carnival came to town!

The carnival came and went.

It's so funny as I type this, looking out at my backyard you'd never know what just happened here, but it most definitely did happen.

And it happened BIG TIME!

This party was such a labor of love. I usually don't go to this much work for a party, but if you don't go big, go home right? Not sure if that phrase is referring to birthday parties but really if you're gonna do a carnival, it better be fun, right?!

So work, we did. But like I said, a labor of love.

My sweet boy was so appreciative. He hugged me and loved on me...let me know he loved every minute...my sore legs and back are worth it. My baby's worth it.

We always do favors at our parties, so for this I just decorated little metal buckets from the dollar section at Target, had each kid grab one on their way in and fill it with their prizes from the carnival games. It worked great. Everyone went home with their stuff.

My dad so graciously agreed to be the hot dog vendor.

The kids' eyes got so big when he started yelling, "HOT DOGS! GET YOUR HOT DOGS!!"

Hot dog vendor's box: Banker's box, spray paint, white duct tape (Target), ribbon tied on...

badda bing, badda boom.

The ticket booth was a really fun prop to have.

My mom and I manipulated a huge refrigerator box into something it never expected to be when it grew up...spray paint, white duct tape.
Then I sewed some simple curtains, added a banner to the roof, and stuck a dowel rod through the inside for the tickets to hang on...

LOVE that the kids took the ticket thing so seriously.

(tickets from Wally World...super cheap!)

Games were super simple carni games.

This one was the most popular with boys AND girls....

....just shoot the ping pong ball off the golf tee.
They're stuck in some of that floral Styrofoam (Wally World again, super cheap),

I painted them so they wouldn't look so darn boring.

I loved the idea of a photo booth at a carnival party.

I had my mom find me some fun hats they could use at the photo booth...

oh my gosh!!! So funny!

PS: pretty much all this crazy stuff was found in my brother's closet...don't know if I want to know why he has a freaky awesome mullet wig. hmmm.

Don't be jealous that he's all mine :)

For food, we basically just served anything with sugar in it.

I really hope nobody barfed last night.

Sophie didn't fall asleep till after 11:30pm...she was just laying in her bed singing...too hopped up on sugar to sleep.

Oh well, you only turn six once right? :)

And there was a tattoo parlor for all the bad carnival kids...

I loved this party theme.

I love this boy :) 

Linking to:

Alison @ Stuff and Nonsense

Jen @ Tater Tots & Jello

Kristen @ KoJo Designs