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Farm Birthdays
Most parents agree: birthday parties have gotten out of control. Forget about Chuck E. Cheese or the laser-tag center; a little down-home fun is really what’s called for. If your kid loves going to the farm stand, watching maple syrup being made, picking apples, or just mooing out the windows when you drive by a cow pasture, you should consider a farm-themed birthday party. You’ll be reinforcing your kid’s interest, and perhaps introducing other children to the wonders of farming.
Many farms offer birthday parties on site, usually for very reasonable fees. The activities on offer will depend on the farm and the season, but often include hayrides, visiting the animals, pony rides or picking berries or fruit. A partial list of farms offering birthday parties can be found at the end of this article, but if your local farm stand has a picnic table and some open space, do ask about the possibility. Educational farms also offer more structured activities particularly suitable to older children. But even a party in your own backyard can have a farm theme.
Decorations
If you have a party at the farm, you won’t need much. If you’re having a party in the backyard, hay-bales will set the stage (be sure to buy them from your local farm). Bowls of apples and bunches of small raw carrots with the greens still attached provide both farm-style and nutritious snacks. Cowboy hats or boots can be used as centerpieces or decorative accents. Pull out the wheelbarrow if you’ve got one, use bandannas as napkins. There are lots of options at party goods supply shops for plates and napkins featuring cute animals, red barns, even John Deere tractors.
Games
Games are at the heart of any child’s party. It’s not hard to adapt popular favorites to a farm theme:
Pin the tail on the donkey can stay just the way it is – or you can pin the tail on the cow or horse!
Pinatas come in all sorts of shapes these days – choose a pig or a rooster.
Egg carry - On one side of a grassy area, a basket of eggs (preferably under a cutout of a chicken). On the other side, an empty carton. Each team is given a spoon, and one by one the team members have to carry the eggs across the grass on the egg. The first team to finish wins.
Still have one or two old hobbyhorses? Push the stick in the ground, tie a lasso in a rope, stand the kids far back, and take turns trying to lasso the hobbyhorse. Whoever can lasso in the fewest tries wins.
Duck, duck, goose is another farm-centered classic.
Musical chairs is particularly suited to hoe-down music.
Barnyard bingo cards can be easily made with stickers or stamps of farm animals
(you can call out the animal name – or just make the sound the animal makes!).
Bobbing for apples – particularly if the kids have just picked some.
Wheelbarrow races.
Other activities to consider: drawing or painting farm scenes, decorating pre-baked cookies in farm animal shapes, face-painting the kids into farm animals, singing Old MacDonald!
Favors
Simple favors will make both kids and their parents happy. Consider these possibilities:
A small tomato or lettuce plant – buy a flat of transplants and cut them into individual cells.
Caramel apples
Toy farm trucks or tractors
Farm-themed stickers
Bandanas
Rubber ducks
The Cake
You have many choices for cakes. Most bakeries offer some birthday cake with a farm animal theme. You can make a “barnyard” by adding small plastic farm animals or farm-animal-shaped candles to a plain cake. If you want to bake your own, Wilton offer pans in the shape of a horseshoe or a tractor.
New England farms that will host your child’s birthday party (see also our educational farms directory):
Silverman's Farm, Easton, CT
Maxwell’s Farm, Cape Elizabeth, ME
Pumpkin Valley Farm, Dayton, MECarver Hill Orchard, Stow, MA
Davis Farmland, Sterling MA
Flo's Farmstand and Schultz Farm, Rutland, MA
Green Meadows Farm, Hamilton, MA
Honeypot Hill Orchard, Stow, MA
Lookout Farm, Natick, MA
Marshall Farm, Fitchburg, MA
Shelburne Farm, Stow, MA
Smolak Farms, Andover, MA
Silverbrook Farm, Acushnet, MA
Tangerinis Farm, Millis, MA
Verrill Farm, Concord, MABeech Hill Farm, Hopkinton, NH
Brandy Rock Farm (horse farm), Newton, NH
Charmingfare Farm, Candia, NH
Emery Farm, Durham, NH
Escobar’s Highland Farm Corn Maze, Portsmouth, RI