Backyard Carnival

the crazies’ b-days are coming up, so my mind has been racing with party ideas. i’m wondering whether to throw them a joint party, like our carnival party last year, or to do two separate parties. since its been on the brain, here is a sampling of what we did last year:

since we are on a pretty tight budget, all of this was homemade, (so clearly not professional), but just know that its totally doable, and inexpensive to pull off if you wanted! (i have to give credit to Parents Magazine…this party is pretty much a replica of one they featured a few years ago, with some small adjustments.)

The Big Top:




The Invites:

front
inside:
wording:
Fun House:
(don’t mind the duct tape job in this photo…it was the windiest day known to mankind (go figure) and in a last ditch attempt as guests were showing up to keep the sheet and sign up, we reached for the duct tape…doesn’t look pretty, but sure did the job!)
Here are the different booths:
Squirt Gallery: painted ping pong balls sat on top of golf tees and the kids had to shoot them off with water guns (the ping pong balls are missing in this pic b/c the wind kept blowing them off)
Face Painting:
the bug checking out her painted face:
the boy’s painted face, compliments of our talented aunt leanna:

Pie in the Face: the kids got to make a whipped cream pie with a cherry on top and then throw it in uncle patrick’s face
He was such a good sport, but seriously smelled like rotten milk for the next few days!

Clothespin Drop: drop a clothespin into a jar, and receive the number of tickets that corresponds with the number on the bottom of the jar
(smaller mouthed jars = bigger ticket value)

Kissing Booth: guess the number of Hershey’s Kisses in the jar. winner gets the whole jar of kisses.

Truth Teller: instead of a fortune teller booth

what the kiddos opened up at the truth teller booth. they had a tattoo put on while a scripture verse (the TRUTH) was read to them

Popcorn cupcakes: white and yellow marshmallows cut in half and then pieced back together to make little popcorn pieces, piled on top of a cupcake frosted in white frosting.

Party Favors:
for the adults

for the kids
the kids got to trade in their tickets and fill their goody bags at the end of the party with all kinds of prizes

Prizes were displayed in glass jars, and included crayons, pencils, stencils, gum, rings, necklaces, glow bracelets, stickers, sunglasses, etc…

The Food:
on the menu = corndogs, tater tots, and freshly popped popcorn.

the crazies had a blast, and really enjoyed celebrating their special days together! (i can’t believe how young they look!! its amazing how much they change in one year!)

and just for fun: here was the bug, midway through the party. i think she was just a bit overwhelmed, and needed some space. i just love this pic..it captures her SO well!

and the boy decided to cap off the day by taking a tube from the fun house playhouse and slide down the slide while inside of it. i must say…creative, and pretty hysterical to watch!
after going back through these pics, it really makes me want to celebrate them together again! any good joint party ideas??