Today all I wanted to do was play with my new nail gun I got for Mother’s Day, but alas, I had errands to run and a house to clean. But we are close to having life back on our normal schedule and the house is resembling something people could actually live in. So before this last weekend becomes a distant memory for me, I need to share the rest of the party!
The party games are for the kids, but the food, that’s for me! I love making treats and I love eating them too. I did keep it pretty simple to go with the Carnival birthday party theme: caramel popcorn, cotton candy, homemade lemonade, and of course, cupcakes!
For the cotton candy, I purchased cotton candy at the dollar store and separated them into treat bags. Then I printed out a cute topper for the treat bags and stapled them on top of the bags. I used some scrap 2x2s and 1x2s to build a simple stand and used some finish nails to hang the cotton candy on it.
I asked my boy if he wanted buttered popcorn or caramel popcorn and of course, he chose caramel! We make caramel popcorn about 2 times a week at our house. Yeah, we might be a little addicted :). So this was a perfect excuse to make it again. And we needed adorable little cups to put them in so I pulled out my trusty Silhouette. I created a file to print and cut so that I could get 1 box per 8 1/2 x 11 sheet of paper and they ended up being the perfect size for little hands.
I found the cupcake stand and carnival themed cupcake liners at Oriental Trading and they were perfect! A little buttercream frosting on the funfetti cupcakes and the kids loved them.
Then to finish it off, I made some lemonade to put it in my new Farmstand beverage dispenser. Now it looks like a carnival birthday party!
For decor we let the games and food provide most of it, but I did make a Carnival sign with arrows. My plan was to attach them to a 1×2 and stake it in the ground at the entrance to the backyard with balloons tied to the top! It would have been so cute, but the rain! Oh, the rain! So I taped them to my wall right inside the front door. The only problem with this is that arrows were not pointing to the right direction and the kids kept pointing this out to me. I guess they don’t understand decor like I do 🙂
The party was a huge success! My daughter is already planning her birthday party to be a carnival party just like it. I had so much fun preparing for the party I thought I would share the printables for the cotton candy toppers, canival signs & arrows, popcorn cups cut file and PDF! To download them, sign up below to gain access to my library of downloads.
I hope you enjoyed our party! I had too much fun putting it together and the kids has a blast at the “Carnival”. Now I get to rest for a couple months before planning my little girls 4th birthday. I’m hoping I can convince her to pick another theme… movie night? tea party?? mermaid lagoon???
I’m linking up to some of my favorite Link Parties.
The link for the carnival signs and arrows goes to the cotton candy toppers..do you have a link for that?
I think I got them all fixed. I had to separate the links with some text. I just checked them and they are working now.
Do you have the link for the cotton candy sign? When I click it it takes me to the arrow signs. Thanks I love this theme!!
Hello Corin, I just fixed the link so you should be able to access the cotton candy toppers. Thanks for letting me know it wasn’t working!
Thank you so much!!
You’re welcome 🙂 I hope you have a fun party!
This looks awesome. We did a carnival theme party for my daughter’s first birthday and we had a blast. We did the popcorn in the old-fashioned popcorn bags, but didn’t do the cotton candy like you did, which was a great idea. Cheers!
Thank you Jennifer. The carnival party was so much fun!
These decorations are wonderful! This post is featured at Funtastic Friday this week. Thanks for linking up and sharing with us. Hope you make it again this week.
Thanks so much for the feature Sherry. I am glad you liked our fun party.
love this theme! 🙂 Shared on facebook! Thanks so much for sharing this awesome party theme on Making Memories Mondays! 🙂
Cathy
Thank you Cathy! And thanks for sharing.
Such a fun party theme! I love the cotton candy stand. I’m glad the party turned out just as cute inside even though it was raining.
Thanks for sharing at the Creative Inspiration party, hope to see you again next week!
Thanks Kelly! I love the cotton candy stand too. I’m trying to think of some other things I can use it for now…
This is just delightful! I love how self-sufficient you are! (A nail gun for Mother’s Day? – you go girl!) I have done 3 family carnivals for my grandkids and just love the festivities. Thank you for the printable for the little popcorn cups. I used purchased baking ones last time at my event, but yours are far more authentic.
I need to read the rest of your blog. So glad I found you on Grandma Ideas!
Hello Joyce! Thanks for stopping by. The carnivals are so much fun, as much fun for me as the kids :)!
What a cute party! We love caramel corn too. My little guy would be jealous if he knew you guys got to have it that frequently!
The caramel corn is too good! My husband is the instigator of all the caramel corn eating. Thanks Carlee!
This is such a cute party idea! Love the cotton candy stand! Thanks for sharing over at Merry Monday, hope to see you again next week!
Thanks Chelc. The cotton candy stand is one of my favs too. Now I just need to figure out what to use it for next???
What a fun party! I love the signs (sorry about the rain!) and all the carnival food is perfect! I like how the treats cost tickets, just adds to the carnival feel.
It was my husbands idea to charge tickets for the treat because the kids were earning them too fast! So much fun 🙂
What a super cute idea for a birthday party! Those treats look amazing 🙂 Thanks for sharing this post with Friday Favorites, we love having you join us each week 🙂
Thanks Amanda! The treats were delicious 🙂 The best part of any party is the sugar high right?!