Saddle up! This year we celebrated the big 36 with a fabulous country-western party! The guest list included cowboys, cowgirls, sheriffs and even some outlaws! This theme even coordinated with our intimate birthday dinner at Black Barn in July. We are excited to share our Country Hoedown with you.
Country Hoedown Party Ideas: Create a Festive Invitation
We used Splash to customize the perfect Country themed invitation. Splash distributes online invitations (think Evite, Paperless Post and Punchbowl), manages contact lists (think MailChimp), sells tickets (think Eventbrite), and creates a page to showcase the postparty photos (think Flickr). You can find our original invitation here.
Country Hoedown Party Ideas: Decorate the Saloon
We incorporated several rustic elements to create our Western Saloon. Our color palette featured neutral browns and whites with pops of vibrant reds and yellows. Guests “trotted on in” to our Welcome Table, which was decorated with a beautiful bouquet of yellow mums, auburn alstroemeria and tan gems.
We scattered red bandanas, horses and cowboy hats around the room. We used Punky Prep’s Western printables. The collection featured horses, horseshoes and country themed signs.
Olga from International Garden created our adorable floral arrangements. We placed a spectacular cowboy hat arrangement of sunflowers, red roses, auburn alstroemeria and berries on the coffee tables. We scattered plastic horses and hurricanes with red gems around the room.
Country Hoedown Party Ideas: Recommend Western Wear Attire
Guests were asked to unleash their inner cowboy or cowgirl. Guests dressed in plaid, gingham, denim, cowboy boots, bandanas and hats. They looked fabulous!
We even took a Gingham pic.
Plaid shirts were also a great option.
We didn’t have many kids at the party, but those that did, got dressed up too. Seriously, how cute is this costume?
Country Hoedown Party Ideas: Serve Wild West Bites
The Country Western menu featured classic Southern dishes: biscuits, cornbread, mac and cheese, gauamole, salsa and pimento dip. Special thanks to The Cakeboard Catering Group for making the delicious biscuits and cornbread. We had attended their tasting event a few weeks earlier. We used Punky Prep’s food tents. We recommend food tents for non-formal parties as they can be both decorative and informative. You can’t have a southern party without biscuits.
Cornbread is also another Southern essential.
We had chips and dips including guac, salsa and pimeto dip.
We also served Burgers, Hotdogs and Mac and Cheese.
Country Hoedown Party Ideas: Decorate the Watering Hole
We recommend a well styled bar that coordinates with the theme or color palette of the party. We decorated our “watering hole” with brown linens, red bandanas, sunflower arrangements and red/brown chevron napkins.
We believe every party should have at least one signature cocktail. Guests had their choice of peach mojitos and spiked lemonade. We also served bourbon and red, white and rosé wine.
The twins kicked off the festivities with a champagne toast with Nicolas Feuillatte champagne.
Country Hoedown Party Ideas: Set the Desserts at the Barn
Guests loved our chic and stylish dessert table. The key to create a stunning dessert display is utilizing platters and vases in a variety of sizes, heights, shapes and widths. We recommend sticking largely to white serving dishes as colorful desserts photograph beautifully against them. We used a barn backdrop from Huayiphoto to create the perfect country inspired dessert table.
We used a burlap tablecloth and scattered red bandanas to add pops of color. We placed sunflower arrangements on the corners of the dessert table along with votive candles and plastic horses.
The table centerpiece consisted of chocolate candy favors in the shape of horses, cowboy boots and cowboy hats.
We placed an arrangement with yellow mums in front of the chocolate centerpiece. Archana baked two flavors of mini cupcakes: chocolate pecan and hummingbird.
She decorated the treats with mini chocolate boots and horses. We also served homemade bourbon balls and fresh strawberries.
Country Hoedown Party Ideas: Create the Perfect Shot
We recommend adding Photo Booth backdrops and props to every themed party. While purchases from Etsy will easily run in the $100 range, the memories you make with them will be worth so much more. We loved this saloon backdrop from Huayiphoto.
Country Hoedown Party Ideas: Live Country Music
Our friend, Mark, performed several country classics for our guests. He was spectacular!
Thanks to all the cowboys and cowgirls who celebrated with us!
John WayneCourage is being scared to death, but saddling up anyway.
I wanted to thank you for this great read!! I definitely enjoying every little bit of it I have you bookmarked to check out new stuff you post. country dresses with cowboy boots
Thanks! Check out our Instagram too – @twinspirationalparties
Wow. Really great. http://bindingwords.com
Every party and get-together you share seems to be better than the last one. You ladies really know how to do it!
I love this theme! As a Texan, I fully approve 🙂 We had a country-themed dinner for a conference I was at last weekend, but it wasn’t as elaborate as yours. Y’all went all out for this one! Happy Birthday!
Looks like a great time with wonderful memories made. I love the outfits and food! It looks like so much fun!
This is a cool theme. It’s a cool theme party and you are creative in coming up with these ideas. Thank you for sharing!
I love that all guests really go full out with dressing up and of course the photo background is perfect!
Looks like a really fun time. Love the details.
I would have enjoyed the country classics if I was there too. I love the theme and a photo booth would have been nice too.
You guys really had a great time. I love the theme and the dressing-up was great! The food looks delish and that group picture is priceless.
Everything looks so fantastic. It’s a great theme and the great looking treats and pops of color make it even better.
Seems like you had a lot of fun. Great pictures and the food looks great and delicious
Nnnniiiiccceeeee….you really got the theme of this party right! I love the costumes and the food, so so much!
You guys have some awesome parties. Love the theme!
What a great theme for a birthday party. It looks like everyone had a great time.