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The birthday party post!!

I love to plan things. I especially love to plan parties. I spent months planning my children's 1st birthday party and I was very anxious to see it all come together.
After settling on the theme of a 3-ring circus I began my intense research of all things circus related. I knew I wanted a very special invitation and found a just perfect one on Etsy : http://www.etsy.com/listing/62747804/three-ring-circus-custom-birthday-party
However, I thought that it was too expensive and I was confident that I knew someone that could make something similar for me (we all know someone who knows someone...right?). I began asking all my 'techy' friends until my nanny recommended her sister (her sister just happens to be a good friend of mine and how we found our nanny in the first place). My friend agreed to do the invite and went above and beyond with it...it was simply PERFECT!

During my research I got many great ideas from websites and blogs such as:
http://www.hwtm.com/index.cfm?page=albums/view_album&albumid=730&categoryid=37
http://www.hostessblog.com/2008/10/real-parties-modern-circus-soiree/
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdYz-H2dqRhlAFhPmCbk9kLVL7dwNbJ9xhpmQEIqCxdOPmi-IvtIzcsq3BnaSSjMUB4Y38jaeK8Iql0rkrZD2wnxOtr-mE-ZnXF0thB5HMW_gcBMARs4oqZDO2d1OVGshEoOvE0KzWMPee/s1600-h/Circus+Mosaic+2.jpg
http://www.kids-party-paradise.com/circus-party-food.html
http://nightofmystery.blogspot.com/2011/08/circus-posters-and-other-good-stuff.html
http://idmommy.blogspot.com/2011/01/diy-circus-carnival-themed-birthday.html
http://twocrazycupcakes.blogspot.com/2010/04/carnival-partyhow-to-diy.html
http://celebrationsathomeblog.com/2011/07/circus-themed-birthday-party.html
http://onecharmingparty.com/2010/09/14/art-gallery-party-rainbow-cake/

Many of these websites and blogs are from moms who already had circus themed birthday parties for their kiddos and were willing to share the pictures and information. I searched through many of these and got inspiration and ideas. I used some of their ideas and some I tweaked and made my own.

I made signs to label all of my food- we made cute names for things such as: Clown dogs (corn dog), Acrobat Delight (soft pretzel), Cirque-De-Chix-Fil-a-Nuggets (chicken nuggets) and so on. I also made signs to label the games and other areas in the party space. I was able to download a 'circus font' to make these signs look more appealing. I used computer paper glued to colorful construction paper and also some large tent signs.
http://www.dafont.com/circus.font

I am all about keeping my guest entertained. For me it was very important to make sure that the children coming to our party had a good time. If the kids had a good time and were kept busy, then the parents were happy.
We had carnival games with prizes, a playground, a child size circus tent with stuffed animals and sports balls, and plenty of photo props.

game table

"kissing booth" guess the amount of kisses in the jar and win the whole jar.

We found a really cute children's circus tent at Ikea (http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/10206883/) that served both as a decoration and a play area. The tent was $20 but is rarely ever in stock and not available online. We called at 9am and they had 9 of them and an hour later when my mother-in-law went to get one for us, there was one left. They just can't keep them on the shelves!

I also created a a photo prop box. My husband and I had just had Christmas pictures taken professionally and did not really want to shell out big bucks a few weeks later to have the 'official' 1st birthday photos. We decided to ask some friends who dabble in photography (and were already coming to the party anyway) if they would like to document the party for us (all party pictures were taken by our friends The Palmers).

I also downloaded coloring pages from the Internet and placed them in plastic popcorn containers with some crayons as centerpieces. http://www.hellokids.com/c_2054/coloring/family-people-and-jobs-coloring-pages/circus-coloring-pages/big-top-coloring-page
http://coloringbookfun.com/Circus/
The popcorn containers can usually be found in the dollar bins at Target.
Target can be your best friend (along with the dollar store and Oriental Trading company). Also in Target dollar bins I found bags of cotton candy, Smartie candies, and a few of my photo props.
At the Dollar store I purchased things like plates, napkins (in red, blue, and yellow solids), photo props and sports balls, glass and plastics jars, Styrofoam balls (for barbell centerpieces), stuffed hanging monkeys (for trapeze decoration), and some craft items to decorate my picture frame centerpieces.
From Oriental Trading company- you can get free shipping if you pay attention to certain deadlines; they offer it quite often- I ordered: prizes (bouncy balls, circus tattoos, & gliders), decorations (carnival rubber ducks, spiral cutouts), personalized banner, red/white striped tablecloth, and cupcake holder.
 From Ikea we purchased many stuffed animals and puppets (circus themed) and some double sided picture frames. These we an especially good deal since we went on 'Black Friday' and they were all 50% off.

I  created some ringmaster mustaches out of felt and wooden dowels. My niece dressed up as a clown and played circus music from her Ipod.
As I mentioned before, I hand made my daughters tutus and headbands. I also had tshirts made for all 3 kids ( and my husband and I ordered ourselves circus themed shirts also) from CafePress.com that said "It's My 3-ring circus 1st Birthday'. To complete the look, I ordered a pair of blue suspenders that had red stars for my son.

 

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 One of the biggest helps I had was being able to offer community service hours to my students for helping with set up, clean up, running games, and keeping the food stocked. I couldn't have pulled this off with out them (and my family too :)

(above)Centerpieces; (below)sweet treats

(below)cotton candy,circus peanuts, gumdrop skewers, pretzel/marshmallow barbells

(above)Finished tables: popcorn containers w/coloring pages and crayons, carnival rubber ducks, picture frames, and Styrofoam barbells.

Party space

Birthday Cake (from Publix, they give a free smash cake w/purchase of larger cake)

Party space with our guests

cupcakes and Whirly cookie Pops.

Personalized sign from Oriental Trading

The 'Crew" makes a fashionably late entrance.

We chose to have personalized Whirly Cookie pops as our party favor. My dear sister-in-law slaved baking these awesome cookie pops. We created a sticker to place on the cookie that thanked our guest for coming to the party.



  

One of my nieces brings the Whirly Pops in to the party.

(left) my other niece dressed as a clown

(left) Cake time!





I do hope that you have all enjoyed looking through all my hard work. The party was just as I imagined it would be. It was a lot of hard work and I don't plan on doing it again for awhile. We originally said that we wouldn't throw them another big party until they were five, but honestly how can you pass up Triplets turning three?! I will have to have a big party for that one!