Kaylee's 3rd Birthday

Description

I'm a sucker for kids party planning as it brings together all of my favorite things; graphic design, food, & play. I try to make every birthday special, and for my daughter's 3rd (which also happened to be her golden) birthday, that meant a vintage pony party. Plans included hobby horse races, a pan-for-gold station, real pony rides, set against a kid-sized wild west town.

Details

My party planning usually starts with the invitation, and this one was no exception. Here is a picture of the assembled product:

There were three pieces in the envelope (see example below). The invitation itself (created in Microsoft Publisher) a personalized "wanted" poster with each child's picture, and a ticket for pony rides (based on a template I found on Office.com).

The wanted posters were created in Photoshop and Word then aged by soaking in tea.

I also made larger copies to pin up at the "Jail" made out of repurposed pallets for the party (see example below).

I also sewed hobby horses for the kids to take home as their party favor.

The horses waited patiently at the O'Kaylee Corral to be chosen by their new owners:

The final project was a cake, made with a wilton pan (see example below). I love baking cakes, but I am terrible at icing; it's one skill that remains frustratingly elusive.