Sunday, October 17, 2010

Finn's Circus Party!



Considering the mayhem of our everyday life right now, I figured a Circus Party would be quite fitting for Finny's first birthday! 

So.....a Circus party it was!



I made the "ringmaster" invitations with Picnik.....and then sent them to my local photo print shop. I trimmed the corners and glued them to a piece of red card stock. They were sent out in Popcorn bags (for envelopes), along with "Admit One" tickets for the circus :)



I had lots of fun making the decorations. The boys have FINALLY started staying asleep in the evenings, for at least a couple of hours......and it's amazing how much you can get done!

The "Circus" banner was super easy to make.....paper plates turned backwards and stenciled with the letters (when I say stenciled, I mean coloured-in with dried up black markers that I found in Toby's craft drawer). I hot-glued (gathering/tucking as I went) some streamers (crepe paper) to the back of the plates to add a little "ruffle" effect.

The red/white/grey cushions were from Christmas last year, and I brought them up because they matched, and they sort of helped keep Finny out of the fireplace :)

I got the Popcorn containers at the dollar store and added balloons on sticks for a little fun. Those balloon stick things are great! Got them at the dollar store as well.



We strung up streamers for a sort of "big top" tent effect. Let me tell you, this job is NOT fun. Both Dustin and I had blisters on our thumbs from pushing in a million push pins. I hung some balloons in the middle to cover up the mess :)

I made the little "Finn is 1" banner with some stripy scrapbook paper and twine....and did my usual black marker stenciling.






I had a lot of fun decorating the cupcakes. I wanted them to have some variety....like a real circus! :)

The "popcorn" cupcakes  were made with mini marshmallows that I painted with watered-down yellow food colouring. (yes....I know....ME use food colouring?)

I made the little "clown" hats with scrapbook paper and a pom pom.

The little bunting was a finger-burning hot-glue mini project. I used a combination of wool felt, scrapbook paper, ribbon and kebab skewers :)





The favours were an impromptu Michael's purchase....I spotted the little "birdcages" in the dollar bin and thought they'd work for little circus animal cages :) I know.....caged animals......a bit dodgy....but that's kind of a circus thing, right? I added little elephants, tigers and treats and they were done :)

I kept the food pretty simple.....popcorn in little boxes, hot dogs in little plastic holders (dollar store), etc.




I made another paper plate banner for the Photo Booth.....and painted a canvas with a sort of "big top" backdrop. I rounded up a bunch of stick-on mustaches, clown wigs and noses, glasses, etc to dress up in...it was pretty hilarious!! Nothing funnier than babies in disguise :)

I'm not going to say it was easy to get them to keep the costumes on, though.....


Sadly, the lighting was awful, and my photos turned out really grainy.....so I decided to roll with the "old school" look and make them even grainier :)



Toby and Finn...



Fenton...






Owen..




Hannah...

 


Gavin and Cole...




Fenton and Cole...




Gary, Kalli and Christa...






Isn't there something just so funny about a baby with a mustache? :)




Finny figured out the best way to eat his cupcake was without hands!










All in all....it was a blast!

Thanks to all of our wonderful friends for celebrating our little man's first year with us!



Circus Party hub written here



20 comments:

  1. Oh my gosh so creative and adorable. I love all the cute lil ideas you came up with!

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  2. This looks smashing! You did a wonderful job on everything! It looks like a fun party!


    Ruthie @ Tattered Bliss

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  3. My goodness, you did an amazing job with this party, how fabulous. If I was a little kid I would have gone nuts to see my house transformed into a circus! That's a party that won't soon be forgotten :)
    Nancy

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  4. this is just a gorgeous party! the pics of the kids really brought a smile to my face! I can't decide what my favorite part is...probably the babies in mustaches, but I also love the "popcorn" cupcakes, the red & white color scheme, the banners...oh heck I love it all!!!

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  5. Incredible. How do you find the time! Wondermom!!!!! You make me so proud to be your friend.

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  6. What a great post! I loved giving themed parties. My last one got a Pirate Party with a 150 foot Pirate ship that we built out of a wooden fence we found in someones garbage. I have pics on facebook. Your children are blessed to have a talented & loving mommy like you! xo

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  7. wow...you did an amazing job!..very creative and smart!...and the babies in moustaches...to die for!...couldn't be cuter!

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  8. This is amazing! I've never seen a birthday party that detailed. way to go!

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  9. What a wonderful party. Love the creativity - amazing what you can do with some streamers, balloons and paper plates! Can you send some of your energy my way?

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  10. i meant to send you the link to my web albums! sorry! you managed to get together a great selection of fab photos for the post, regardless! thanks for the party, it was so fun!

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  11. Oh my word this has to be one of the cutest posts Ive ever seen!!

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  12. Amazing job. Everything is so lovely!

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  13. Wow. Great theme and you have a supercute blog! Look forward to having a good read! xx

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  14. This is simply fantastic, Tracey!! LOVE all the Circus-themed decorations, and those cup-cakes look delectable!! You're so creative!
    Happy belated birthday to Finn!
    Victoria

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  15. Amazing!! You are wonder mom!! It turned out great, love the invites with the mustache!! :)

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  16. I LOVE the theme and your creativity! I was going to do a rocket theme party for my son, but have changed my mind! Question about the invite, any tips on how to duplicate it? Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, right?? :) Thank you!!

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  17. Melissa....I'm not sure if you'll ever read this, but your blogger profile is private, so I can't respond to your question about how to make the invite.

    It was actually really easy, but you need to use Picnik.com . I have the premium membership, so I'm not sure how much of it is available when you don't have that memebership, but all you have to do is upload your photo and then add the text boxes and mustache/tie. There are all sorts of "circusy" fonts, and the mustaches are in the "stickers" category. Then I saved the jpeg and sent it to my local photo shop and had it printed as a regular 4X6. I just glued those to some red card stock, and they were done! :)

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  18. I also LOVE your invites! Do you have any idea where on picnik you found the top hat??? I've been all over the internet looking at circus parties/invites...Your party blows me away! Great job.

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Thank you so much for your comments! I love reading every single one :)

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