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A Horse Theme
Birthday Party

horse party ideas

Are you or someone you know totally horse crazy? Throw a horse theme birthday party! Here are our favorite ideas for invitations, games and activities, decorations, food, and horse party favors. Giddy up!

Horse Party Invitations

Make your guests feel special before your party even starts by sending great invitations. Here are some ideas for horse theme birthday party invitations sure to help you round up the gang...

Horse or Horseshoe Invitations -- Use colorful cardstock to make an invitation in the shape of a horse or a horseshoe. Then use a catchy headline to announce your party. Here are some ideas for your party invitation wording:

Come Horse Around at ________'s Horse Birthday Party!
Pony Up For Some Fun at _________'s Pony Party!
Giddy Up and Don't Be Late, ________ is Turning 8!
We're Having a Pony Party
Callin' All Cowboys and Cowgirls,
We're Roundin' Up the Gang
for ________'s Horse Theme Birthday Party!

**General Invitation Tips** -- If you choose to make your own invitations, don't forget to include the date, location, and time of your party. It is also helpful to put the host's name, RSVP by date, and either your phone number or email.

Here are some horse party invitations that would be great with this theme:

Horse Power Invitations

Pony Invitations

Personalized Pony Invitations

Horse Theme Birthday Party Decorations

Party Time Party Boxes Complete Buckaroo Party

There are lots of fun ways to decorate for a horse theme party. Horse party decorations can be any colors that you choose, so you might start by finding a few fun decorating props and choosing the color of your balloons, streamers, and tableware to coordinate. Here are some ideas to get you started:

Fence Your Party Area -- Cut cardboard boxes into rectangular planks to make a fence to hang on the walls in your party area. Make the boards look even more realistic by using a black marker to draw squiggly lines that look like wood grain. Hang horse posters or horse wall decals behind your cardboard fence to create the look of an indoor paddock.
Set up a Hay Bale and Tack Photo Area -- Set up a few hay bales and accent them with horse tack, if you have any, or items such as stuffed horses, a cowboy hat, or riding helmet and riding crop. This makes both a great horse party decoration and also a place where you can take pictures of your party guests as to send home as souvenirs or mementos of the day.
Make a Fun Horse Centerpiece -- Use an arrangement of toy horses as your party table centerpiece. For an extra touch, you could scatter horse confetti around them or tie a balloon bouquet in the center. Horseshoes make great balloon weights.
Use Riding Gear as Decorative Accents -- Do you have a riding helmet, a riding crop, trophies, ribbons, or tack? Consider using all of these things when decorating for your horse theme birthday party.

Here are some great party supply sets that can really help round out your horse party decorations:

Horse Power Party Supplies

Pony Party Supplies

Pink Cowgirl Party Supplies

Horse Theme Birthday Party Activities

No self-respecting horse theme party would be complete without some horsing around. Here are some ideas for horse party games and activities:

HORSE PARTY ACTIVITIES

Visit a Barn or Riding Stable -- Chances are, if you are having a horse party, the guest of honor loves to ride. Why not consider taking the show on the road to a local barn or riding stable and letting all of your party guests have a chance to saddle up? If you have age and safety concerns, another option is to visit a local 4H-er or horse owner for a meet and greet with a docile animal and a talk about horses in general. Sometimes for your littlest horse lovers, getting a chance to pat a pony and feed a carrot can be a truly memorable experience.
Pony Painting -- Get a ceramic pony painting kit and let your little artists go to town.
Wild Horse Round Up -- Before your party, hide a number of small plastic horses around your yard or party area (enough for every child to find at least three). Tell your guests that the wild broncs have busted down the fences and it is their job to find them all. Then send them off on a wild horse round up.
Decorate Horseshoes -- Visit your local barn, blacksmith, or feed store and find some new or used horseshoes (or alternately, you might get wooden horseshoes at your local craft store). Before your party, clean them and spray paint them in fun colors. Then set them out with some glue, glitter, gems, ribbons, and acrylic paints and let your guests create a one-of-a-kind horseshoe keepsake.
Make Horse Lovers Beaded Jewelry -- But some horse themed beads and clear stretchable thread, or a horse lovers beaded bracelet kit and let your party guests make their own fun horse jewelry.
Watch a Horse Movie -- There are lots of great horse themed movies out there. When you need an activity to help your guests unwind, consider having a viewing of Flicka, The Black Stallion, or Spirit.

HORSE PARTY GAMES

Stick Horse Races -- Gather two or more stick horses (brooms work well for this too) and have a good, old-fashioned relay race. Divide the children into two teams, set your course, and see which team can gallop off to victory!
Sugar Cube Relay Race -- Divide your group into two teams and line them up for a relay race. Hand each team a teaspoon with a sugar cube on it. Have them race from point A to point B and back without dropping the sugar off the spoon. If the cube falls, the racer must stop and replace it before going on. The first team with all its members back and seated wins!
Play Horseshoes -- This game is played to 21 points. Set up your stakes at opposite ends of your game area. Divide players into two even teams, and give each team two horseshoes. Flip a coin to decide which team will pitch first. Have the first player from the first team pitch both horseshoes (one at a time) from anywhere behind the foul line. Let the first player from the opposing team do the same, pitching toward the same stake. Award 1 point for a shoe within 6 inches of the stake, or for a shoe touching the stake(often called a "leaner"); a shoe encircling the stake (a "ringer") earns 3 points. Often, amateurs choose to award 2 points for leaners. Let the next two players (one from each team) pitch the shoes from the opposite side of the court back toward your side. Add their points to the first scores until one team reaches 21.
Horse Race -- Set up a course with a designated number of spaces (about 25). Have all of your players line up on the starting line. Give each player a playing die. On the count of three, have all players roll their dice and move the number of spaces that they rolled. See who can get to the end of the course first.

Horse Theme Birthday Party Foods

Traditional foods like barbecue, corn, and beans make a great main course for a horse themed party. Here are some other horse theme birthday party foods that we like:

Make horse shaped sandwiches using big, fun horse head cookie cutters
Put out side dishes of cut carrots and apple slices. What pony lover could resist!
Serve drinks such as sasparilla or root beer in cowboy boot mugs.
Offer horsey dessert options such as carrot cake or oatmeal cookies

Horse Party Favors

Send your guests off with a special memory of your party. Here are some ideas for horse party favors:

Horse Bean Bag Animals
Cowboy Hats
Painted horseshoes from the horseshoe craft activity
Beaded Horse Jewelry from the horse lovers bracelet craft
Painted ponies from the pony painting activity
Toy Horses from the wild horse round up activity
Any other horse themed items that go with your party

If you enjoyed these horse theme birthday party ideas, you might also enjoy these parties:

Cowboy Party

Kentucky Derby Party

Unicorn Party

Share Your Party With Us!

Have you hosted or attended a great party recently? We would love to hear about it! Tell us about your party and what made it special. We'll post it here to share with all our readers. Plus, your party will automatically be entered in our next party submission contest!

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