My oldest daughter is obsessed and I mean truly and completely obsessed with horses.
It started at about 3 and a half and has progressively grown since then. She has an impressive collection of Schleich horses, of which she can tell you each and every breed and it’s distinguishing characteristics.
Naturally, her favorite show is Spirit Riding Free, so when it came to picking a birthday theme this years was obvious. Cue the Spirit Riding Free intro music…
As a lifelong horse lover myself, I was super excited about this one. I really could’ve taken this one waaay over the top but the fact that we have a joint birthday party reigned me in. In fact, this year’s joint birthday party was a split theme, so I had to contain myself. I actually had to create an entirely different Trolls themed party for my 3 year old.
That didn’t stop me from creating a ton of cute crafts though! Check out our super adorable Spirit Riding Free birthday party!
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Spirit Riding Free Birthday Photoshoot
I had hoped to do a shoot with her and a horse, but the timing didn’t work out. I had pictures from her riding lessons but had something more specific in mind. However, chances are she’ll be just as obsessed next year, and I can give it a shot then.
Instead I stuck with a simple backdrop using her party decorations. I’d picked up a cute Spirit shirt at Kohls and let her wear that along with some jeans and a pair of cowboy boots. Even though it wasn’t exactly what I’d envisioned, it suited her perfectly. My favorite part? The impromptu giggle fit in the middle of the shoot.
Spirit Riding Free Birthday Outfit
As per usual, we had party at our gymnastics gym. So for her birthday outfit, I made a Spirit Riding Free leotard.
I found the leotard on Amazon and was pleased with the price. I found an SVG on Etsy and modified it to work on her leotard. The process of layering all that vinyl was a bit time consuming but worth it because she LOVES the end result!
She has a new favorite leotard for sure! This one will get worn to gymnastics frequently I’m sure!
Spirit Riding Free Birthday Party Food
The adorable cake was done by a local baker (Tasty Tidbits and Crafty Snippets). My daughter had seen one similar on Pinterest and requested one just like it. (Maybe because she wanted the set of Spirit figurines we put one it!)
The cake topper was made using my Silhouette. I used the print and cut feature and cut out a picture of Spirit and Lucky, added a glitter number 6, and cut her name in glitter as well. I hot glued them all on a cute paper straw and Viola!
As I mentioned before, we combined parties, so I only had a few Spirit themed foods. However, they fit super well with the theme of the party!
Hay Bales were a bit hit with the kids. They were a simple Rice Krispie Bar.
Do you notice how perfectly they turned out? I spent hours cooking in the kitchen unwrapping Rice Krispie bars from Sam’s Club.
The kids also liked the Trail Mix. This was the product of me running through a grocery store last minute and throwing things in my cart. I used Golden Grahams cereal, pretzel sticks, raisins, mini marshmallows, and chocolate chips.
The Horse Treats (aka veggie tray) were less of a hit with the kids and more of a hit with grazing adults.
I also added this Watering Hole sign to our drinks. We had juice boxes for the kids and aters for the adults.
We found the paper products on Amazon. They were adorable and match wonderfully with the colors we’d chosen.
Spirit Riding Free Party Decorations
I had so.much.fun decorating for this party! I loved all of the decorations so much that they’ve inspired me to redo part of her bedroom. I’ll share pictures of that soon! Most of the decorations will be re-purposed and will look perfect for what I have in mind.
The first decoration I made was super simple. I had grabbed a 3-pack of these super cool galvanized tins from Walmart last year. They aren’t there any longer, but I did see a similar set on Amazon.
Using the print and cut feature of my Silhouette, I cut out pictures of all the characters from Spirit Riding Free. I then cut some number 6s on glitter cardstock. Afterwards, I simply hot-glued them together and then on to a cute paper straw – similar to the cake topper.
I had some Styrofoam balls laying around so I placed them in the tins to hold the picture and then covered it with decorative straw I had leftover from fall decorations. The end result was adorable! I placed her toy characters around with their respective signs.
I made a couple of signs for the party but this one was my favorite. It was so simple to make! I got this board of Amazon, and added two vinyl decals with horses on them. I made sure the decals were firmly adhered by using a hair dryer to better secure them.
Afterwards, I sprayed a light coat of paint over twice. I removed the decals and was left with this adorable sign! This one’s going up in her room for sure! 
The second sign I made was a quick printable. It’s got part of the lyrics from the intro song to Spirit on it. I popped it in a chalkboard similar to the one I use for my back to school printables and was done! This one will also be going up on her wall. You can grab your own free copy of the printable here.
In addition to the sign I made this banner. Again, I used the print and cut feature on my machine, as well as used it to cut some simple horseshoe and heart designs. I then hot-glued them on some twine and made a super cute banner!
My final two projects were a customary yearly chalkboard and a super cute number 6 shaped horse.
The chalkboards, although a tedious project, are one of my favorite party decorations. I love documenting all my favorite things about my kids. Plus, once you have a few templates, they aren’t that bad at all.
The 6 shaped horse wasn’t too difficult either. I spray painted it white, then added some brown vinyl dots. I found a cute horse face SVG on Etsy and modified it to fit. I cut some ears and the mane from felt and hot glued them on. My daughter loved the final product!
In addition to these easy DIYs, you can find lots of other great decorations on Amazon. I used a few of these for her photo shoot and around at the party!
Spirit Riding Free Birthday Party Favors
I tried to keep the party favors simple to help save myself sanity. I had the lady who made the cake also make some chocolate suckers. I found the mold on Amazon and gave it to her to use.
I found some super fun Make a horse sticker sheets on Amazon and added some Spirit Riding Free tattoos. I stapled on some favor tags and was done. Super quick and easy!
I grabbed most of the favors off Amazon. Here are some links to what the bags were filled with, as well as some other ideas.
Prepping for this party was no easy feat, but the end result was so worth it! My daughter went on and on about how this party was her favorite and the “best ever!” That’s high praise from a 6 year old diva, and makes it worth every second I put into it.
Don’t forget to Pin this party, so you can come back to it later! And check out the rest of my party ideas and the tons of party ideas I’m pinning on Pinterest! Be sure to follow me!
