Pony Birthday Party Theme for 4-Year Old Girl - or Other Ideas?

Hi! Our daughters sound quite similar...as do our birthday party efforts. I understand where you are: trying to keep it reasonable but somehow going over-board. We did a pony birthday recently. Rather then haul in the ponies, we spent FAR less (which surprised me) by going to toys-r-us and buying those " stuffed horse head on a stick" toys....you know what I mean? We were able to find boy ones and girl ones...each was about $8 or so. We went to the dollar story and bought bandanas and pink/blue cowboy hats too. The kids had a blast with the ponies...we did a lot of fun races and games with them. We also had a toy "horseshoes" game and did the pony pinata as well. The thing about 4 year-olds is that they will have fun with a box if you give it to them. They don't NEED the bounce house and build-a-bear. They will have more fun creating their own games and just running around together. If it ends up being an all girl party, we also hauled out all my daughters hair bows, etc. and let them go to town grooming the amazing amount of mane that these ponies come with. I'm not sure boys would get such a kick out of that though....

Anyway, of course we sent everyone home with their horse, hat and bandana...great in place of a gift bag! The party ended up costing far less then I had originally expected but the kids appreciated the take home items and time together far more. Everyone won!
Good luck!

How about a Princess and Prince theme! The girls could have princess hats and the boys can be princes. Have a tea party with little sandwiches and drinks. They could make their hats out of paper and then decorate them. (crowns fr the boys and pointy hats for the girls.)
Hope this helps and have a great time.
B. N

Last year my son went to a birthday party at a horse farm. The kids all seemed to have fun. They had a pony out for the kids to take turns riding. I'm sure you could probably find a place that would go to your house if you didnt want to go to a horse farm. The little boy had a cowboy theme. They served root beer floats in cowboy boot shaped mugs it was a very cute party.

C.,
My advice: Careful with the overdoing it. It can bring self-centeredness, unrealistic expectations, and then reality and let downs. Having a simpler party can be just as special for your daughter.
(Experienced mom of 3 grown girls)

Hi C., I have a seven year old who had a horse themed party for her 5th birthday. We have a small apartment so renting anything was out of the question. We got all of the paper goods at BirthdayExpress.com, they have alot of themes and are not outrageously priced. Another great website is( I think) birthdayideas.com, it's lots of parents who have thrown parties and you just type in a theme and you get hundreds of ideas. We just played pin the tail on the pony, of course. I bought 2 blocks of real hay and decorated a corner of the livingroom like a barn and that's where she sat to open presents. You could make hobby horse type things for the kids to have races with outside? Our party was in December so that was out! Decorate bandana's with fabric markers, fill up cowboy hats with candy and plastic hrses and such for favors? Just a couple of ideas for you. Good luck! J.

Carriage shack farm in londenderry will bring pony and other animals if you want right to your house .My son has had them at our house several times before . His birthday is in Jan. They are great with kids and very reasonable.

Hi C., We had pony rides for my sons 2nd birthday. He loved it and so did the kids we tried it again last year for his 4th bday but it rained. He wants them again this year. He loves it. it is a miniature pony and the woman who brings him is wonderful..... I do not know where you live. This woamn is from smithfield, RI everyone in the earea seems to know of her and the kids all love the pony rides. It is well worth it.. it is $100 for an hour.. good luck. We have also had a balloon man who makes balloons and someone named captain charlie i think was his name he is excellent as well. he entertains, sings etc... the kids love him and so do the parents. FYI, we usually have about 15-20 kids also... enjoy

try looking thru Iparty and see what they have for western theme.. you can get the kids cowboy hats and bandanas.. use bandanas to hold silverware, a horse shoe cake (I'm a cake decorator, let me know if you need a cake! If you are in Mass anyway!), the basketball game HORSE can be played, if you have strong and willing adults, Horsey races (the kids can ride the parent) , musical Sadles (chairs, you get the picture), hay bales for seats, a bag of granola (oats) for the goody bag, Oriental Trading has a western theme too I think. Good luck..

My daughter wanted a Pony Party for her 4th birthday :-) She has a winter bday, which cuts down on outdoor opportunities; we had a party in our home, invited the girls from her daycare. The highlights of the party were making pony princess crowns (with pony stickers) and having her mini MLP ponies on the ice cream cake. We bought unicorn themed paper goods at iParty.

For the pony crowns: I pre-cut/ prepped in advance:
glue sticks
pink posterboard, cut to size (you can get 3 crowns out of a big poster-board sheet)
foam hearts, stars and flowers (2 each shape per child)
ears, cut out from construction paper, assorted colors
stickers: unicorns, stars, etc.
tissue paper: cut into strips; I stapled a few strips to the back of the crowns, like a mane
=HUGE HIT!

Also: Peppers&Pollywogs is a party planning website. Here is the link to key word search [pony]:
http://www.pepperspollywogs.com/blog/?s=pony&x=8&y=7

We had a great pony party for our daughter. The place where we rented the pony also brought baby bunnies so there was something for everyone. We made it into a whole farm theme, got some hay bales for decoration, got my stepfather to give tractor rides (just his lawnmower tractor with something attached in back full of hay) and we also have a pool so that was nice for the hot day. For favors we did My Little Pony. Check out http://www.birthdaypartyideas.com/html/pony_party.html - they have a ton for pony parties.
Have fun!