Horses are loved by children of all ages, both boys and girls. These big, strong creatures are tame, docile and normally quite friendly. If you have a child who is fascinated with this animal, why not make it the focus of their next birthday party?

The obvious activity that could be the center of your party is horseback riding or pony rides. Even those children who are scared to get on such a massive animal might be tempted to pet their nose or feed them a carrot. This activity is also a great picture opportunity for parents!

Since a common sidekick for a horse is a cowboy (or a cowgirl) you can have cowboy hats to make everyone feel like they should be in the west! Give them all a lasso and they can try to rope mini-plastic horses. Once they have caught one, they can put their “brand” (their name) on the horse and take it home as a momento.

There are some common games that you can adapt to fit a horse theme party. Pin the tail on the donkey can become pin the tail on the horse. Musical chairs can become musical hay bales. You can also bob for apples, since that is a treat that horses enjoy! Lastly, don’t forget that old, classic game of horse-shoes!

A fun craft for a horse themed party is making a whole horse out of a template you can find online, a toilet paper roll, scissors, glue and coloring tools, like crayons. All you need to do is print out enough templates, collect as many toilet paper rolls as you have invited guests, and have a workspace covered with newspaper. Kids love coloring, cutting and pasting, so this craft is sure to be enjoyed.

An appropriate movie for the horse lovers’ party is “Spirit: Stallion of the Cimmaron”. Dealing almost exclusively with the life of Spirit, a wild horse, it is a touching tale of friendship and love.

Food for a horse themed party can be exceptionally healthy. Horses often snack on items like apples and carrots, so you can have those available for the party guests to snack on. Oats is another yummy treat you can serve at a horse themed party. When you visit www.quakeroats.com, you can find lots of recipes for healthy oat snacks you can have the guests help you make. (They do require cooking, so you may want to start the party off mixing up the ingredients.)

Last, you can have a horse shaped piñata for the guests to break open. Inside can be bandanas, mini plastic horses, stickers with horse designs…anything you can find with horses!

The horse theme is easy to find in many party outlet stores. You will be able to find plates, cups, napkins, decorations, invitations and thank you notes, all with a horse theme. If you do happen to have trouble located paper products, go to your computer and look at the many quality party stores that are located online. (Tip: when ordering online, leave plenty of time for shipping!)