Step Right Up! It’s a circus birthday party! The last time I did a circus party, it was for my oldest son’s 1st birthday back in 2009. Circus parties are always a popular theme for 1st birthdays and it is really a great theme for birthday parties of any age! This one was for two brothers who were turning 4 and 1.

I made this cute welcome wreath out of tickets from Oriental Trading and cute printables from Chickabug. All it takes is a little hot glue and an hour.

The birthday boys have a beautiful house with a great outdoor entertaining area, which was perfect for setting up the sweets buffet. As soon as you turned the corner into their back yard, this was the first thing you saw.

Since both boys have names that begin with a T (and dad too!), I really played that up in the decor. I wanted a BIG focal point! I made this giant marquee circus letter from a cardboard science fair backdrop from Hobby Lobby. Then, I lined it with shiny red poster board. The string lights were from the dorm room section of Target. There are tons of DIY directions for these letters all over Pinterest.

The giant ticket booth is from my friends at Birthday Express. It’s SO easy to put together and it’s the perfect photo booth prop, and also a perfect plaything for the kids at the party!

I made this banner for the front of the table with my Silhouette. I used glitter cardstock on top of shiny metallic cardstock. I love how it turned out!

For the circus treats, I went traditional! Bubble gum, candy apples, sugar cookies, and cotton candy of course!

The cotton candy lollipops were a great way for the kids to be able to eat cotton candy in a less-messy way. My favorite cotton candy vendor, Dolly’s Cotton Candy customized these for me. Kids of all ages love cotton candy!

I displayed them in a wooden crate that I painted blue. On the front, I dressed it up with cute printables from Chickabug and some metallic pom poms.

These glittered candy apples are from my friend Autumn at Autumn Lynn’s Chocolate Sins. I got a funny phone call later in the party, asking if they were edible! They are almost too pretty to eat!

Two birthday boys mean TWO cakes! I did a large one for the guests and then, a smash cake for baby Taylor. Isn’t this cake by Mad Lily Cakery just beautiful? It’s the quintessential circus cake! I love what she did with the bunting. I wanted to display the cake on a really high level, so I put it on top of a hat box covered with metallic posterboard and a yellow bucket that I embellished with vinyl to make it look like an elephant trainer’s stool. Aren’t these circus plates from Birthday Express so cute? Taylor’s smash cake was displayed on a hat box that I dressed up with glitter cardstock and tickets. I cut these T’s on my Silhouette and added them to the Whirly Pops to personalize them for the boys.

The circus cookies were done by the fabulous Whimsy Cookie Co. I can’t decide which ones I like the best! They are all so stinking cute!

For the favors, TJ and Taylor’s mom really wanted to do Goldfish in a Bag soap.

I had never done them before, but I knew it couldn’t be too hard! I used some Oriental Trading goodies, including plastic fish, cellophane bags, and red personalized ribbon to make them really adorable!

I displayed them all under this adorable tabletop tent from Oriental Trading. It was the perfect way to tie them all up like a carnival games booth! I used the tickets from Oriental Trading to frame these adorable printables from Chickabug.

We had a couple of action stations, catered by Simply Delicious Caterings. They did live, on the spot, funnel cakes and corn dogs! Hello, delicious!

I loved the decor that Trisha and her crew brought for decor! LIVE GOLDFISH! What kid wouldn’t love this?? This banner from Birthday Express was the perfect touch to hang from the back of the house! When I saw this beautiful house, I knew I wanted to add a balloon arch over the pool! Out past the pool, we used the basketball court to add some guest seating. The tables were supposed to be in the yard, but it rained like crazy the day before! Thank goodness for basketball courts!

For centerpieces, I used the printables, some glitter cardstock, and some more tickets to make a cute statement piece. I used these ADORABLE circus tent pinatas from Birthday Express for centerpieces on two of the tables.

There was also a petting zoo, pony ride and train ride! Lorri and crew at Happy Times Farm kept the kids happy with a menagerie of adorable animals! That’s my husband holding this sweet bunny. He’s an animal freak–he would have stayed all day!

My favorite party entertainment, the tremendously talented Amy from Fairys and Frogs Face Painting, really kept the kids happy! Let’s just say that there were A LOT of Elsas!