Thanks to Oriental Trading for sending me the most adorable  cowboy western themed party decorations to use for my sisters 40th SURPRISE birthday party!  Despite it being the middle of winter, we went with a cowboy western theme because it fit my sister so well. She loves country dancing, pulled pork sandwiches and wearing cowboy boots (in fact she worked selling cowboy boots for a time when she was younger). Because I was due to have my baby a few days before the party, I prepared all of the party decorations ahead of time and handed them over to my niece to set up the day of the party. Getting the supplies from Oriental Trading instead of going the 100% DIY route really saved my sanity and helped the theme stay consistent throughout the entire party. I still got to do a few fun little DIY touches but the decorations came together really quickly. I put everything together at my house and took pictures so my niece would know exactly how to set things up and I think she did a fantastic job! I just showed up for the party and had a great time with everyone!

Let me walk you through my favorite details.

Cowboy Western Party Decorations

When decorating a large space, like this gym at our church, it was important to select a few colors and then carry them through the entire party. If you go with 10 colors everything can feel a little too spread out. We stuck with the classic red and blue and accented with tan and gold. The red bandana plastic table cover roll (it’s 100′ so it was totally worth it!) was used throughout the party and helped tie everything together. From the photo booth to the food table to the centerpieces. 

Western Themed Centerpieces

For the centerpieces I layered a light blue plastic table cover with a length of the red bandana table cloth. Then a 12″ hay bale (scored those on a killer after Thanksgiving clearance sale) was placed in the center. I wrapped a small mason jar with burlap fabric and a blue/white gingham ribbon and added red daisy silk flowers. I wrapped a large mason jar with a length of blue jean material (I turned a pair of jeans into shorts last summer and kept the scraps to use) and then tied a red/white gingham ribbon around it and added silk sunflowers to it. I wrapped a length of jute around small mason jars and filled them with sunflower seeds – 3 per table. The plastic steer head and wagon wheel on either side of the hay bale finished off the look. Cute right?

Western Photo Booth

The photo booth was really simple to put together. We hung the red bandana table cloth 2 lengths wide on the wall and added the blue tissue hanging fans. In the center of them we taped western symbols I cut out with my die cut machine. Front and center we placed a large hay bale and then stuck the Cowboy Photo Booth Sticks in the hay for guests to use in their photos. 

Western Party Decorations

Around the room we hung additional blue tissue decorations with the steer heads or cardstock cut outs in the center.

On the food table we ran the red bandana plastic table cloth, a burlap runner and then hung the cowboy birthday banner from the center.

On the wall at the back of the room we hung the giant mylar 40 balloons to remind my sister how OLD she is now (just kidding Laura, you don’t look a day over 25!).