Western Pool Party Ideas
Best Pool Party Theme

Here are some great western pool party ideas for a Yee Haw pool party theme.  Our granddaughter takes riding lessons and loves horses. For her birthday pool party theme, she chose a cowboy/cowgirl party theme.

Provide cowboy hats, bandanas and mustaches for each of the party guests. (Adults enjoyed them too). Before heading into the pool get some pictures to use for your thank-you cards.

Western Pool Party Ideas for Decorations

The deep red barn doors make for great western party decorations as well as a great place for photo ops. They are made of a thin piece of vinyl. I stapled a long piece of cardboard across the top of each vinyl barn door and then hung them over the fence. I did the same across the bottom to keep the doors from blowing up.

Barn red and royal blue western party decorations turned this pool area into the Wild West. Cowboy hats, bandanas, pennants, barn doors and  horses are simple and easy ways to decorate for this pool party theme and made for great photo ops as well.  

I love the color scheme of the royal blue and deep red.  The colors just pop. For outdoor parties the bolder the colors the better.

Place wagon wheels by the pool entrance, hang it on the pool gate or put it by the party table. These are plastic so they can get wet.  At 23" they make a party decoration that will stand out. 

Plastic Wagon Wheel 

Beginning at the pool gate, hang a Western Wanted Sign  of the birthday girl/boy with a cowboy hat sitting on one of the metal posts. I found the poster at Amazon and then took a picture of our cowgirl. I had two 8x10 pictures made up and then used the second one at the party table.

Isn't this poster great?! Take a picture of the birthday boy or girl with a cowboy hat, bandana and mustache.  Insert a 8 x10 picture into the Wanted/Reward frame.  Use it at the party table and hang another one on the pool gate.

We took a picture of the birthday girl and then had it made into an 8x10 picture. Hang it on the pool gate and by the party table. The kids loved looking at it - so if you get just one put it by the food table so everyone can enjoy it through out the party. The poster was purchased at Amazon here: Western Wanted Sign 

Hang Bandana Pennant Banners  on the pool fence in several places adorned with some cowboy hats on the fence posts. The banner was a bit orangey/red rather than deep red. At first I was disappointed, but once it was hung on the fence it looked great. It's vinyl rather than paper, which is great for around the pool.

Red gingham umbrella table cloths and blue and red tin pails provide lots of color to the tables.

There's lots more fun stuff to get besides paper goods! 

Use extra cowboy hats for decorations.  Decorate the backs of chairs or hang them from the umbrella ribs. I bought a set of 12 red and blue ones here from Amazon:

A garden post was the perfect spot to set a cowboy hat with a coordinating bandana. 

A Large Brown Stallion  greeted guests as they entered the pool area. He hung around for days and made a great addition to the party.

Can I say that these inflatable horses were the hit of the party? Have them floating in the pool when the guests arrive. If you blow them up completely so that they are nice and firm, they will stay standing up and just float across the top of the pool. Use them for your western party games as well. 

Western Pool Party Ideas for Party Supplies

Cowboy party supplies include lots more than just paper goods. Colorful bandanas, cowboy hats, mustaches, and inflatable horses add color and fun to any western party.

Before you start ordering your party goods, decide on a color scheme. As you can see ours is red and blue. Order enough hats, bandanas and mustaches for each guest and some extras for decorations. 

Use one of the cowboy hats to hold the napkins and the silverware like the one in the picture. Hang extra ones on the pool gate, fence or even from the patio umbrella ribs. 

The paper goods are the Western Lasso Party Supplies. The birthday girl picked them out. The colors and designs works for any age and any gender.

Western Party Ideas for Party Favors

3" red tin pails are lined with colorful napkins and are used as the party centerpieces and as the take home party bags. 

Party favors were selected by the birthday girl and included lots of plastic horses and balls with horses in them.  Kids also took home their cowboy hats and bandanas. 

Magnetic chalk labels with the kids names stick onto the pails. Regular chalk is just too thick to write names, so I bought the White Liquid Chalk Marker with Chisel Tip.

It is much easier to write with and if you mess up, just wipe off the label and do it over. Tie a red and white rope (which I found at the dollar store) around each pail. 

Use an extra cowboy hat with a folded bandana to hold the silverware.

Western Pool Party Ideas for Photo Ops

Turn each guest into a cowboy/cowgirl. The kids had a choice of red or blue bandanas.  Get an adult to help hand them out and tie on the bandanas. 

Fake Mustaches  will bring lots of smiles and giggles.

I couldn't resist getting the birthday girl this Horse Beach Towel. It's nice and soft and the colors are really this vivid and most importantly she loved it!

Vinyl horse finger puppets are placed on top of white frosting with scattered browned coconut for hay. I used the cupcake liners from the Cowboy Cupcake Kit. 

Western Pool Party Ideas for Cupcakes

Kids loved their plastic finger puppets and played with them in the water and took them home as part of their party favors. 

A cupcake stand displaying horse cupcake toppers (really just plastic finger puppets) with browned coconut sprinkled on top of the frosting can be used as one of your centerpieces.  

The liners kept most of their red color because a white cake mix was used. If you are making a chocolate cake, don't bother, as neither the design nor the color will show.

Western Pool Party Ideas for
Pool Party Games for Kids

Corral the Horses and Ride'm Cowboy along with some fun relays with rubber horse shoes kept kids swimming and squealing all afternoon.

Giddy Up Horses

Make your own noodle horses. Bend over the noodle and tie a piece of rope around it holding it in place.  Superglue googly eyes and make ears and a mane out of a sheet of foam.  Measure a piece of foam about 6-8 inches long and about 2" wide. Fold it in half and then trim the edges.

To get the mane to stick, I cut out a skinny wedge of foam and then superglued the mane into the cut out area.

Plain swimming pool noodles become horses complete with bridles and manes made out of foam sheets.

Two teams, The Mustangs and the Stallions, raced across the pool for lots of giddy-up fun

Each team gets one horse. One member from each team "rides" the horse across the  pool and back.  Remind them they have to "stay in the saddle."

Stayin' In the Saddle

Purchase 3 inflatable horses from Amazon (of which I am an affiliated). Let each swimmer take a turn and see how long they can sit on the horse before tipping over.

Corral the Horses

A pool and a pony kept these cowboys/girls from riding off into the wild blue yonder. Divide into two teams - the Mustangs and the Stallions.

Each team gets an inflatable horse with a rope tied around it. Instruct the kids to lead their horse to the corral ( a floating hula hoop) without tipping the horse over.

Rubber Horseshoes Pool Party Game

Divide into two teams. Give each team one rubber horseshoe. One at a time have them swim or run if the pool is shallow to the horseshoe post.

It can be on the side of the pool or have a person holding the post in the pool.

When the swimmer gets to the post they take off the other horse shoe, place their horseshoe on the post and swim back to their team giving it to the next team member. I purchased the Champion Sports Rubber Horseshoe Set from Amazon for this game.

Squirt Guns Using Max Liquidators

Every kid loves squirt guns. We used the Max Liquidators. Each team member takes a turn moving the horse to the other side of the pool with squirting water. Then they swim back to their team mates pulling the horse by the bridle.

Ride 'em Cowboy Pool Party Game

Wait til you see what fun the 'partners had with inflatable horses and a diving board!

This was the favorite game of the party. Make this your last game with the inflatable horses.  Let the kids line up behind the diving board and take turns landing on the horse.

Have an adult hold the horse at a safe distance and keep it from floating too far away.  Eight kids took several turns jumping on the horse - eventually all three of them popped - but it was well worth it!

Have some giddy-up fun with this kids pool party theme like we did and make it a day to remember.   For boys and girls who love horses and cowboys, these western pool party ideas will make for one memorable celebration.

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