Knit Together: A Barnyard Bash

The Invitation:

I used Walgreens to print the invitations with a real-life picture of the barn. Then I mounted animal stickers to cardstock, cut those out, and placed them on the path with 3-D tape to look like they were going in or out of the barn. I used other stickers to add embellishments like the "Petting Farm" sticker. The inside read:

"With a Baa and a Moo and an Oink Oink too.

Vincent wants to celebrate

his 1st Birthday with you!

Come on down to our Barnyard Bah

Saturday June 5, 2010

10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m."

We celebrated Vincent's first birthday with a "Barnyard Bash" at this local petting farm. The top of the barn is available to rent for birthday parties. Here are a few pictures of the decorations before the guests and food arrived. Just so you know, I am all over a theme party.

Based on the barn's large size it's really more suitable for a large square dance or a great game of Dodgeball or Four Square (did anyone else play this game in elementary gym class?). But since our guests were all under the age of 3 we opted for games more suitable for the vertically challenged such as "Rope the Bull" and a "Make Your Own Barnyard Friend" craft.

A good bit of time was spent outdoors feeding the overfed barnyard animals including goats, chickens, donkeys, and sheep. Some of the animals were quite eager to sample the corn, one goat jumping up to snatch the bag from our hands. The roosters were quite rowdy and the sheep a little temperamental. It was fun watching the kids oscillate between feelings of enthusiasm and trepidation. Vincent loved feeding the animals from the safety of his parents arms.

After all the animal feed was gone, we headed back inside for lunch and birthday cake. Chik-fil-A nuggets, watermelon, and chips were on the menu followed by this precious birthday cake featuring Vincent's lovie, Gus the Guernsey:

He tore into that cake! Eating very little of it, he demolished it with both hands as any little boy should. I eventually took it away as he was making quite the mess on the floor, flinging it down in handfuls.