Spirit Party -4yr- Pony Rides & Apple Bobbing

I had a Spirit Stallion of Cimarron Theme party for my daughter's 4th Bd. 

For the invitation I downloaded images from various websites I found by searching "spirit stallion of cimarron".  I just happened to have a recent picture of my daughter on a pony we took at a school carnival and I put this picture along with spirit on the front of the invitation using a photoshop program. She's waving so the text on the front read "Howdy! Won't you come ride with me, I'm turning 4!  On the inside of the invitation there's a picture of Spirit as a pony, whispering in his mother's ear (you can easily find this on websites).  The text then read "Psst Guess who's having a Spirit Birthday Party?  You Got It! Jane Doe.  Come saddle up and celebrate! Place, Date & time.   

I looked in the phone book under parties and found ponies.  I was able to have someone bring 2 ponies to my home for children to ride for 1 hour.  This is plenty of time. The cost was $100 (this was the steepest part of my budget).  I took pictures of each child with a digital camera, made sure to get email addresses and emailed parents the pictures about a week later.  This is a no cost thank you gift.  You take the pictures and THEY print them out.  Isn't technology great?! 

Other fun activities included apple bopping. You can purchase an old fashioned pail (I think its made of tin??).  I bought mine at Ross, but saw them at Target and maybe Walmart.  You can also use a plastic tub or extra large bowl.  I filled it with water and put both red and green apples inside.  While some kids were riding the ponies, other were apple bopping.  Then with left over apples, I cut them up in pieces for the kids to feed the ponies.  I found a plastic ring toss toy at a dollar store which the kids enjoyed.  I also had horse shoes out(that I borrowed from a family member)for adults to play (these were too heavy for the kids).  However you can also purchase plastic horseshoes.

We served watermelon and had a seed spitting contest.  It went so well, the adults wanted to try, so we had a contest for the adults too.    Since I could not find Spirit supplies at the stores, I decorated with blue and red--balloons, streamers, plates and napkins.  I bought the picnic style red and white table clothes. I found some in plastic, some in vinyl(you can also buy or make cloth ones if you'd like).  Since the party was around 4th of July the plastic ones were easy to find at dollar stores.  

For the party bags, I made drawstring bags out of 1/2 bandanas. At a dollar store I found blue bandanas (12 in a package) for only $1!  I was able to make 24 bags for only $1!!! Usually they are $1/bandana.  I cut a bandana in half.  Then fold the half piece in half again.  My neighbor gave me some thin leather string she had(it's like a shoe lace, unfortunately I don’t know where you can find this, try a craft or fabric store in the section with ribbons and strings).  I put this string at the edge of the existing seam and folded the seam over the string and sewed. 

You can also use a thin rope string. Do not sew the insert for the string first or you will spend too much time trying to insert the string through. Then I sewed the remaining sides of the bag (you should have two sides to sew the bottom does not need sewing because its folded over.  I hope you understand my explanation.  This was my first sewing project without any help or pattern and it was not bad at all.  Give it a shot, they turned out really cute! At another dollar store, I found a package of cowboys and indians toys which also had horses.  The bag had about 25 pieces.  I put about 3 toys in each bag along with candies and cookies. 

After passing out the party bags we had a brown pony pinata which the kids hit and used their bags to put their candy in.  I served hotdogs to the kids and barbeque chicken plates for the adults. Since the party was outdoors, I made fresh lemonade (2 qts of water, 4 lemons, 1 C sugar).  I also had snowcones, which both children and adults enjoyed in the hot sun.  If you have a neighborhood icecream truck that comes through your neighborhood and sells snowcones (raspas), you can ask him/her where they purchase the ice and syrups. 

The party was a success. Both children and adults were entertained at all times and were kept cool in the heat with applebopping in cool water, watermelon, fresh lemonade and sweet snowcones.  I usually have about 50 people.  About 20 kids ages ranging from 1-12yrs and the remainder are adults, so I try to keep a tight budget.  My cost was about $350-400.  As you can see I spend a lot of time going to different dollar stores.  I also look to family, friends and neighbors for any ideas, suggestions and items that can be borrowed for that day.  Just let them know the theme and don't be surprised that you will end up with a creative and successful party!  Good Luck!