Carnival Party

Our princess turned 5 a couple of weeks ago. We had a carnival themed birthday party. Oh the fun we had, not just at the party, but also in planning and preparing. We love to take a theme and run with it.

The invitations were made to look like tickets, which we made on our computer and then cut in the shape of a ticket. We put the following wording on them...

See the amazing Emma as she attempts outrageous stunts such as...
turning a year older, consuming impossible amounts of junk food,
and of course, the fiery, death defying birthday candle blow!!

I have a good friend who is the most resourceful person I know. I give her an idea or show her something in a magazine and she can take it and figure out how to make it with everyday supplies and for a very low price. Take this red and white carnival banner for example (originally seen in the Pottery Barn catalog)…

This is nothing more than some red and white card stock paper and 36 yards of scotch tape. The scotch tape was picked up for a penny a roll at the back to school sale. The card stock I had on hand for scrap booking. Then we took it to the local bookstore and had it laminated. Gotta love it!

I bought some pennants and attached one end to the fence and the other end to a stake in the ground to create the "booths." I borrowed some games from my church that we use for our Fall Festival. The rest of the games we made ourselves.

We took our lemonade stand and turned it into the ticket booth.

Our kitchen windows open up into the backyard, so we turned that window into the concession stand. One of our friends hung in the kitchen and served nachos, hot dogs, and popcorn.

The kids received a small paper gift sack when they arrived and were directed to decorate it, or at least put their name on it. Then they used this as they played games and won prizes to carry their prizes. They took those home as their loot bags.

We also had a photo op. This too was homemade. Here's the birthday girl giving us her best strong man face.

My best friend and I also made the cake for the party...

Daddy was in charge of face painting. But one brave soul, cousin T, allowed the birthday girl to paint her face. That's a rainbow, just in case you were wondering.

And what's a carnival without a clown?? There's one in every family I hear. Or maybe it's just the birthday girl's lil' brother.

All in all it was a wonderful day. A great time was had by all.