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