A Farm-tastic Barnyard Party

By the time my son turned two, he was obsessed with farm animals. Here are some photos from "Old MacSohan's Farm". I hired a petting zoo to come to our house, complete with a pony, several goats, sheep, pigs, a turkey, some chickens, some ducks and even a llama!!

If every party needs at least one "wow" factor, then this farm scene was it for this party. I made a red barn and "John Deere" style tractor out of several oversized boxes. The children had a great time playing on the farm and pretending to be farmers. Some hay bales, a wheelbarrow, a picket fence made out of poster board, and a Radio flyer horse completed the scene.

I designed my own cake and had a local bakery make it for me.

The rain forced us to bring the cake inside at the last minute for cake cutting time.

I made yard signs to welcome people to the party, with cute phrases such as "Moo, moo, Happy Birthday to You", "No Horsin' Around", and "Neigh, Neigh, there's a birthday party today".

I glued an old license plate to the front of the tractor and bottle caps painted silver to the wheels to add a nice finishing touch to the tractor.

The rooster is an old halloween hat, which I filled with batting and sewed on the bottom.

I bought mini milk pails and then painted them with cow splotches for the party favors. Each pail contained a farm animal lollipop, plastic farm animals and custom printed pencils saying "Old MacSohan's Farm".

I found a cow pinata online and added some ribbon, a bell and some googly eyes to customize it.

I found some adorable scare "crows" on sale to place around the "farm".

I made several stick horses for the children out of brown socks, ribbon, wool for the mane and felt pieces for the facial features.

I turned my son's horse toy chest into a beverage tub for juice boxes, by adding foam insulation.

The children also really enjoyed the Radio flyer horse. I bought cow print balloons to complete the party scene.

Here's Old MacSohan in his tractor.

I bought cowboy hats and bananas for all of the children to wear at the party and take home as additional party favors. On the invitation, I asked the parents to dress their children in blue denim and white T-shirts, to provide the basis for the "farmer" ensemble.

  

Here is my son petting one of the sheep that came to the party!