The Carnival Party

Party #4 in 4 months. I am beat! I think I'll take the month of May off. Maybe.

I'm so happy that this last party turned out so well. I threw this party for one of my nephews and one of my nieces. We had about 20 guests. The kids and adults had a great time, it was simple and fun! And an accomplishment for me was that I was finished decorating right on time, with enough time to snap some photos before the guests arrived. I was able to enjoy being at the party :) Success!


Remember this inspiration board I posted way back in February? Well a few pounds later and a lot of preparing the circus finally came to my parents studio in Mt Pleasant!

Venue: My father's photography/camera case studio. Free!

I like to work on a budget because I enjoy the challenge and to be honest, I have to. I made everything (or enlisted others) to make as much as possible, including the food tags. I tried using things that we already had laying around and looked for the best deals on candy during this holiday season and found toys coming into the summer season. Always thinking ahead.

The Goodies!

Cake & Cupcakes!

The Menu!
This is where the help came in! While I was putting the finishing touches on the goody table my sisters made homemade corn dogs, nachos, fresh popcorn, and frosted the cake and cupcakes! We also munched on peanuts which doubled as a table centerpiece, Izze drinks for the adults and soda pop with paper straws and handmade straw flags.








Just leave a bucket of crayons on a paper covered table and in a quiet moment they'll find inspiration :)


Games!
In addition to a cardboard box maze, the kids played bowling, ring toss and bean bag toss.
Bean bag toss by re purposing an inexpensive Ikea storage unit hung from a ladder. I give credit to my brother ("alex in the box") for coming up with the hanging solution.

They had to stand really close but got quite a few in!


$1 store plastic cones and unused bamboo purse handles make for an almost perfect game!


Prizes!


To save ourselves about $7 we opted out of using these darling gable boxes and gathered our used store and gift bags and re-purposed them. Do you recognize some of them? haha, just cover up that VS logo and you have a gift bag!


Redeeming their loot!


Photo Booth!
I was so grateful that one of the party guests asked if she could help out. I enlisted her in making the mustaches, freehand! I am not an illustrator so I thought she did a wonderful job!
Thank you Brooke!


Human jack in the box, "Alex in the box". The kids were both excited and terrified. I deliberately left clowns out of this party due to my own fears.

Two of my cuties.

Sources:
Cupcake liners, Cupcake Social
Straws, plastic, Hobby Lobby; paper Hey YoYo
Harp clips, Food Service Warehouse
Tickets & prizes, Zurchers
Tissue pom-poms, Martha Stewart from Michaels
Canopy tent, cups & hanging storage, Ikea
Apothecary jars, Down East Home
Wax glassine goody bags, In the Clear
Blue and green plastic tubs, gumballs, pixie stix, Dollar Tree
Plastic animals, Hobby Lobby
Cupcake stand, animal crackers and polka-dot backdrop, ie shower curtain, Target

Carnival Inspiration board

Isn't this cake so clever? From a distance they look like old fashioned balloons. Perfect!
Source

I am throwing my nephew and two nieces a birthday party in April. I thought that a circus/carnival theme would be perfect for our large family and for both boys and girls! I call it "April's Fools."

My mind has been whirling with ideas since January. Can't....stop.....thinking......about.....it.

Here are two inspiration boards. I can't decide on the color palette yet. Traditional red, yellow, blue? Hot pink, teal, grass green and pale yellow? Vintage? I'm thinking rainbow....that way I can use all of them!

Sources: 1. Amy Atlas, 2. Sweet little parties, 3. A Little Polkadot, 4.Mrs. A in the Cove, 5. English Paper Company, 6. One Charming Party, 7. Mon Tresor

There are many more detailed photos so I've shared the source info if you'd like to reference them yourself! So much talent out there!

And by the end of April you'll get to see how it all turned out! I am so excited for this one! It's going to be so fun!

Also, if you'd like to enter a contest over at Kara's Party ideas for this very theme you could possibly win $150 worth of carnival party stuff! What perfect timing! I'm all about winning stuff! If you'd like to enter go here.


Inspiration Source Info:
1. Harp clips and striped food labels plus sprinkle marshmallow pops! A little polkadot
2. Animal crackers, Blow out party
3. Vellum mobile streamers, Project Wedding
4. Pink and yellow candy jar labels, here
5. Mustache photo booth, Ohdeedoh
6. Striped pink envelopes and invitation, here
7. Ticket holder, kara's party ideas
8. Zig Zag rainbow tablecloth, Crate and Barrel
9. Candy prize jars and scoops, Aesthetic Nest
10. Rainbow cake, Whisk Kid
11. Lollipops and bubblegum centerpieces, tomkat studios
12. Darling vintage yellow and pink, source
13. Jars full of treats and prizes, here
14. Gable boxes adorned with pennant bunting, A little polkadot
15. Rainbow oreos, Buggie & Jellybean from tomkat studios
16. Vintage stamps, One Charming party
Pink and yellow candy jar labels, here


Inspiration to take part in "Celebrate the Boy" month over at Made and Made by Rae. What can you make for your little guys next birthday party?

C's Caterpillar Birthday Party

Happy Birthday banner in bright colors, found in my shop.

My baby turned 1 yesterday! Oh, sigh. She is a wonderful little bug. Hence the theme, the Very Hungry Caterpillar Birthday party. It served more as inspiration and did not reflect literally in all the decor.

I took the colors in the book and brightened them up a bit. I also used the holes in the food the caterpillar ate as inspiration. So polka dots and pom poms came to mind.

I tried to have the food from the book as well. I interpreted that very loosely too. You can see the lollipop and cupcakes on the table. The rest of the food we had for dinner in the form of yummy homemade panini's! The fruit was represented in the trix cereal! Haha. Hey, it's winter, good plums and strawberries are hard to find!

Thanks to my dad for being the resident photographer. One less thing for me to have to worry about!

Fabric leaf garland found in my shop. The tablecloth is a shower curtain found on clearance at Target. Last minute purchase that matched perfectly!

Such cute wrap around bloomers from Rae Gun! Oh, what a fun addition! Thanks Marissa! The leggings are actually ladies socks from Target. I used this tutorial.

I wanted to make a variation on this cake bunting. I debated the many options. Making felt triangle pennants. Making paper triangle pennants. Making fabric triangle pennant bunting (like I did for this party). Making scalloped fabric bunting. Making pinwheel bunting. And on and on. There are so many options! Until I realized I wanted to match the pom-poms and go along with the polka dot theme found in the "holey" food that the caterpillar ate through. Plus it resembles a caterpillar, just a bit, don't you think?
And so it is
fabric pom-pom cake bunting!

Twine purchased from the etsy shop Cupcake Social. The frosting is this recipe. I have tried so many and they were either too buttery, shiny, greasy, etc. This was perfect for decorating. And not too sweet tasting!

Caterpillar cupcake "cake" inspiration from here.

The fabric poms. These little babies took an hour each to make. I made six in total. Let's just say there was a lot of late night Netflix watching going on this week! I interpreted this tutorial here. I deliberatly chose colors that will be used in my girls room. I will hang them in there once they share in a few weeks.



The archway of pom poms and another fabric leaf garland.



The bowl of "fruit", ie Trix. I stole this whole concept, of the Ikea $1 frames on top of a filled jar, from my friend Tiff (She has a fabulously creative blog here). I'm just aching looking at this photo though because I didn't have time to put a ribbon with a little "c" tied to it around that vase. It's so tall and bare. Ah, well. There were more important things to make like the bib and the hat!


The bib. Made with scraps of some of my very favorite fabrics. How I miss you pink circle fabric.

The hat. This is my second attempt at making a birthday hat. The first was way too small and this was a bit too tall. I'll keep trying. I am happy with the way it looked though and functioned just right.

Caterpillar onesie I made complete with a holey piece of fruit. I bought the strawberry fabric for another project and it worked perfectly for her shirt and bib! The fabric is from the etsy shop Frolic Design.

And now for some fun classic photos!

Luckily, she decided to keep it on!

I love you, little cuddle bug!