Need ideas for Wild West themed activities and holidays

Horseshoes maybe, and dancing….now that there is slow dancing and western dancing. Violin and piano playing, and possibly guitar. Maybe have a barn dance. Also, how about a big picnic/dinner outside if the weather is good. And of course there is always courting, going off and picking flowers to give each other or making bouquets, or making out…… lol. Oh, and also card games and drinking.

I don’t play on console, but I don’t use mods or CC.

Host a Hoe-down. That's what we now call a dance party. ;) I'd suggest a barn-raising, but the game doesn't have us build the way they did back then. Most of all, just have fun.

For holidays, you could go on trips with different purposes, like fishing, finding a rare rock or metal, take pictures, enjoy the local food and wines, learn or advance a skill, research for a new book they are writing, participate in a horse race, etc.

I find that "telling stories" is always a great option for a wide variety of holidays, as it is something that gets your sims to actually interact as a group, and it is obviously appropriate for any era in history or geographical location. Sitting around a fire telling stories is probably the oldest form of entertainment known to humanity.

Baking is also nice for holidays, especially now that it's something that your sims can do as a group activity.

I'm doing a challenge in which I have a traveling cowboy (or cowgirl, depending on the generation) who lives for a limited amount of time in a lot set up like a camp (like the Van der Linde gang, if you have played RDR2) before moving again to a different world, and in each camp I roll a different way to gain money.
So certain activities like horse competitions, searching for collectibles, fishing or playing an instrument already fall into the "source of income" category.

But I've completely forgotten about dancing, and playing sabacc with the Batuu table sounds like a very intersting way to make them lose money and made them even poorer.
And instead of picnic (I avoid making them travel out of their lot), maybe barbecue events.

"Amapola76;c-18302829" wrote:
I find that "telling stories" is always a great option for a wide variety of holidays, as it is something that gets your sims to actually interact as a group, and it is obviously appropriate for any era in history or geographical location.

Baking is also nice for holidays, especially now that it's something that your sims can do as a group activity.

These are really good suggestions! I've decided to add the "Simple Living" trait to every camp they visit, so baking sounds an interesting challenge (and again, a good way to make them spend money with ingredients)

"PifflePrincess;c-18302831" wrote:

So certain activities like horse competitions, searching for collectibles, fishing or playing an instrument already fall into the "source of income" category.

You don't have to exploit those sources of income to the point that they earn too much money. Fishing can tie in with the simple living trait and you can get them to catch their next meal instead of buying it from the grocery store. They could play an instrument for practice not for tips if they just want to entertain themselves. Same with collectibles, don't collect everything, just a few select ones and discard or recycle everything you don't need.

"Amapola76;c-18302829" wrote:
I find that "telling stories" is always a great option for a wide variety of holidays, as it is something that gets your sims to actually interact as a group, and it is obviously appropriate for any era in history or geographical location. Sitting around a fire telling stories is probably the oldest form of entertainment known to humanity.

Baking is also nice for holidays, especially now that it's something that your sims can do as a group activity.

Yes, and if you tell ghost stories around a campfire, you might even have a ghost appear!

"crocobaura;c-18302862" wrote:

"PifflePrincess;c-18302831" wrote:

So certain activities like horse competitions, searching for collectibles, fishing or playing an instrument already fall into the "source of income" category.

You don't have to exploit those sources of income to the point that they earn too much money. Fishing can tie in with the simple living trait and you can get them to catch their next meal instead of buying it from the grocery store. They could play an instrument for practice not for tips if they just want to entertain themselves. Same with collectibles, don't collect everything, just a few select ones and discard or recycle everything you don't need.

You can also use fish to fertilize your plants with instead of selling it.

Also living in the 1800’s is great now with animals and produce as you could use any of those as income in a realistic way….. I do wish we had grocery bins for produce instead of fridges ( for selling ). It makes for a more realistic store than putting fruit and veggies in the fridge, in modern or olden time.

I was also going to suggest a hoe-down, but @GalacticGal beat me to it.
A big barbecue is always timeless fun.