Derby Party

Here are a few easy, quick, and affordable ideas to celebrate Derby Day. Hoping these ideas and printables may also be helpful and fun for your classroom or home as well!

Decorations:

My kids helped me to create these easy and fun rose suncatchers to decorate. I made a template for the roses that is free to download below then printed them out onto black cardstock. I cut the insides out, overlapped the circles and then placed contact paper over everything.

Here is a quick video tutorial of how to make them:

The kids went to town adding cut up pieces of red tissue paper for the roses and green tissue paper for the leaves. This craft could also be used to decorate a Beauty and the Beast themed party or even for a Rose Bowl or Portland themed event.

I used a few poster boards to create these large jerseys that the jockeys wear. I also made a horseshoe template that is free to download below and we used it to decorate a few of the jerseys.

I printed the horseshoes out onto white cardstock and also used them as template to trace onto brown kraft paper to embellish the jockey silks. Alternatively, you can print them out onto cardstock and have the kids decorate horseshoes with stickers and gems as another activity.

Basically you are cutting a hexagon shape using as much of the poster board as possible. I made the first and my kids used it as a template to trace onto more poster board to create more jerseys. The arms are made from cutting 4.5 inch wide rectangles out of white poster board (placed horizontally). Everything was hung up using double sided painter’s tape and was a quick, inexpensive, and easy way to decorate a large space. Here is a quick video tutorial with step by step instructions:

Another jersey was taped to the large wall space over our sofa. We also draped a beautiful wool blanket my cousin had purchased from Pendleton for the girls as it had ponies woven in it. This decoration took about 10 minutes to put together and was an easy and inexpensive way to quickly decorate the space in our living room.

We also used this space for photos. I made a few photo props which are free to download below. They include speech bubbles that say NICE HAT!, GIDDY UP!, I’M JUST HERE FOR THE PIE!, and SO DANG FUN!

They are best printed out onto white cardstock. To make them more durable for my kids, I glued them to black posterboard, cut them out leaving a thick black border and hot glued them to wooden dowels.

I made a few banners that are free to download below. We hung this one that says Happy Derby Day banner over our main eating area. My daughters painted the roses on the banner with watercolor paint. They were just an easy and inexpensive way to quickly decorate a room.

Just print out onto white cardstock, cut along the border, hole punch at the top on two sides, and weave ribbon, yarn, or twine through.

Party Activities:

This was the setup in the kids’ playroom on party day. I made a banner that says Run for the Roses and laid out four activities on the craft table. I like to set up a craft table that is self explanatory with all the supplies laid out, where guests can come and go as they please. The banner and signs for each activity is free to download below.

There are seven signs included. They say COLOR, MAKE A DERBY HAT, HORSE PUPPET CRAFT, TATTOOS, and DECORATE CUPCAKES. I also included a WELCOME and BATHROOM sign. I just printed the activity signs out onto white cardstock. I used double sided painter’s tape to hang our welcome and bathroom sign and trimmed the activity signs a bit to fit into some gold 8X10 photo frames I had. For a closer look at each activity, see below.

The Derby coloring page is free to download here. I make more coloring pages for kids here.

The kids colored and decorated Derby hats. I printed them out onto white cardstock and included a tray filled with markers, crayons, glue, scissors, glue, adhesive gems, and flower stickers for the kids to embellish, cut, assemble, and wear. The paper Derby hats are free to download here. I make more party hats here.

The kids made horse puppets. I had leftover foam unicorn heads from my daughter’s unicorn birthday. I just cut off their horns (when my daughters weren’t looking) and taped them to popsicle sticks for the kids to decorate. I also made a horse paper bag puppet template that is free to download below. I used the template to cut out pieces of construction paper, added yarn, brown paper bags, scissors, and glue and the kids went to town crafting their horses. My kindergartener also took her puppet to share with her class at school and it was a big hit.

There are also cutouts of roses and horseshoes included that kids can use to decorate their horses but my kids preferred the big heart.

Here is a video tutorial for how to make the horse paper bag puppets:

Tattoos are always a fun and easy activity that my kids enjoy. I purchased the tattoos here. They costed a little more than what I usually would spend but it was a big package that I will save and use for future Derby parties and the detail on them was great.

I purchased this Melissa and Doug stamp set and just set it alongside a pile of paper for the kids to make their own pictures and scenes. At the time, the set was on sale for around ten dollars. My kids have enjoyed this a lot and have come back to this activity after school. I have even taken it to the ballpark to keep my youngest entertained while her siblings play ball. For a party, you could also just cover a little table with white wrapping paper and lay this stamp set on top.

I filled all the bookshelves with my kids’ ponies, a few of their new books about horses, and turned their play kitchen into a hat and pie shop. My kids enjoyed selling and trying on hats as well as making pretend Derby pies and feeding them to each other and to their horses. The pretend shop signs are free to download below.

This file is best printed out onto white cardstock and cut using a paper cutter. Depending on how big your play kitchen is, you may need to overlap the signs a bit. They just say HAT & PIE SHOP and OPEN. We used double sided painter’s tape to adhere the signs to our play kitchen.

I added some hair clips and brushes for my daughters to comb and accessorize their pony manes.

I also placed two tubs of magnetic tiles alongside some small horses and the kids built homes and stables for them.

I pulled out this ginormous peg board that I had turned into a unicorn for my daughter’s previous unicorn birthday party. I just hot glued a hat to it cover up the horn and the kids decorated the horse hair by threading beads onto white pipe cleaners. This ended up being a nice calming activity that the kids returned to.

I made these chocolate cupcakes and set them out with some pretzel sticks, green frosting, and toy horses. The kids spread the “grass” on, added horses, and broke the pretzel sticks in half to form fences around their horses. Of course, they also enjoyed eating their creation and taking home the toy horses to play with. I purchased the toy horses here. I thought they were a great bargain as you get sixty horses for around ten dollars and we ended up using them in a variety of activities. The delicious and easy frosting recipe is from Two Sisters.

I pulled out this large painted board of Maximus we had made previously for my daughter’s Tangled fifth birthday and the kids threw chocolate chip bean bags (as Derby pie) into his mouth. The kids also enjoyed sticking their heads into his mouth so this game also doubled as a fun photo prop. For more details on how to make the chocolate chip cookie bean bags see here.

I froze some toy horses overnight. In the morning, they were ready to dump into the kids’ water table outside as another easy to set up party activity. I just added some rose petals, some sprigs of mint from our garden along with scoopers, funnels, whisk, and strainers. The kids loved making flower soup, fishing out their horses, and smelling all the rose and mint.

To extend their water play, I also had several horses frozen in a muffin tin. I just added some green food coloring as grass and gave the kids squirt bottles filled with warm water to defrost their horses.

Food:

We made Hot Brown. The famous recipe from the Brown Hotel can be found here. I have made this recipe in the past as well but this time opted for this Mornay sauce with Gruyere cheese as it was much easier to find than Pecorino-Romano. This is a really fun dish to make with the kids as it involves a lot of layering. We bought thick white bread which we first toasted in the oven, then added deli sliced turkey breast, a tomato, then poured the mornay sauce over everything, broiling it for a few minutes in the oven until the cheese melted and was bubbly. We finished by adding two strips of cooked bacon on top.

As the Hot Brown is a very rich dish, we paired it with a salad.

We also served a lot of homemade favorites like mac and cheese, spinach artichoke dip, and baked beans.

I set up an assortment of fruits and vegetables and labelled it as horse feed. As all the food was homemade, it kept the party very budget friendly, allowing me to spend a little more elsewhere. I was able to purchase a few new books about horses for the kids and they learned so much about different kinds of horses and how to care for them. Among the things they learned was that horses don’t just eat apples, carrots, and grass but also eat a variety of other things such as cucumbers, bananas, and oranges.

My kids were also surprised to learn that horses like to eat corn like them. As an aside our favorite way of making corn is to leave a thin layer of husk on them, and roast them directly on the oven rack for thirty minutes at 350 degrees. For a party, I like to take the husks off after cooking, and break the cobs in half for little hands.

I made deviled eggs which is a party food favorite. We own a few dishes from Louisville Stoneware so whenever possible, I like to use them to serve our Derby party food.

We made Derby Pie. I found the easy and delicious recipe here but opted to not add the Bourbon. This is also another fun recipe to try with the kids. My kids always like to help me to poke holes in the crust, pressing the edges with a fork, as well as measuring and mixing all the ingredients together. It may be messier and take a little more time with all the “extra help,” but the process is fun, and the end result (topped with vanilla ice cream or homemade whipped cream) is so delicious.

At the last minute, I decided to try and carve a watermelon into a trophy. It’s not perfect and was totally made on a whim but the kids loved it! We filled it with watermelon balls and strawberries.

My greatest joy in creating these parties for my children is seeing all their excitement and happiness. I also enjoy finding ways to use what we already have in new ways and to quickly and inexpensively make things for and with my kids.

I create more printable activities for kids here with the goal of helping to grow kids who love to learn.

To see my other parties click here.

If you use these printables or party ideas, I would love to see it! Please use #sodangfun on social media, tag me @sodangfun on Instagram, or post to my Facebook page.

I hope this post can help you to create an easy and fun Derby party or to celebrate your young horse fan!