Randy posted some pictures from Reed’s party, and then I never wrote any text.  Sorry about that. 

I have the hardest time throwing parties for Reed because I still have no idea what to do with boys.  I had been asking Reed for weeks and weeks what he wanted for his birthday party.  All he ever said was that he wanted a blue party…with pink.  It was rodeo time in San Antonio and we had been doing lots of cowboy/boots/horses things, so I decided to make it a cowboy party.  My favorite thing about the party was the food.   It was the easiest (and probably cheapest) food I have ever done for a party because it was all done in advance.  I made slow cooker pinto beans, and then the next day turned the beans into baked beans (this was my first time to make pintos from scratch and they turned out great!).  Then I made pulled pork sandwiches (again, in the slow cooker the day before).  Reed has decided he LOVES coleslaw (seriously, who IS this kid??) so I made some of that too.  The fun part was that I served the meal in aluminum pie tins. 

The desserts included cow patties (Oreos covered with brownie), individual s’mores and a cow cake.  Reed couldn’t get enough of the s’mores.  I think I will be making those again, they were so fun and so portable.

Decorations were simple but fun.  I used cowboy hats and bandanas, that were also favors, to decorate the dining room wall.  Table tops were covered with burlap and this lovely blue paisley fabric that I found.  I used mason jars filled with sand from the sand pit and white candles.  I also used some purple flowers from the awesome mountain laurels trees in the neighborhood to fill mason jars for the centerpieces.

The weather was horrible for his party, so we didn’t get to play outside at all.  I had ideas about stick horse races, or something with bubbles…but it didn’t happen.  It was storming and freezing cold, so we stayed inside and just played.  We did pull out the racetrack from Reed’s second birthday and it was a hit again.

We had a great time at Reed’s party this year.  Hopefully next year he will give me a little more input besides ‘a blue party’.