Cowboy cabin offers western flair for children’s parties

Published 9:33 am Tuesday, February 12, 2013

 

The small white cottage on Ben Howell Road has been a place where little girls can let their imaginations run wild and be treated like princesses.

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For nearly two years, Vicki Roach’s Tea Party Treats & Sweets has been a birthday party haven filled with feathered boas, nail polish and jeweled tiaras, and until now, the business has been exclusively aimed at girls’ parties.

With the recent addition of a boy’s cowboy cabin, Roach said a much-needed void is being filled.

“I’ve had a lot of people call and ask about boy parties,” Roach said.

But the decision to start this new part of her business didn’t come without a lot of prayer, Roach said.

“Everything I do in my life I pray about,” she said. “I prayed for years before the tea cottage fell into place, and I did the same thing with the cowboy cabin.”

Roach opened Tea Party Treats and Sweets in May 2011, with the princess cottage built next to her home. The cowboy cabin opened last month, right next door to the cottage.

The new project took about six months, Roach said, from construction to outfitting the cabin with western-style accessories and she has already hosted a few parties.

While the princess cottage lets girls play dress-up with princess outfits and jewelry, the cowboy cabin offers a dress code of bandanas, sheriff’s badges, play-gun holsters and stick horses.

Photography is available upon request. Roach uses photographer Brenda Thompson, who can even add that old-timey look to the western pictures.

And like the princess cottage, the cowboy cabin offers an all-inclusive service.

“We take care of all the food, games, balloons, party bags,” Roach said.

The parties are an hour and a half for $145 and accommodates 10 children.

“You invite the guests and we do all the rest,” Roach said.

Kelli Lutz, of Sweet and Sassy Treats, makes the cotton candy and sweets while Tammy Tipton, of Tipton’s Traditions, makes the cupcakes. Roach’s niece Haylia Gannon also helps run the parties.

Roach also hosts monthly story hours and film screening in warm months. Roach takes donations at the events to fund community projects and said she plans to continue that.

“We have a wonderful community that donated thousands of dollars through the tea cottage to charities last year,” Roach said. “We fed hundreds of elderly people during the holidays, donated clothing, shoes and school supplies to the needy. This isn’t something I have done, but something as a community, we have done together.”

For more information or to make reservations, call Roach at (740) 646-4243 or email her at vickiroach@yahoo.com