A "Little House on the Prairie" Pioneer Girl Party

Our "prairie girl" on her 9th birthday.

Our whole family loves the "Little House on the Prairie" books, so for our daughter's 9th birthday, we hosted a "Pioneer Girl" party.  The girls had a great time riding horses, milking a cow and feeding baby animals just like real pioneer girls.

First, I sent out handmade invitations, prairie-style, with paper wildflowers and calico fabric.  When the girls untied the ribbon, they found the invitation tucked inside.

All the girls lined up at the milking station.  Plenty of smiles because there was a lot of mooing going on in the background.

We chose a wonderful location for the party.  The Oil Ranch in Hockley, Texas has plenty of fun activities, we even went on a hayride out to the cow pasture to feed the cows.  It's a good thing they don't have teeth in the front but they do have long, wet, scratchy tongues.

I made prairie bonnets in all different colors and styles of calico fabric for the girls to take home as party favors.

I attached them to the table with twine and clothespins...they looked so pretty blowing in the breeze.

After a full day, the girls were hungry and just like Mary and Laura who carried their lunch to school in pails, the girls each had their own lunch pail full of healthy snacks including a sandwich, apple, carrots, pretzels, and homemade muffins.

I set bags of old-fashioned hard candy on the table in root beer and horhound flavors just like the pioneer girls would have found in the general store.

Of course, we had to finish off the party with an old-fashoned home baked cake decorated with wildflowers.  Best butter cake recipe ever!

I think our prairie girl had an amazing time and will treasure memories of a day filled with friends, family, horses, cows and baby animals.  It doesn't get any better than this.