A Country Fair Party

When Little Tomato started Kindergarten, we told her she could choose her own party theme for her birthday. This was the first year that she had classmates and transitioned from having a family party (with a couple of friends) to a 'friend party.'

I was really intrigued to hear what she would pick. I was fully expecting a trademarked (read: Disney) theme, but she REALLY surprised me when she told us that she wanted a Country Fair party.  Now... we live on a farm near Husband's family. Little Tomato has grown up taking combine rides with Papa in the fields, visiting the neighbor's baby calves, and riding Uncle Bob's horses. But she goes to school by Husband's office, which is 25 miles away in the city. So while she is a country girl at heart, all of her classmates have very little experience with a farm, which made it even more fun for the kids.

Country Fair Invitations:

 The invitation was wrapped with tickets to give it a little pizzaz.

(The names & info were removed; the top "Birthday" replaced 'Little Tomato')

To plan the party, we spent some time rummaging through the family barns to find supplies for the games. Lots of fun props were found!

As the kids arrived, we handed them tickets to play the games. They could choose to play the same game several times, or play each of them. We had a couple of moms help with running the games and after each play, the kids received different tickets for 'winning'.

After the games, we had a prize tent for the kids to trade in their tickets for prizes.

Bottle Toss:

Uncle Bob lent us a saddle, and we used a quilt rack (built by my dad ages ago) to hold the sign and saddle. The old wood bottle crate was found in one of the barns. We filled it with old glass root beer bottles. We used cheap plastic bracelets as the rings to toss over the bottles.

Horse Lasso:

The horse lasso game used Little Tomato's play horse (a gift from Santa a year prior) and three hula hoops. The kids needed to stand back and try to lasso the horse with the hoops. 

Bag Toss

The bag toss was a game that we already had on hand.

Duck Pond:

We found an old washbasin in one of the family barns too. I was so excited that we found this. I'd like to repurpose it later too, but until then, it made a GREAT duck pond for a country fair! 

This picture was taken at the end of the duck pond fun with a couple of lone ducks left floating on their sides after the kids had emptied the basins. 😋

Sack Race:

After the games, the kids participated in a sack race. We did two shifts, as we didn't have enough sacks for 12 kids to race at once. We had a trophy for the overall sack race winner.

Photo Booth:

We had also set up a photo booth in the yard. We clipped Little Tomato's comforter to a pipe stand that I had made for her several years ago, set out an old schoolhouse chair, and bought some cheap paper circus photo props that were on clearance at Michaels. 

We let each of the kids pick out their props and took a photo. The photos were sent to each of the kids with their thank you note.

Prize Tent:

After the games, we had a prize tent. We used our camping tent and EZ Up for shady respite areas since it was such a hot summer day.

I made a ribbon banner by taking the same background graphic that I used on the birthday invite & made individual letter pages on paper laced though a ribbon. We used berry baskets to hold candy, and displayed them on play stands. The picnic basket held inflatable microphones. This was a HUGE hit, as Frozen had recently been released and the girls ended the party by standing on the front porch (read: stage) and BELTED OUT 'Let It Go.'

We also had cowboy hats, and ribbon wands that I made by dying fabric with Kool-Aid, ripping into strips and lacing through an eye hook on a wood dowel. 

And finally, we had 'goldfish.' These were little plastic fish. I printed out a 'fishbowl' on cardstock and attached the fish to the paper bowl, wrapping it up in a plastic baggie tied with a bow. The geek in me HAD to give the kids a fish to take home, as it is an iconic country fair prize.

Sorry for the poor photo quality... this was the only record photo I took. 😞 

Food and Food Tables:

After the games, we had lunch. Lunch was set up at little tables under an EZ Up in the yard. I covered the tables with kraft paper and hung a colorful flag banner (made from ribbon and felt) from the canopy. The shade of the canopy was a welcome change from the mid-day heat. The kids had worked up quite the appetite after running around the yard.

We served classic Country Fair fare: corn dogs, watermelon, chips, and popcorn. We added some carrot sicks for something healthy and had pink lemonade for the kids to drink. 

We used basic white tablecloths for the food tables, but I sewed together four bandanas for a fun country topper to add a pop of color. We put her American Girl hot air balloon on the table for decoration, and added a basket of apples. We ended up not putting the cake out on the table, since it was SO HOT that we ended up bringing it outside only when it was ready to eat.

Hayrack Ride:

The final activity of the day was a hayrack ride! Papa brought the old tractor out with a hayrack. The kids loaded onto the hay bales and were given a Bomb Pop treat to enjoy on the ride. We did a short loop around the farm and returned back to the house.

They LOVED the ride.

As the parents arrived to pick up their kids, they were serenaded with a very vocal rendition of 'Let It Go' by the group. It was a tremendously successful country fair. 😊