Girly Circus Birthday Party

Everyone should do a circus birthday at least once! It's fairly easy, super colorful, and tons of fun. The dessert table is always the most exciting part for me and the kiddos, so I'll start there. 

So, this isn't actually an edible dessert, but it sure is a fun part of the display.

I couldn't resist the idea of putting cotton candy in the cupcakes!! I used this recipe, but topped them with my favorite vanilla buttercream.

Almost every kid reached for one of these marshmallow strong man barbells first!

My vintage Ferris wheel planter held circus peanuts, because you just can't have a circus party without them.

I always have to have sugar cookies. These toppers were made from Air-heads candy and a mini cookie cutter.

Cotton candy is yet another circus party must have. The push pop containers (affiliate link) give the perfect amount of portion control.

This amazing backdrop is actually a headboard my Father-in-law made for my husband when he was Tandy's age. He is amazingly talented!! Corn dogs, popcorn, peanuts, and grapes were the snacks of the day.

I loved getting to use all of the accessories I collected for Tandy's nursery throughout the party. 

Circus party favors became "prizes". We didn't set up the games as a competition, so everyone was a winner. We offered animal cookies, clown noses (affiliate link), temporary tattoos, and elephant lollipops.

We set up a few carnival style games for activities.

The face painting was by far the biggest hit.

  

 We contemplated all different methods for our balloon pop, from darts to rigging the board with something sharp to pop the balloons on impact. In the end, my husband set a timer for each kid to pop as many as they could by sitting on them. The kids loved it!

Todd also constructed a kid friendly tightrope.

Bean bag toss, 'nuf said.

The smallest ones had a little trouble with the ping-pong ball and water gun station, but it was fun none the less. 

In the end, it was a very happy birthday for Miss Tandy.

Here are a couple of the previous posts about the party: Invitation, Clown Costume, Tightrope Walker Costume.

Other sources (affiliate links):

Tickets

Elephant Candy Mold

Carnival Bottle Labels

Hot Dog Trays

Popcorn Boxes

Happy 3rd Birthday Tandy!

On your third birthday, there are a few things I would like to remember about you....

1. In the last year you have really opened up. You hardly act shy at all anymore.
2. You have so many adorable and sassy facial expressions.
3. You are still not much of a breakfast eater.
4. Your favorite TV shows are Sophia the First, Wild Kratts, and Mickey "huh house".
5. Your favorite movie is still Mary Poppins.
6. You sleep with 3 loveys, a doll, a penquin, and a binky, and they each have a specific place in your bed. (Little do you know that the binky will be removed this week.)
7. There is not much neutral territory with you and your sister; you are either being really sweet with each other or really mean to each other.
8. You are a tough little cookie.
9. You constantly make us laugh.
10. You love dogs. 

Tandy the Clown

As I indicated in the last post, Tandy will have a circus birthday party this year just before Halloween, so a costume fitting the occasion was in order. Perhaps there are a few too many photos, but I just couldn't leave any of these out!

I used the Modkid Bailey romper pattern to create the look. Sans the accessories, it will just be a colorful romper for next summer. The shorts portion of the romper is knit fabric adding even more comfort to the look.

The accessories bring it all together. I used spray glue to attach fabric to card stock to form the clown hat. The yarn pom poms are tacked onto the bodice of the romper with a needle and thread for easy removal later.

I'm hoping the large pom poms survive the party for Halloween night.

 

I love how this photo captures so much of Tandy's personality. Sweet, cute, and a whole lot of spunky.

I'll be including this with the signature style week at Project Run & Play. I know it's not what you would normally consider signature style, but if you browse my Halloween posts, you'll notice my trend of creating costumes with outfits that can be used beyond the season.

Be sure to come see what we have in store for some Halloween fun with Modkid patterns.

Circus Party Planning

Once again, it’s party planning season in our house. Tandy turns 3 at the end of the month, and she’s certainly something to celebrate. I’m guessing this is the last year that she will have little opinion over the party theme, so I’ll happily keep the ball in my court. Of course, she has been consulted, and happily taken on the character of a clown for her very own circus party.

You know I usually turn to my trusty and amazing designer friend for invitations, but this theme is nothing new and her schedule has gotten a little more demanding. A quick Etsy search resulted in over 3,000 circus party invitation options, so I new I could find the perfect thing. I’m loving this circus ticket invitation from Little Mountain Top. The ticket washi tape was the perfect thing to seal the envelope.

Can you believe the stamps my Mom found!?! Thank you USPS for providing these at the perfect time!

The main reason behind the circus theme is to make great use of all the elephant décor we collected for Tandy’s room. I’m pretty excited about all the inspiration I’ve collected on Pinterest. Stay tuned for how all the details will come together!

Follow Courtney's board circus birthday on Pinterest.