It Actually WAS His First Rodeo...

…It actually WAS his first rodeo! We celebrated Jonah’s first birthday with friends + family last weekend, and it was a smashing success. Our theme (because of COURSE there was a theme! 😉 ) was his first rodeo birthday party, so giddy up and YEEHAW, y’all! While I didn’t take any “fancy” photos and was really just present in the moments with the fam, I wanted to share some iPhone snaps and quick links in case you’re similarly planning a first rodeo birthday party – a time was had by all!

We got pork brisket from our favorite barbecue joint (as one does for a first first birthday party, of course!), Costco mac n’ cheese, and then did fruit salad and veggies with dip – super simple. I’ve had incredible success with cakes from a local grocery store bakery here where they taste FABULOUS without breaking the bank, so I did simple chocolate and vanilla cupcakes with whipped topping frosting and chocolate sprinkles for the kids.

HOT TIP for kicking cupcakes up a notch: Add the birthday boy’s (or girl’s) face! I used Canva to print out Jonah’s face on cardstock and then tapped each to a toothpick. We ordered decorated sugar cookies from a lady I found recommended in a local mom’s Facebook group – lovelovelove supporting local + shopping small!

The highlight of our first rodeo birthday party were the PONIES! I mean, you only turn one once, right? 😉 We’re lucky to have quite a few local farms, so one brought two ponies for the kids to do pony rides! Funny enough – it basically just turned out into pony rides for the Gwynn kids. We had a small guest list anyway, but I didn’t anticipate nearly every other child to be afraid of the horses – ha! Everyone enjoyed giving baby carrot treats to the ponies, but the OG and Jonah man were doing laps on their pony friends. Jonah was OBSESSED and kept clapping and yelling on the horse, which made every penny spent worth it. Core memory unlocked!

Otherwise, a first rodeo birthday party is pretty easy to pull off with the right decorations and outfits. I picked up cow print balloons and went with touches of black, white, blue, red, and gold as an occasional metallic pop. (I always hit up Party City for helium balloons day-of…if your order hits a certain dollar amount they deliver your blown up balloons for free when you need them! Otherwise I just pick them up first thing in the AM day-of the party and it works perfectly fine.)

This blow up bouncey horse was SUCH a fun highlight for Jonah man…it comes with a pump and feels like a big exercise ball, nice and durable, and perfect for this age. I lovelovelove things like this that are on-theme and work as a day-of activity, but also just are freaking fun for whenever after!