So kinda at the last minute I decided Finley needed to have a birthday party. I guess I started thinking about it and this was really going to be the last year she could have a party without having to invite her entire school. Plus, she hasn't really had a party since her 1st birthday and to be honest that was more for me than her.
I knew I didn't want to just have a generic party for her so I headed off to Pinterest for some inspiration. I came across the "rainbow" themed party which I thought was super cute but it just didn't seem to be the one. Characters, no way. Then I came upon a circus party. I thought that was cute but just not perfect. Then it came to me. A carnival party!
This summer we went to a local catholic school carnival and Finley had a blast. A few weeks later we went to the L.A. County fair and it just about blew her mind.
So carnival party it was.
I made some cute invitations using the template I found has
here. I changed up the wording a little bit and mounted it on some card stock with a little ribbon. Sorry I had to blur out my address cause I don't want you all stalking me.
Food wise I knew exactly what I was going to do. Super bad for you Carnival food of course. Hot dogs, nachos, huge pickles, caramel apples, cotton candy, popcorn, etc. The plus to this menu was that it was going to be super easy to make and set up. Plus, who doesn't like hot dogs and nachos?
For drinks I decided on homemade lemon aid, cherry lime aid, and
cucumber lemon water. Yum! I got the cherry lime aid recipe from
here and boy was it good.
Look at those cute pickle bags.
The
popcorn and "peanuts" (i used pretzels instead since there was a peanut
allergy at the party) are in the red and blue little boxes.
I did just plain ol' cupcakes for the guest and a giant cupcake for Finley. For the pedestals I just bought some glasses and plates from the $ tree and glued and sprayed painted them. Super cheap and easy.
Ice cream cups with wooden spoons.
Now what carnival party is complete without the games? We had the fish pond, ring toss, and tin can alley.
I knew the parents at the party would kill me if I gave away real fish for the fish pond so instead I filled little bags with clear glycerine soap with a little sea creature imbedded in it. You can see the little fishes in this picture.
More pictures of the games.
We even had a little make shift tattoo parlor. One little dish was full of tattoos and the other was filled with water to put them on.
My Favorite part of the party. The prizes! We gave out tickets that the kids could use to redeem prizes from the prize table. Look at all that fun stuff. Clown noses, bubbles, mustaches, pixie sticks, bouncy balls, foam airplanes, fortune telling fish, candy buttons, pencils, kazoos......you name it we had it.
I had originally planned to have the party outside but it decided to rain on our day so we moved it inside. We had a couple of fun things planned for outside that we got to use the few moments it wasn't raining out.
My great husband painted this photo prop for me.
Here's my funky photo booth. I had to scramble at the last minute to find a place to put it because of the stupid rain.
All and all I think fun was had by all.
Lastly a HUGE shout out to my WONDERFUL friend Carrie who took all of these awesome photos. Without her I would not have all of these awesome memories since I was running late and couldn't take any photos myself. I actually like it better than if I did take them myself. It's always great to get another fabulous photographers perspective on things.
Thanks again Carrie!!!
