Calling all barnyard party animals ! Theo is three-i-e-i-o! We just celebrated my son’s third birthday and he is farm-obsessed, so I of course had to have a party animal farm birthday party. I say this every party, but this was one of my favorites. The best part? We already had SO much of the decor, because we love all things farm. I thought about pulling all my farm decor out, but thought I would keep it more simple.
The Food Table
I didn’t want to serve a big meal this time, so I kept it light. Guests actually ended up staying pretty late again, which I loved, so there was almost two rounds of grazing that happened. The first plate of food when everyone arrived, then another plate later on when it was dinner time. The party was at 2:30 but we had friends stay until after 6:00. I hope that means that had a good time!
All of the cute farm paper printables, including the invites, were from a bundle made by a small shop on Etsy. I personalized a few things and printed out what I wanted to use. The cupcake toppers, the “Grazing Station” sign, the food tent labels, the coloring pages, and the Pin the Tail on the Pig game all came from this bundle. I meant to print out the birthday banner to hang across the tent outside, but I forgot.
Food
- Veggies & dip
- fresh fruit- strawberries, grapes, watermelon and blackberries
- “hay bales” – rice krispy treats that I wrapped in parchment paper and twine
- “chicken feed”- chex mix in paper cups
- apple pie
- cake & cupcakes- the cake I ordered from Walmart just plain white frosting and added the sprinkles myself. We try to stay away from artificial dyes when we can (definitely not perfect at it) so I ordered these sprinkles from Amazon that skip the nasty dyes. I used a toy cow and goose with little party hats as the cake topper because they are the birthday boy’s favorite animals. He was VERY excited about them!
Plates- compostable
Farm cocktail napkins (I adore the scallop edge!)
Burlap Happy Birthday banner (I use this for most of my birthday parties!)
The little hay bale is from Hobby Lobby (all their Autumn decor is out right now)
I have had that little white and black metal barn for years- it was in the Bullseye section at Target
I grabbed some sunflowers from Walmart and put them in a Mason jar.
The little wood crate displaying the “chicken feed” is from Michael’s and I use this often for parties and gatherings as well, because it adds a bit of height to the table. Grab it when it’s on sale!
Balloons are from Party City. I forgot to take pictures of these, but my husband picked up cute farm animal balloons that came with sticker faces and ears.
The gingham tablecloths I already had from last year’s Teddy Bear Picnic Party and I have had that burlap table runner for years, too.
The farm animal toys are really good quality, and were also part of my son’s birthday gift surprise.
Drinks
I love this drink dispenser and use it at every gathering. I served lemonade and sweet tea in those. Then I had a metal galvanized tub with ice and organic chocolate milks for the kids. These were a hit! I had picked them up on sale at Costco weeks ago. (They are shelf-stable) And of course I had my Berkey for water. The cooler outside had some sparkling waters and beer.
Decor
Most of the decorations were on the food table inside, but I did set out a few things in the backyard where we spent most of the party. We already had this big wood barn that I thrifted last year, so I propped that up on a straw bale next to our chalkboard sign.
We finally invested in a large shade tent for our backyard gatherings. It was SO nice to get some relief from that strong southern sun. We have two littles with Summer birthdays, so we will get a lot of use out of this tent. It was from Lowe’s and a decent price.
The Entertainment
The birthday boy’s gift was also for the party, and a real hit! I found this cute barn tent on Amazon, and put our farm themed sensory tray in there for the kids to play with. Corn, tractors, and farm animals were played with for a long time.
I am not sure what this fake smile is in this photo, but he really did have a good time, I think! His shirt is from Etsy and SO cute! You can find it here.
Now these animal balloons right here were THE most-played with thing at the party! I had tried to get a real petting zoo for the party because I know my son would have flipped for pony rides, but it didn’t work out. So the next best thing were these “walking” farm animal balloons and my kids are still playing with them, days later. I used a white fence from Lowe’s to pen them up.
The Favors
The favor bags were cute and simple. A plastic cow print bag filled with a Cow Tail candy (Sam’s sells a big box of these), a Tractor Wheel (my kids go crazy for these snacks- they are from Once Upon A Farm and basically a soft granola bar in a shape of a wheel), a mini farm themed coloring book (this pack came with several different style covers), and some farm stickers I cut out a really cool farm sticker book we have. I actually forgot that I bought these sticker sheets as well! I never added them to the favor bags. oops! The tags are from the same Etsy bundle mentioned earlier in this post.
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