If you’re not able to go to a ranch or your reunion would probably not fit, try a Wild West Party Theme. The ideas we found at www.partyplansplus.com are meant to inspire and guide your planning.
Invitation ideas
Make 8 1/2” x 11” “You’re Wanted” posters featuring family faces on Kraft paper inviting members to celebrate your reunion and mail in a manila envelope.
Atmosphere
Encourage ranch hands to come dressed in ranch wear.
Cover tables in old quilts, gingham prints or cow-patterned fabric.
Use bandannas as place mats and napkins.
Toy sherif’s badge pinned to a ponytail holder makes a mighty fine napkin ring. Or write names on the badge and use as name tags.
Display cowboy hats, toy six-shooters or rifles, a spittoon, Indian headdresses, cowboy boots, toy rifles, horseshoes and ropes.
Soak labels off beer bottles to use as candle holders. Create your own brewery label bearing the family name.
Activities
Get everyone up for line dances or arrange for a square dance caller.
Put hay in the back of an open pickup truck and take everyone for a hayride.
Host a western tune sing-along around a campfire, fireplace or barbecue.
Set up a rousing game of horseshoes. For an indoor version, have guests try to toss pretzels on a wooden dowel.
Refreshments
Line cowboy hats with a gingham napkin or bandanna to serve corn, taco, or potato chips. Hats also work well for peanuts in shells, popcorn, trail mix, pretzels and/or other dry snacks.
A large galvanized wash tub serves as a drink cooler.
If you’re cooking wieners over a grill or in a fireplace, spear them on dead tree branches and have everyone roast their own.
Serve sarsaparilla, root beer, lemonade and regular beers in plastic or glass mugs or mason jars bearing each guest’s name.
Party Prizes/Favors
A toy sheriff’s star, with a self-adhesive magnetic strip attached to the back, makes a decorative and useful hoe-down memento.
Say “thank you for coming” with a small live or artificial cactus plant in a clay pot.
Send your party posse into the sunset with a mason jar filled with trail mix, trimmed with a licorice string.
