adrian took inexpensive balsa wood planks, stained them with wood stain, and added text with a white paint pen. For a finishing touch, she hot glued rope trim around the edges.

The backdrop behind Max’s printable banner is actually brown craft paper from the dollar store, with wood stain that was “ragged” on to create a leathery look.

The cowboy hats used throughout the party are from Oriental Trading.

Farm hands were treated to yummy finger foods, including “haystacks” (recipe here) and “honey wheat ropes” (actually pretzels), plus lemonade and a flavor-your-own milk bar. Each dish was labeled with a printable buffet card.

“Chicken feed” is the cutest thing! It’s actually a granola mix with peanut M&M’s added.

In addition to being a fabulous photographer, Adrian also makes a heck of a cake! She made Max’s large cake as well as all of the cupcakes.

Adrian made this adorable wreath, too! She says, “it’s a straw wreath form (I left the plastic on) and I ripped 1-2″ sections of red bandanna fabric. I double-knotted the strips around the wreath, then tied on the red ‘M’ for Max with rope. Easy peasy!”

Hoedown corncakes and “well water” are a must after a long day on the farm. : )

To make this adorable farm bowling game, Adrian used clip art from Scrappin Doodles. She printed the clip art onto card stock, laminated each character, then attached them to liter-sized soda bottles that were each filled about one-third full of sand.

These stick horses are so creative and so sweet! Adrian and her mother-in-law made them the day before the party. They cut the head out of butcher paper, added yarn from the dollar store, and stuffed the heads with leftover plastic grocery store bags. Then, they hot-glued in a dowel rod and tied a rope on for the reins. Adrian says “everything is held together with hot glue, so there were a few burnt fingers but it was a cheap and fun project! We had sticker eyes and mouths that the kids used to decorate their horses.”

Each guest went home with their own miniature petting zoo – how cute is that?! The felt barns were a bargain from the Target dollar aisle.

Here’s Max, really enjoying his smash cake – atta boy! : )

The cutest lil’ farmer in all of Arizona. : ) Happy birthday, Max! Thank you so much, Adrian!

Shop for personalized Country-Western Theme party paper goods and printables here.
Or, check out more Country-Western Theme party ideas on Pinterest or here on my blog!