Samantha Smith
- Jun 14, 2021
- 3 min read

Baby's First Rodeo - Western Themed Birthday Party

Since the moment we knew we were expecting, I already knew what theme I wanted to do for the first birthday party. Being from Houston, the rodeo was always

my favorite season - and if you don't know the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo is a huge four-week event with concerts, carnivals, delicious eat & drinks, and of course a rodeo and livestock show.

Anyways, I planned and found inspiration for Colt's First Rodeo birthday party for months. From Pinterest and Etsy searches, to stumbling across fun western finds I put in a lot of time to build the color palette I wanted for his birthday.

Although, I did select decor aligning with my theme - you can still get inspiration for how to style and decorate for your child's birthday following any theme.

I have been following an amazing watercolorist Be Sweet Ink that has created some amazing Texas themed illustrations and she was available to design the invitations for Colt's party. This was definitely a splurge - having custom illustrated designed invitations - but since Colt was born during the pandemic, his first birthday was definitely a cause for celebration.

I knew I wanted to have a backdrop and balloon arch for the dessert table. The backdrop stand and backdrops I ordered on Amazon and were super easy to put together. I got a variety of balloons from Etsy, Hobby Lobby, and Amazon for the balloon arch, which I complemented with decorative helium balloons from Party City. The balloon arch took about an hour and a half with four people blowing up balloons and then assembling it.

I spent many hours researching and reading reviews for local bakeries. I found the most amazing home baker - Chelsea from Copperhouse Bakery in Manassas, VA. She went above and beyond to bring my inspiration pictures to life - not to mention everything tasted amazing. We ordered an Oreo cake with Nutella-icing for our two-tier cake and Confetti and vanilla icing for Colt's smash cake. I also order a dozen cupcakes and decorative cookies from Chelsea that did not disappoint. She also worked to design a cake that could feature my gorgeous custom cake topper from The Blushing Script. Lindsey was also so helpful in customizing the design and bringing my vision to life.

Other items I ordered from small businesses included the custom burlap banner, Colt's first birthday shirt, custom "1" candle, bandana print balloons, highchair banner, printed ribbon, and western chaps & vest. I actually ordered western-themed wrapping paper that came out super cute from Under Wraps. I also made a bunch of decor, including ribbon garland, paper bunting garland, decor signage.

Things I purchased from Hobby Lobby, Party City, Amazon, or Target were paper goods, gift bags, serving ware, and some Western decorative pieces like pictures frames, boots, and wagon wheels. My sister also grabbed a bunch of party goods from the iconic Houston party supply store Arne's.

Lastly, we catered barbeque from our local Mission BBQ - which is our favorite when we can't get Texas BBQ from Houston or Austin. Everyone enjoyed both the meat and sides, which were easy to self serve and enjoy throughout the party.

To make your baby's first birthday super memorable and maybe a little extra all you need is: