1st Grade End of School Year Party

Taylor's party this year was one of my favorite parties I have every planned.  It was so simple, yet the kids had a ton of fun.  I planned the party with a good friend of mine and we decided to theme it out with horses.  Why you ask?  Well, the teacher owns 3 horses!

Decorations:

*we had tablecloths that were cowboy themed

*each of the kids got a bandana to wear around their neck to take home.  I ordered mine from Oriental Trading Company and I was pleased with the quality, but I found some at Walmart for less.  I wish I would have found these earlier because it would have saved me $10!!

*I got a crazy idea the morning of the party that I wanted a poster to decorate the room.  I googled and found a website that I could plug in an image into a wanted poster.  Then I went to Office Max to see if they could print it quickly.  If I printed this at a photo store it would have cost me a ton, but I read on a blog that office stores will print out black and white images on large poster paper for really cheap.  So, I went to Office Max and explained to the manager what I was doing.  He printed the poster in color and laminated it for the cost of a black and white poster (around $4).  Score!  I felt so blessed, I almost cried.  Check out the poster:

Isn't this amazing!  I just love it!

Games:

*We played the Over/Under game using apples and carrots.  We divided the class into 2 teams and each team had to empty their bucket by passing apples and carrots over their heads and under their legs.

*We played a relay game using the same teams.  I borrowed 4 stick horses from church.  We set up 4 noodles laying flat on the ground.  Then we set 3 noodles in 3 buckets.  Lastly we set a horse in a bucket and put a hula hoop in front of it.  The kids were instructed to take one of the stick horses and gallop over the noodles laying on the ground, weave through the noodles in the buckets, lasso the horse at the end using the hula hoop, run back and hand the horse of to the next person in line.  The kids loved this!

This is Taylor during her relay race!

*We played Giddyup/Whoa.  We basically played Red Light/Green Light, but used the words Giddyup and Whoa.


Food:

*We had a huge ice cream party.  For the first time, I tried out one of those free online signup sheets.  I loved it because it kept me from emailing parents back and forth.  It saved a ton of time!

This is Taylor with her fabulous teacher, Mrs. Carpenter.
She has taught all 3 of my kids how to read.  She is an amazing teacher.  I will miss her lots...sniff, sniff!

Yeehaw!