under the big top

jonas first birthday party was SUPER fun! i probably had the most fun planning it and then seeing it all come together. it is so satisfying to see something you pictured turn out just as you had planned. i told micah i was going to quit everything and plan kiddo birthdays to which his reply was "i sure wish you would have launched that business before we were 100K plus in school loan debt." um, yeah.

our theme was under the big top, vintage circus. here is a picture of the invites we sent out:


they read "jonas is turning 1, under the big top! appearing one day only: February 15, 2009. venue: yarborough family circus, show time:2pm. don’t clown around! tickets are going fast! reserve your seat with the ringmaster!"

each kid recieved a large, yellow "admit one" ticket. we hung a banner over our entry that read "tickets", sadly i didn't get any pictures from the outside of the house. we decorated the walk with helium balloons, four of which escaped into the tree.

with micah's help we converted our dining room into a circus tent. wow. you can't even tell from this picture how magnificent it was but trust me, it was pretty cool.


we also hung banners that read "under the big top" and "happy birthday jonas".


the circus fare included apple slices and carrots but the healthy stuff ended there. there were also chicken nuggets, mini corndogs, and cheeseburger sliders- all kiddo-sized. for treats there were bags of cotton candy, boxes of cracker jacks, red ropes, and m&ms. my fantastic mother made homemade elephant ears which were a huge hit.

i made little goodie bags for each of the kids. they were monogramed with the first letter of the child's name and each had a circus animal on the front (work on these began several weeks ago and they were so much fun to put together). inside were all sorts of wonderful treats like circus stickers and tatoos, bubbles, juggling balls, a clown nose, animal crackers, a horn, and a handmade lollipop.


i set the table for all the kiddies and put the goodie bag at each place setting. in addition to the goodie bag, the placesetting included red standard party plates, red and white striped napkins, and the cutest circus cups with animal noses- when the kids drank from the cups they looked like they had animal noses!


jonas' high chair was decorated with balloons and he wore a special birthday boy bib, he did not however wear his special birthday hat that i made him, too bad, it was super cute.


my sister, bless her, dressed up as a clown and painted the kids faces.

i made a picture booth out of a tri-fold cardboard display board (the kind you did a presentation with at the science fair when you were a kid). i made a lion and a clown and then cut out their faces so the kids could stand behind. so cute! we sent the families home with photos.

we made a ball pit with 750 colorful balls in the basement and we played dumbo on the big screen with theatre sound.

i made a circus cake and topped it with an elephant and a single candle. jonas did not enjoy the cake but everyone else seemed to.


all in all, i think it was a success. super fun for mom!