A Vintage Cowgirl Birthday Party...

Darling COW+GIRL=COWGIRL tee available from etsy seller Oh! Fiddlesticks
Vintage floral print skirt is from etsy seller Laken&Lila

This post is a little off the beaten path, I know. Most of you come here for the flowers! However, this post has flowers AND fun party styling, so stick around... there are lots of styling tips that can be used for weddings and showers, too!

A couple months back, I got to do a vintage cowgirl party for my little girl Lucia, who turned two. There were a few reasons that this was the perfect party for her...

#1... an obsession (daily!) with some pink, light-up, awesome cowgirl boots
#2... an obsession with the farm (our local petting zoo/farmstead, Deanna Rose)
#3... an obsession with ponies in particular
#4... because, well... this theme was right up MY alley too. And let's be real... kids parties are also for the parents. :)

My color scheme was based on this kind of washed out, vintage sepia tone, along with touches of soft turquoise blues and pinks. There were a few particular items that inspired the styling of this party and served as my overall inspiration, and you'll notice them throughout this post.

• Years ago, I bought an ebay lot of vintage-looking hankies (new, but perfect reproductions in countless color combos). I bought them with a particular craft project in mind, and of course it never came to fruition. Such is my life. Nevertheless, I used them here, as a pennant-style banner, and I made hankie flowers for the girls' (and my!) hair. Because they weren't sewn (only taped!), they went right back into the bin of "never-to-be-accomplished" craft possibilities. Sigh...
  
• I picked up a huge chunk of vintage floral fabric (at Goodwill or something) for 99 cents a couple months ago. At the time, I had no idea what I would do with it... but it was in perfect, unused condition and there were YARDS of it. I ended up using it several places, most notably as a table cloth!
• Vintage ponies. My dad helped me "collect" these in the weeks before the birthday party. We found all these darling little vintage ceramic pony planters that I used for my floral touches. (These were most likely used as baby gifts, filled with a little floral arrangement or green plant, in the 1950s in particular.) Yes, fresh flowers at a little kid's birthday party might seem silly... but I am FLOWER MOMMY to my girls. So there. :)
•  {edited to add} The stick ponies were from The Dollar Tree, although they are out of stock now!  :(  
• Paper & Printables: Party circles and labels, as well as a huge poster. These are the kind of items that are the perfect make-ahead decor! I had custom labels made for the boxed lunches, cupcake toppers, and I also designed a fun "WANTED" poster that featured my kid's fantastic MEAN FACE, as we call it around here.
  

Here's the cake, topped with a vintage ceramic pony. Side note- while I really enjoy baking, the stress of decorating cakes and cupcakes is a bit overwhelming to me in the hours leading up to parties. I have realized that I prefer taking on projects that can be done ahead of time, and next time, I'm going to leave the sweet stuff to the pros! I made this cake plateau with a little epoxy, a vintage cake plate, and a candle stand from the dollar store. :)

Cupcakes with toppers purchased from The Tomkat Studio. Kim was kind enough to custom design this "vintage cowgirl" line at my request, it turned out so cute!

Drink display! I think that's another important tip to consider when you're buying party goodies... buy drinks with pretty labels! It makes such a huge impact when you're setting them up on a table. Too often, everybody dumps their cans and bottles into a cooler without considering that they make a great addition to your display!

These "cowgirl cookies" are not an original idea by any means... I stole them from Bakerella! (Well, I didn't STEAL them exactly, she GIVES the labels and ideas away!) They were too perfect... they matched our party colors so well! Again, I made them a week in advance. We also included some of these cookies in our lunch boxes for everybody to enjoy.

Here's the cute kraft gable boxes that I put all the lunches in. The kids had PB&J, and we also had chicken salad croissants and turkey and provolone. Kim with Tomkat was awesome and made me some labels to put on the front, and I think it really dresses them up perfectly! I wish I would have gotten a photo of what we put inside... sandwiches, cookies, fruit, and chips. They were a fun element to the picnic-style of party that we were going for.

Below, this is the "pony corral" banner that I made. This was made by using a combination of various fabrics, sewn right onto some scrapbook paper that I cut into a triangle shape for another pennant-style banner. We used twine and clothespins to hang it up, turned out pretty cute! The kids took ponies home for party favors.

Here's a better shot of the WANTED poster that I designed in Picnik! So easy and so much fun to do... man I love this kid, stink-eye and all! It was easy to get this photo because she makes that grumpy cry-baby face 99% of her day, it's just how she rolls. :)

Below, for a quick and easy craft project for the kids (since the petting zoo/farm was their main activity) I just bought a package of white cardboard ponies at Michaels. We had little buckets full of markers, pencils, and glitter glue for them to design with. Quick, easy, and cute, that's my mantra for parties.

My happy girl with her "nay-nay pony" cake. She loved it, and I think all the kids had a good time. I had so much fun with this party, thanks for listening to me ramble about it! ;)