Circus Birthday Party

My 'Littles' turned 1 and 3 this month. (Shed a tear and break into a smile) My how the time has flown! I really wanted to celebrate their big day(s) together since their birthdays are only 10 days apart and I just LOVE how much Miss A is into sharing with Mister these days : ) I decided on a circus theme because it's gender neutral, Miss A LOVES the circus, the entire Fam LOVES popcorn (excluding Mister since he has yet to try it), and I really wanted an excuse to make the cute popcorn cupcakes I've seen around blogland.
Once I decided on the theme, I spent a few evenings coming up with cheap cute decorating ideas. I knew I wanted a photo booth, circus tent, ticket counter, trapeze artists (A's favorite part of the circus), popcorn, floating balloons, cotton candy, circus animals, popcorn cupcakes, and a clown. I just had to figure out how I was going to get everything I wanted cheaply sensibly. So, I grabbed a pot of coffee and got my Craft On! With a little creativity, some construction paper, and a whole lotta streamers and tape I got everything I wanted & without breaking the bank!

photo booth - cardboard wrapped in polka dot wrapping paper, hung on door with "photo booth" sign I printed out
circus tent - draped streamers in circus colors
ticket counter - poster board covered in construction paper, "Tickets" sign I printed out, & tape
trapeze artist - paper towel rolls, construction paper, pipe cleaners formed into people, yarn, and tape
popcorn - popcorn boxes filled with popcorn popped in our whirley popper on 'food table'
balloons - no helium, blew up balloons, bundled into threes, ribbon for string, white thread taped to ceiling and taped to top of balloons to give illusion of floating
cotton candy - prepackaged bags from party store used to fill red/white stripe container for food 'table'
circus animals - red/white striped favor bags filled with animal crackers
popcorn cupcakes - white cake mix, white frosting, mini white marshmallows with an X snipped on 1 side with scissors to give popcorn look, red/white striped scrapbook paper cut into strips to wrap around cupcakes to give illusion of popcorn box; some cupcakes had clown toppers I found for cheap at Hobby Lobby
clown - I was about to bite the bullet and dress-up myself but then I had an epiphany...we have an old mannequin (long story) that I pull out and dress up for special occasions. A little face paint left over from the kiddos Halloween decorations, a clown wig concocted of streamers, a felt bow tie, some foam polka dots, and a clown nose (found a pack of 12 at Hobby Lobby for $3; these made for some fun photo booth pics!)

For food we kept it simple: Hotdogs (for ease and to kind of keep with the theme we cooked the dogs, put them in buns, and wrapped them in tinfoil and kept them in the oven on low before the party started; we pulled them out of the oven just as it was time to eat and placed all the wrapped dogs in a red/white striped tray (Hobby Lobby), chips and dip, carrots, popcorn, cotton candy, frosted animal crackers, cupcakes, and lemonade.

Here are a few pics to show you how it all turned out: (You'll have to excuse some of the photos, I was in a total rush to snap a few pics of the decorations right before and after the party so I didn't get a picture of everything :( )

The pipe cleaner trapeze artists were my fave! I got an extra special hug from Miss A for that one : )

I had SOOO much fun planning and decorating for this party! And Miss A had a great time being "Super Tape Helper" while helping out with the streamers. She's very much into superheros right now : ) By the way, this was the family birthday party. I hope to post Miss A's friend birthday party next! It was an ice cream themed party and oh so cute, if I do say so myself!

Until next time...