Snow Rodeo - Sledding Party

My cowboy posse put together a terrific activity for a group of teen friends, but this activity would bring out a Yee-haw from any age.

The Snow Rodeo sent everyone out sledding -- with a variety of challenges to see who could stay on their trusty mount. Each guest named their sled (Bronco, Big Red, Slippery Sam, etc.) and "branded" their steed with the name written on a label and stuck to the back of the sled. (The "branding" stickers could be a fun and easy craft activity before heading out into the snow. Decorate and draw in western-style letters.)





Rodeo Challenges:

• Bare Backwards riding (go down the hill backwards)
• Riding double (two people per sled)
• Bucking Bronco (sledding over a series of bumps and jumps created just for this race)
• 8 seconds (who could make it down in exactly 8 seconds -- harder than you'd think)

Wrangle up some easy party favors with western neckerchiefs to wear over noses in the cold. Even the party's end can be fun with a race to "round up" the sleds and "corral" them in the take-home vehicle.

Giddy-up!

Cowboy Poetry in Motion

Sometimes mamas do let their babies grow up to be cowboys--at least for a high school western-themed dance. Their day-long activities were wrassled up for teenage fun, but could be adapted for a Cowpoke Party for any age.

Breath Mint Belt Buckles

To complete their western attire, these buckaroos made rodeo-worthy, blinged-out belt buckles from breath mint containers. We got the idea from a genius who connects his duct-tape belt with a homemade Altoids tin belt buckle. However, I was nervous using the Dremel tool on metal, so we opted for plastic containers. Plus, the oval shape seemed a bit more rodeo like.

To make your own, use a Dremel disc cutter to open up the "door" side of a plastic mint container. (We chose Frost mints which have a nice sized, oval box.) Cut out the door, extending the opening about 2/3 of the way along the container. This side will be the back of your belt buckle.

Next, use the Dremel to cut a 3/8" x 1-1/2" slot on the side of the container. This needs to be tall enough for your belt to slide through and wide enough to accommodate the belt's thickness PLUS the short end of the belt after it's buckled. After cutting, try the container on your belt to see if you need to make any adjustments. Slide the non-buckle side of the belt in the back hole of the container and through the slot on the side. Put the belt on as you normally would, buckling to the right space; the plastic container will be off to the side of the actual buckle. After the belt is fastened, slide the plastic container over your actual belt buckle and snap your belt buckle inside the back hole. This will cover up your belt buckle (making it appear as if the plastic container is now the buckle). The short edge of the belt will extend through the slot.

Once you've made any adjustments so your belt fits through your new "buckle," it's time to get downright fancy. Use a hot glue gun (or craft glue for younger kids) to attach wagon wheel pasta shapes, candies, letters, whatever you can dream up and that you want to look metallic on the buckle. We used hot glue to make a floral motif. Our dream-boy cowboys used sugar letters meant for cake decorating to form the initials of their dates.

When the decorations are set and the glue dry, use gold or silver spray paint to give your buckles a good shine. The hardest part is having the patience to wait for the paint to dry. It's worth doing two coats.

Now for any other decorations you want to add on top of the "metal." Our favorites were stick-on gems and rhinestones. The boys stayed rather reserved and classic, but wow, you could really go all out. Imagine adding colored beads, colored rhinestones, glitter, polished stones, maybe some nail polish designs for an inlaid look.

Giddy-up!

Circus Party

Create your own Greatest Show on Earth, inspired by Family Fun Magazine. Create an easy Photo Booth using a brightly striped tablecloth as a backdrop, then add in easy props like a clown sponge nose, mini umbrella (for a tight rope walker), fake mustache, strong-man padded muscle shirt, etc.

Cute game idea: Make your own "tight rope walk" by slightly elevating a 2 x 4 board on bricks.

Popcorn box cake: Stripe a sheet cake with red and white frosting, add actual popcorn or caramel corn to "fill" the box. This photo thanks to coolest-birthday-cakes.com.

Winter on the way? Cool party ideas

Punxatawney Phil says six more weeks of winter. What better way to make the most of it than a party?

Activities

- Creative snowman construction: pass out props, colored water in spray bottles (mix in food coloring), use old Halloween costume pieces, try self portraits, and more. Give cool prizes for the most unique Frosty friends.

- Snow sculpting. Don't limit the party to snow people. Try animals, vehicles, buildings, letters...go wild.

- Make homemade snow globes. Instructions here: http://bit.ly/ntlosS

Games

- Snowman wrap-up. Divide into teams of two and wrap your partner in toilet paper. Once sufficiently "snowed in," add scarf, hat, and construction paper buttons. Fastest team to "freeze" their teammate wins! http://bit.ly/yHDlCN

- Find a list of fun-in-the-flakes games here: http://bit.ly/9hQJQy

Food

- Snowman on a stick. Slide three 1" banana slices onto a wooden skewer to make the snowman body. Add half an apple wedge on top as the triangular hat, then poke pretzel sticks into the center banana slice as arms. Mini chocolate chips become eyes and buttons.

- Top a drink with whip cream then add chocolate chip eyes and mouth, plus a candy corn for a nose. Works as a topper to hot cocoa or even a health smoothie.
- Penguin cookies: dip Pepperidge farm Milano cookies in melted chocolate -- about 1/4" on each side to create wings and 1/2" on the top for the head. (The belly remains the light cookie color.) Add candy or frosting for the eyes and a yellow beak from frosting or a snipped triangle of fruit roll-up. Some extra fun: sugar cubes make fun ice blocks and jordan almonds are perfect penguin eggs. (Ideas thanks to Family Fun magazine.)

Baseball Party: Take 'em out to the ball game

My 10-year-old's team just had an end of season party—appropriately, at the ball park. We watched the Salt Lake Bees, our town's Triple-A team, and had a great time. The tickets were affordable, the weather was dreamy, and it was even Kids Eat Free Night (can't beat that!).

A ball game is a terrific summer party, whether for a birthday, Father's Day, a neighborhood night out, or a team get together. If you don't have (or can't afford) a major league game nearby, check around for minor league or college games. Be sure to ask about special group activities. The Bees offer a "Field of Dreams" promo that, with advance sign-up, a little league team can attend the game at a discount, get a tour of the locker rooms, introduce themselves to the crowd, and stand on the field during the national anthem with the pro athlete who plays their position. They also walked away with free loot like team baseball cards, t-shirts, baseballs, and more. Sadly, the home team lost, but you'd never know from our group's home run smiles.

Construction Party Game: Wrecking Ball

Another great game that the kids played over and over again while waiting for their parents to pick them up!

Wrecking Ball Game

Before the party, use a variety of empty boxes to make a "cityscape" of buildings. For instance, a paper milk carton became an apartment building. A cereal box was a skyscraper. An empty paper towel tube was a smokestack, etc. etc. This was a great project to involve my kids in party prep. We covered the boxes in butcher or construction paper and drew on the building details with markers.

Also before the party, fill a black 9"-round balloon with dry beans. (Put a funnel in the mouth of the balloon and slowly pour the beans in.) The balloon is your wrecking ball; fill it until it's got some good weight (enough to knock over your largest box). You probably want to use about a cup of beans, but see what looks right to you. Knot the balloon so it closely holds the beans inside. Tie a long ribbon or string around the knotted balloon and suspend it from the ceiling. (We used a ceiling hook that you'd use for a hanging plant -- it was small and easily removed later.) The length of the string should let the wrecking ball hang about 2-3" above the surface of the table you'll use.

Set up your box cityscape on a table and place the table a few feet away from the wrecking ball.

To play, each child stands in a pre-determined spot next to the hanging wrecking ball. The player can raise the ball from where he/she is standing (let the ball go from their raised arm -- definitely NO throwing) and lets the ball swing! The wrecking ball will swing forward and knock down the boxes. Give each player the same number of swings (3-5 is good, unless the kids are pretty young) and see how many buildings they can tip over.

Construction Party Game: Dump Truck Relay

I almost hate to categorize "Construction Party" under Boys Parties, because boys and girls alike were having a great time with these games! None of them were store-bought and they're pretty easy to put together with a little planning.

Dump Truck Relay Race

I took the lids off two large shoe boxes and decorated the sides to make each box look like the bed of a dump truck. (I just used yellow construction paper and markers and cut out the shapes freehand before gluing them on the sides of the boxes.) Then, I poked a hole in each corner of the box bottom and threaded some lightweight rope through the holes to make two straps for the box (like a backpack). Use duct tape to tape down the ends of the rope inside the box, or knot the end so it doesn't pull through.

Also in advance, make a big ol' pile of "rocks" by wadding up pieces of newspaper or paper from your recycling bin. You'll want a big pile -- a good 80-100 rocks will make for a great relay!

At the party, divide the kids into two teams. The first person on each team puts on the dump truck "backpack" and crawls across the room on hands and knees to his/her other teammates. The teammates fill the truck bed with paper "rocks" and the driver crawls back to the opposite side of the room where he/she dumps the rocks at the construction site. The driver can then get up, run back to the team, and give the dump truck backpack to the next driver on the team.

The winning team is the group who successfully moves the most paper rocks to their construction site -- but it's harder than it looks! With all the guaranteed giggling, rocks will fall out in transit. You might want to make a rule that the non-drivers on the team need to clean up the road while the truck's in transit. (They have to put the loose rocks back at the starting line -- no putting them in the truck while it's moving!)

Construction Party: Dump Truck Invitation

Got a truck lover in the house? This dump truck invitation was a favorite for my 5-year-old and friends. The truck bed pivots like a dump truck to reveal the party info underneath. Ours stayed on the fridge door for weeks after the party, and little hands "dumped" it over every time they passed by.