Two of my nephews (in one family) have birthdays a few days apart so they have a combined birthday party with family.

The theme this year for their 8th and 12th birthdays was Wild West / Gold Rush.

My niece painted signs on cardboard which looked great!  They had signs with their family name and population, Shooting Range, Chuck Wagon, and Muddy Waters (gold panning pool).

Sign painted on cardboard to look like wood

We set up a shooting range using the paper target idea from Apple Falls. The target on the wooden barrel are tin cans balanced on a thin board.

Cans target practice

Another activity that was a HIT was panning for gold. It was a warm day and many party attendants enjoyed playing in the water searching for gold.

Pool filled with sand, water, and gold (spray painted rocks)

Results from panning for gold

When we had a family planning meeting for this party, my younger nephew came up with the idea for a Wanted poster with his Uncle on it. I found an old photo of the Uncle that I thought fit with the theme. My 15 year old nephew designed the poster.

Wanted Poster

I created this TNT candy favor using these directions from Allie Makes via  Jean’s Crafty Corner. I made a few changes. Instead of Rolos and white rope, I used SweeTARTS and white chenille pipe cleaners. I already had the wooden box.

For dessert we had a nice selection of delicious sweets.

• Gold Rock Candy – I followed these directions but I lightly sprayed the yellow rock candy
• Pick axe cake with gold nugget cupcakes
• Banana Split ice cream dessert with lasso’s and star decorations
• Chocolate cupcakes with peanut butter centers decorated with sprinkle sugar stars
• Caramel popcorn in muslin bags

Dessert Table

The inspiration for the gold bags was this from One Charming Party. In order to keep down costs we decided not to do an iron-on label because we needed to make a lot of bags. My sister-in-law and niece sewed the bags out of muslin. They created a bag template to fit a plastic zip-lock bag. My sister-in-law hand painted the labels on the bags. They tied the bags with jute string.

Caramel popcorn with gold bag

Linked to: Show and Tell Saturday’s at Be different Act Normal