Henry's Circus 1st Birthday Party!

A Project For: Henry
Age: 1
Location: Our backyard!
Description:
We wanted a fun circus party for our son and his friends and family. We tried to stick to our color-scheme as much as possible (aqua, red and splashes of yellow), as we wanted a more summery blue than traditional circus blue. All circus favorites were present: cotton candy, popcorn, balloons and carnival games!
Design Inspiration:
My inspiration for a circus there was this bow tie that I found on Etsy. I just had to have it for Henry, as his signature look is sporting ties! This is the tie: https://www.etsy.com/transaction/81790856
Decorating Style:
Fun, colorful, and cute!
Project Details:
Henry's party was successful by borrowing ideas form blogs and websites and making the ideas unique to our party. Small, vintage milk bottles are really popular for kid's birthday parties right now. I knew I wanted to use them, but I wasn't willing to pay a fortune to buy them from a shop offering them at vintage prices! I bought 4-packs of Starbucks Frappuccino at Costco, made my husband drink one every day until they were gone, and then I removed the sticker labels, scrubbed off the adhesive, and cleaned them out! Viola! I wanted the party favors for the kids to involve animal crackers (circus animals), and I decided instead of buying the Barnum's animal crackers, I could easily cut fabric and put them in Ball jars. It was just the extra touch that made the favors special.

Birthday boy's bow tie: https://www.etsy.com/transaction/81790856
Cake bunting inspiration: http://www.etsy.com/listing/70657732/cake-bunting-circus-tent-on-bakers-twine
Paper milk straws: http://www.etsy.com/listing/96793254/50-paper-straws-aqua-teal-striped
Cotton Candy cups: http://www.etsy.com/listing/97902343/red-and-white-stripe-nutcandybaking-cups
Custom birthday banner by Green Jazz face: http://www.etsy.com/shop/GreenJazzFace
Cupcake liners by Cupcake Social: http://www.etsy.com/listing/99414323/circus-striped-cupcake-liners-45?ga_search_query=circus
Baker's twine from the OCDCrafter: http://www.etsy.com/listing/98626890/tidy-twine-bakers-twine-dispenser
Circus colored cake inspiration: http://thisismeinspired.blogspot.com/2012/03/vintage-circus-party-inspiration-and.html
Lots of overall inspiration from this blog: http://www.hwtm.com/index.cfm?page=albums/view_album&albumid=1943
Rented popcorn machine from Detroit Popcorn: http://www.detroitpopcorn.com/
Clown noses, carnival games, cupcake stand...all from Oriental Trading Co. http://www.orientaltrading.com/
Food labels wouldn't have happened without the help of Emily: http://projectnursery.com/author/emily7112/ Thanks Emily!
Magician (and daddy): http://www.johnthemagician.com/
Photographer (and mommy): http://www.jenniferkohlphotography.com/
Favorite Items:
My favorite item would have to be Henry's bow tie. It was, after all, the piece that I based the entire party around!
Advice: My advice would be to start early with your planning. I was collecting and planning for months before the party and somehow I was still worn out by the day after! Also, if you're on a budget, (like we *tried* to be), I found that a lot of the stuff that I loved and wanted for the party, I decided I could make. It took a lot more time and effort, but it was an experience and it made the details that much more special. Of course, asking for help from friends and family the day of your party and HIGHLY recommended...couldn't have done it without them!

Recreate

The lion balloon really did it for me. And the photo backdrop, too!
Dandelion

I had to check the gallery album and look at the lion balloon! Lol. So cute!
http://crazyb8utifullife.blogspot.com/ Shannon

I love this idea, so cute. I hope you don’t mind, but I linked this party in a post on my blog.Great idea!

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Henry’s Circus 1st Birthday Party!

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