A cowboy needs a horse (sock upcycle and cowboy cake)

Every cowboy needs a horse! And a hat and a set of shiny spurs of course too. But mostly a horse. No cowboy party is complete without one. Since my son was having a cowboy theme for his 7th birthday party, I decided he needed a horse—both a hobby horse to play with and a horse on his cowboy birthday cake.

So, a few days before the party, I decided on the “spur” of the moment (pun intended)  to make him a hobby horse out of an old sock. You see, I have this problem with mismatched socks. I don’t know how other mothers do it, but my sons’ socks especially never seem to end up in the wash at the same time. For that reason, I have what I call the “SOX BOX”—a sort of singles bar for the socks that have no partner.

If I have “leftover socks” from the wash, they go in there. After every couple of washes, I go through the box and often find—lo, and behold—the partner sock. In the past, I have used the permanently unmatched socks as rags, as stuffing, or as carrying cases for electronics (mobile telephone, voice recorder, chargers, etc.)

To make the hobby horse, I started with a bunch of unmatched socks and some crafting wool.

Then I stuffed the “horse.”

I hand sewed the ears to the heel of the sock and attached googly eyes using my glue gun.

 Finally, I rummaged through my big bag o’ scraps to find something to make into a bandana/necktie for my Western horse.

Of course, a cowboy also needs a cake …

I used vanilla frosting and sugar, both of which I colored green with food coloring. Then I added shredded wheat cereal, pretzels, a Playmobil horse, and cocoa to decorate the chocolate cake.

 So now he’s got himself a horse and a hat and a cake, and he’s gonna keep ridin’, ridin’ along.