Haute On The Ranch: Cowboy Party Planning

~ Cowboy Party Planning ~

All the details for pulling off any occasion from a 1st Birthday Rodeo to the Western Spin on a 4th of July Celebration!

My Baby {cow}Boy just turned one last Sunday! An All-American Cowboy Rodeo theme was easily my number one pick!  To save y'all endless late nights of pin{trest}ing your life away when you could be getting a lil rest.  I thought I'd share Bronson's 1st Birthday party details with you!  Make it cowboy/cowgirl or kids/adults.  

Here's a quick rundown of what's coming at y'all::

1. Meet Birthday {cow}Boy Bronson 

2. Essentials & Simple Decor w/ purchase or download links from American Owned Small Businesses!

3. All our Crowd Pleasing, Tried & True Cowboy Recipes w/ the need to know tips & tricks

4. And a lil something extra to sip on to turn this Cowboy Party into a belly laughing good time!

Up with the sun doing Cowboy things on his 1st Birthday! Bronson Michael Wimer 6.7.20

Photo Credit: Native Roaming

Mama & Bronson made sure daddy got in on the frosting beard.

• 1st Birthday Rodeo Party Invites: customize and purchase
• & because I like to make life easier and love my custom self-inking return address stamps 

With our first kid I made it through 3 months of keeping up with the Monthly Baby Sign pics. This kid Month 1.  That is it.  And then here I am 3 days before his birthday, scrolling through 65k pics of clothes and kids on my phone trying to find one pic per month that's at least within a few days of the 7th! (insert hand to face emoji) 

• 1st Year Photo Banner just tape 4x6 prints on and you're good to go!

To avoid getting the balloons aired in town and having half of them pop from heat in the truck, the little helium tank from Hobby Lobby did the trick.

But don't worry, my kids proceeded to destroy and attempt to eat all the blue balloons & some, before any guests even arrived.  So really no different success rate!

• Cow Print Balloons
• Cow Print Happy Birthday Balloon
• Blue and Gold Chrome Balloons
• Cowboy Boot Balloon
• Cowboy Birthday Garland birthday year customizable, or without number for any other occasion to hang on a table or wall.
• Bandanas: Extra accents and pops of color added with a handful of light blue and red bandanas from Hobby Lobby - whether gathered into a bouquet as a filler or set at a diamond angle beneath the food, it's the perfect touch for a Cowboy Birthday or 4th of July party.
• Calf Hides: great accent on tables or walls for party and your home year round.

 

 Some added special touches were the longhorn skull & guest book table from our wedding and my dad's old bareback riggin.

3. All our Crowd Pleasing, Tried & True Cowboy Recipes 

To make the food fit in as the primary decor, I made these food selections and the names to reflect the cowboy theme.  HERE is the free download for Food Tent Cards I designed to fit Avery 5320 perforated tent cards.

 Now for some of my long-time favorite recipes + some new {tested and verified by me} Pinterest ones!  I'll add in any must have tips & tricks for ya too!

• Cowboy Caviar - a passed around friends and family favorite, hence the hard loved recipe.

 

• Cattle{man} Dip - 1 lb sausage browned and drained, add (1) 8 oz pkg cream cheese, once melted with meat add in (1) undrained can of Rotell.  I doubled the recipe and did one Mild and one Hot sausage for a little kick.
• Blue & White Corn Chips - perfect for both these dips
• Fence Posts - Garden Veggie Straws
• Wagon Wheels - Pin Wheels This is my new found favorite bacon, ranch, jalapeño version!

• Ranch Sliders - Ranch Ham & Swiss Sliders another new favorite version! I would suggest to leave out brown sugar (the Hawaiian rolls give them just enough sweetness) and may not need all the butter mixture. Don't separate the Rolls, just cut them in half while the block of them stays together. Also shredding the ham will make them easy to pull or cut apart after baking.  I made 4 batches but wish I had made more ~ the remaining few were amazing for leftovers!
• Lil’ Doggies - Crescent Roll Wrapped lil Smokies  cutting the crescent rolls into strips with a pizza cutter was the ticket. I made 2 packs of lil smokies but could have doubled it.  They were a crowd pleaser!
• Cow Patties - THE brownies I have always made since I was a kid. Check them a with a toothpick and once it comes out without any gooeyness and almost clean, take those puppies out of the oven for that perfect level of fudginess!  If you're the girl that doesn't own a simple cookie cutter, like me, snag the easiest thing out of the cabinets that's the right size circle. This time I used a wide mouth baby bottle cap to cut them into circles. haha!  Wine glasses are my go-to for cutting biscuits.  Resourcefulness ladies!

1974 Edition Betty Crocker Cook Book of my mom’s.

Newborn photos by Elly Bean Photography. Cow Print Straw Set for a lil Root Beer bottle extra!

• Rodeo Cookies - Sweet Trails bakery and she even designed the cowboy to match the invite! So cool.

 

• Frontier Fruit - I cheated and saved myself some precious time and bought a variety pack of fresh cut fruit.

A lil cowboy {sugar} bar.

• Hay Bales - the best dang Rice Krispy Treat recipe you've ever sank your teeth into! Even made super-fans out of myself and my mom that never previously liked them! Be sure to follow all the little tricks of this recipe for the softest/chewiest, best tasting ones ever! Super easy to make, cut in bale sizes and turned on their sides!

Stetson Cowboy Hat Cupcakes. Haystack Cookies. "Lasso Ropes" liquorish. Cow Tales candy would be super cute in a mason jar too (included in Tent Card download).

• Stetson Cupcakes - chocolate cowboy hat topper cupcakes.
• Cowboy Hat Topper: so let me tell you... there's a quick easy route and then there's the "last-minute Lucy" planning route I took (not suggested).
• The Quick & Easy - use a drop of melted chocolate chips onto a Belgian Chocolate Thin to adhere an upside down placed Rolos candy. Wham-bam-done.
• Wait to 2 Days before the party: to then realize you can't purchase the chocolate thins in town, and the only option is to order them.  Plan B: Ghirardelli Melting Wafers (melted per package instructions) we used dark chocolate, but milk chocolate would be good too! Dip Original Pringles in chocolate with a little extra in the center to place the upside down Rolo. Then let them quickly set up on wax paper.  
• Vanilla Cupcakes - super moist, most delicious Cupcake Recipe ever, recommended by Kent Kreations (another amazing cookie bakery). They were heavenly!
• Cream Cheese Frosting - because i just can't handle overly sweet frostings. 
• Lucky for this gal, I got my mama's help, and she killed it with these cupcakes!
• Hay Stacks - a childhood favorite. The easiest, 3-ingredient, no-bake Cookie Recipe that only requires the microwave.

Smash Cake - I just made another batch of the cupcake and frosting recipe and split it into two 6-inch cake pans.  You can bet the half Bronson didn't destroy, this mama kept for herself as a treat the rest of the week!

4. And a lil something extra to sip on to turn this Cowboy Party into a belly laughing good time!

For some adult fun with this themed decor & food. It's a requirement to add in a lil {OSU} Cowboy Kool-Aid! As I jogged my mental recipe file box for this, memories of College Days in Stillwater started flowing. 

Cowboy Kool-Aid 

(the "little bit grown up" version that's less sweet than that college version)

• 1 12 oz can frozen strawberry daiquiri concentrate, thawed
• 1 pack of Lemonade Kool-Aid
• 1 2 liter Sprite
• 2 cups vodka
• 1 cup light rum
• 1 liter of sparkling water (strawberry or plain)
• Optional add 1 bag of frozen sliced strawberries

Mix packet and thawed daiquiri concentrate. Add remaining ingredients. Chill in refrigerator and then serve over ice. If you have ingredients chilled prior to mixing, you are good to go!

And to just let ya in on a peek of those Stillwater Days, here's a snapshot of my last recalled bout with Cowboy Kool-Aid!

The clip from the last night's messages with the College Roomies:

"...All I know is the last time I made this, I was without a spoon for stirring the Cowboy Kool-Aid together at an OSU Football Game Tailgate, circa 2009. I commenced to full body - shake the shit out of this large flap top pitcher container and the fizz built up so much pressure it blasts the cap off. Thoroughly hosing down a few OSU Alum Football Starting Linemen and every food table under the tent in red kool-aid. Mortifying to the point of sobering a gal up in a matter of seconds! I just remember it was like a slow-mo out of body experience, that I thought in no way could this be real life. It was!"

 Tara, Laura & I could tell College Stories for days ~ but we'll keep that 'till one day when maybe we can have a cup of Kool-Aid together in person with ya! ;)

Here's to hoping your next Cowboy Party gets a lil wild & western!

'Till next time ~ Ryley Wimer, owner of S7s

For more of my past themed Party Planning Pinterest Inspo Boards click HERE.