Itsy Bitsy Foodies

Cowboys, ninjas and corndogs. That was my son’s 5th birthday party request.  For almost a year he had taken on the persona of cowboy, dressing every single day in cowboy jeans, a button up shirt (sometimes with a jean jacket or a vest), cowboy hat and boots.  He always asked for the chaps but… we stopped with the hat and the boots.  This obsession with horses and cowboys started young and was completely out of the blue because neither my husband or I have ever really been into horses.  Because he wore the same thing day in and day out it made clothes shopping easy (practically nonexistent) and laundry a challenge.

Then, he started taking martial arts (a mixed class) which progressed into Tae Kwon Do and he quickly became {obsessed} with ninjas, The Karate Kid and all things related.  He became a dual personality – cowboy by day and ninja by night.  So his birthday party request really did not come as a surprise except for the fact that I never anticipated having to blend horses, cowboys and ninjas into one party.  But, I guess cowboys are the ninjas of the West, right?!

The hardest challenge for the party was narrowing down ideas because there are so many fun options for both themes.  I started a list and tried to balance the two sides: edamame & peanuts in the shell; candy sushi fish & chocolate cowboy hats; caramel apple pops and Oreo ninja pops, etc.

For one side of the invite I made a simple collage of his cowboy and horse pictures from the prior year – Yee-Haw!

For the other side, I used one of his Tae Kwon Do “ninja” pictures — Hi-Ya!

As he requested, the kids ate corn dogs.  In line with the cowboy/western theme, I made a large pot of chili and a batch of cornbread for the adults.  To go with the cornbread I made cowboy butter by forming butter in “chocolate” molds shaped like cowboy hats and boots.

For the desserts I mixed cowboy and ninja-themed options:

Ninja juice boxes {wrapped in black Duct tape}

Ninja {Funfetti} Cupcakes

Dessert Sushi

A chocolate Pocky cake made to resemble a horse arena was home to a surprise guest: Little Thunder, one of his favorite horse characters from Yakari (a Belgian comic and TV series).

Rice Krispie Treat hay bales were a hit with the kids

An origami station where kids could make ninja stars, a game of {Pin the Moustache on the Cowboy} and attempts to lasso our large toy horses helped entertain the kids.

Party favors included another one of the birthday boy’s {favorites}: homemade hot cocoa mix with marshmallow stir sticks.

Happy Birthday, Coop!