Carnival Party...six months later

Taking a look back at 2011 and my blog posts made me realize that I forgot to post one very important event...my son's 6th birthday carnival party!  I can't even believe it, I suppose life got in the way.  Let me take you back to July, 2011...

It was a scorcher of a summer day.  My son's birthday is in September mind you, but I happened to be preggers and due on September 2nd, just a mere 11 days before his actual birthday and I was not keen on preparing for and throwing a carnival party when I was about to pop.  So, Max, being the easy going kid he is, agreed to throw his birthday party early for the sake of his mother.  I love that kid!  :-)

My BFF over at A Turtle's Life For Me threw an end of the year carnival party for her son's class and made these fabulous carnival booths and signs, which she lent to me for this party.  Huge help!  Though my husband still whined about all of the prep work that had to be done.  OY!

She also made the cupcakes for the party...she is awesome like that.  I got cute stickers on Etsy for the toppers.

I had a food table with hotdogs (I found the plastic hot dog plates for 25 cents each at Target) and some other treats with tags to match each.  Popcorn ("POP it"), Rice Krispie Treats ("TREAT Yourself"), Cheese Balls ("Have a BALL") and Animal Crackers ("You're an ANIMAL").

The games were fabulous...we had Plinko, frog jump, ring toss, tic tac toe, free throw, and penny toss.  The kids got tickets at each game that they could later redeem at the prize table.  We also had face painting and sand art.

The prizes were my favorite part...I pretty much scoured the Dollar Tree and Target's $1 aisle every chance I got for some great deals and mark-downs.  We had mini-cards, bouncy balls, bubble wands, hula hoops, pens, pencils, erasers, water guns, yo-yo's...too many to even remember.  The kids loved it.  They would earn their tickets and redeem them.  I made favor bags for all of them with their names on them.  My friend found the bags at AC Moore...I think they were 25 cents a piece, and I drew a carnival tent silhouette and an elephant silhouette in different cardstock and glued them to the bags.  I think they are my favorite part.  :-)

I also had all of the kids sign a frame that I painted for him.

He loved this party...we all had a great time, despite the heat.  I had a ton of help from other parents and some friends and family, which I am very thankful for.  Max told me that he wants a birthday party at Adventure Sports this year...I am a little disappointed that I won't be planning a party, but hey, at least I have two girls' parties to work on.  Yay!

Linking up!