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!
Shannon
Wednesday 25th of July 2012
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!
Dandelion
Sunday 8th of July 2012
I had to check the gallery album and look at the lion balloon! Lol. So cute!
Recreate
Friday 6th of July 2012
The lion balloon really did it for me. And the photo backdrop, too!