I wore a cute ruffle olive green dress with white cowboy boots to go with the theme. I got so many compliments and loved my outfit!Jett wore baby Wrangler jeans with a denim pearl snap shirt and baby cowboy boots! He looked so cute I can’t even stand it!!!

Party details

We had Jett’s party on a Saturday afternoon at 2:00pm and made sure to plan his naps that morning accordingly so that he was awake and happy for the party! He was awake from about 2:00-4:00, then went down again for a nap.
2:00 – Guests arrive, take pictures with Jett & say hi
3:00 – Open presents
3:30 – Cake smash
4:00 – Nap, adults stay, eat, drink & talk
6:00 – Dinner with family

Make sure to check out my Gift Guide for Toddlers if you’re wondering what to get your little one, or if people ask you for gift ideas!

Decor

When planning your party, choose a color scheme first. This will help you know what to order & what to wear! For the rodeo theme I initially was doing red & blue, but my husband said it looked like the 4th of July so I changed it to green and blue, with accents of red, denim, and wood/leather.

I bought this balloon arch and took out the gold balloons and replaced them with cow print balloons. My dad blew up the balloons (if you are doing a DIY balloon arch you need to buy this balloon pump) and then my husband put it together. Jett loved playing with all the balloons too!

Instead of renting a light up letter, I decided to DIY this giant ONE balloon mosaic. My parents, my husband and myself spent a few hours assembling this number. I bought the template and foam boards and built we built it ourselves with a hot glue gun. It cost me less than $10 but took 4 people and 3 ish hours of labor. If you attempt this project make sure you have enough time and patience! If I did it again, I would buy some tiny balloons to fill it in and put more, but we used what we had left of the cow print balloons. The “1” we made was 3 feet tall. With the template, you can choose between 1 and 6 feet tall, and it comes with all the numbers so you can use it for other parties in the future!

Table decor & snacks

We served snacks: cupcakes, chips & salsa, queso, chicken wings and BBQ meatballs.
For drinks, we had margaritas, beer, lemonade, water bottles, and Diet Coke.

I hot glued these tiny cowboy hats on to the water bottles & that was a hit! It’s all about the details 🙂 They would also look super cute on little whiskey bottles. One of the party favors was the “Jett’s First Rodeo” cups I custom made. I designed the artwork myself, then had them printed. If you’re interested in custom rodeo cups, send me a message on Instagram and I can swap out the name for you and you can purchase the graphic to order wherever and on whatever you like!

I had custom cupcake toppers made with Jett’s face & cowboy hat on them that were a hit. We made the cupcakes ourselves to save money. Flowers are from Trader Joe’s!

I had a blue gingham check table runner to go with the theme and borrowed some lassos from neighbors. We found some stuffed animal horses at the local Boot Barn and put them on the table.

The “cake smash”

We bought a chantilly cake from Whole Foods to give to Jett. It fell over in the box on the drive home so it doesn’t look perfect, but oh well. He didn’t have much of a reaction to it, but I am glad I didn’t spend a bunch to have one custom made, even though they are very cute. We let him dig his hands into it and eat some, then took it away. I found the little cake stand in the dollar section at Target & I bought the number 1 cake topper at Hobby Lobby. We put a high chair banner around his high chair that went with the theme.Other decor details

We decorated our entryway table and put down a cow hide rug, some photos of Jett, a lasso, and letterboard. Trader Joe’s is my go-to place for flowers. I picked up these baby’s breath and put them in a vase on the front entry table and in the bathroom to add some more fun details!

I printed out photos of most of our guests from the time they first met Jett and hung them on the wall with twine. The saloon doors were a hit, too.

We got Jett a bouncy bull that he loved and doubled as a decor item too.

Party favors

For party favors, we let our guests take home a cup (that they used for drinks during the party) and some chocolates I had custom made from a local shop called Goodies in downtown McKinney, Texas. I ordered chocolates shaped like the state of Texas and some that had a horse and a cowboy hat. Each guest could take home a cup and chocolates!

We had such a fun party and appreciate all of our friends and family coming in town to celebrate our little guy! I can’t believe he is ONE! Jett’s First Rodeo party was one for the books!

Living in Texas, the first rodeo/western birthday party theme was pretty easy and we were able to borrow quite a few things from our neighbors – like the saddles, lassos, and even a roping head! If you have a neighborhood Facebook page, it never hurts to ask to see what people might have.

If you are reading this and planning your baby’s first birthday party – congrats on making it through year one of parenting! It’s a wild ride for sure!

I have tried to link everything we bought in this post, but make sure to follow me on LTK and Instagram for more ideas and inspiration!

Here’s some other posts you might like:

Toddler Gift Guide

Toddler Travel Tips