Saddle Up Y'all!
Let's Have A Western Theme Backyard Party

Take your backyard to the West and host a western theme backyard party! Nothing too fancy, just country boys and girls having fun! 

Western Theme Backyard Party Itinerary

Although a western theme backyard party could be used for any occasion, ours was a birthday party. Below is a suggested itinerary:

• High-Noon-Guests arrive
• 12:20-Lunch
• 1:00-Photo Booth
• 1:10-Root beer floats and dessert
• 1:30-Presents
• 1:40-Games
• 2:10-Gold panning
• 2:30-Capture the flag
• 5:00-Guests depart

Western Theme Backyard Party Food

 Pork is an excellent main course and, of course, beans and sourdough complete an appropriate western chow. Bee-Jay did mention maybe serving some cowboy coffee, but that is a little overkill, don't you think? 

Rolos being poured from a bucket labeled "gold nuggets" in a western font also sets the proper stage. 

For dessert, serve chocolate cupcakes with chocolate frosting. Place a Pringle on the top and glue a rolo on with red frosting, to make a hat band. There you have it: a western dessert in the form of cowboy hat cupcakes. Don't forget to provide rootbeer floats in beer mugs to wash this dessert down. Yum!

Western Theme Backyard Party Feeling

Blues, reds, cow print, gingham and burlap are great to use for decorating. Use red and white "picnic" tablecloths. Burlap runners complete the western look on these tables.

Make a birthday banner bookended with cowboy hats. In the beginning, in between the words, and at the end, make a fabric garland out of 12 inch strips of red, white, cow print and gingham fabric using a loop and pull through method. 

Sunflowers are perfect for western theme backyard party center pieces. Use mason jars or tin cans as a vase. Tie a large piece of burlap ribbon around it.

Over this ribbon, tie a slimmer piece of red gingham ribbon. TahDah! An appropriate flower arrangement for the West!

Don't forget to decorate your guests! Ask them to wear western attire and hand out bandanas as party favors.

Give them to the guests when they arrive and let them wear them throughout the party. That way everyone has the proper feel of the West!

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Western Theme Backyard Party Fun

Of course encourage all of your guests to show up in their best cowboy get-up. Don't exclude the ladies, especially as there are many ways to wear western gear with true feminine flair! There are many games that work well with a western theme backyard party. Some of the best are:

• A tin can toss
• A BB gun range
• A ring toss
• Gold panning, and
• Of course, a bronc riding photo booth

For your tin can toss, all you need is a couple bean bags, six decorative tin pails (easy to find at a Walmart), and a table. Set strips of painter's tape as a line behind which the players must stand. If there are varying ages of children playing, be sure to make a line that makes it difficult for the adults and teenagers, but also have a separate, closer line for the younger children. Anyone who hits the cans wins a prize.

Setting up a BB gun range does not have to be too elaborate. Print out as many duck targets as you have guests and hang three on the fence. These targets worked great! Everyone writes his name on his target and gets double the amount of shot as the ducks on the target. Three people go in a round. Every shot that hits the duck counts as a point. Whoever has the most points in his round wins a prize.

Using plywood, paint the ring toss target like a cactus. Glue on little cactus flowers made out of yellow tissue paper. Screw some pegs onto several parts of the cactus and grab your rings (we used dive rings). Your game is ready. Give everyone a turn to toss the rings. Whoever ends up with the most hits wins the prize.

All you need for a backyard gold panning station is a kitty pool, rocks that have been spray painted gold, tin pie pans, sand and water. Put the sand and rocks in the kitty pool and fill it with water. Invite any little gold panners to grab a pie pan and try their luck at the panning business! They can keep whatever they find.

The Photo Booth

For making your photo booth, you will need:

• A very large piece of cardboard (Pick up a free one at Costco. They use them to separate paper products.)
• Black, blue, and red paint, and
• A good place to put the booth

Take the cardboard and paint a cowboy on his bronc. Be sure to have enough headroom to be able to cut out a circle for the head. Start painting with one color and let it dry before you move on to the next color. This allows the paint to stay separate and doesn't make it all blurred into itself.

Set up your bronc-busting station in a good spot so that it is easy to use. Don't forget to set time aside to take pictures at this booth during your party!