Carnival Party Planning

My big boy is turning FIVE in March.  To me, five has always been a big birthday.  Baby and toddler days are behind you and now you are officially a kid!  I can't believe it has gone by so quickly. 

Since both my boys have March birthdays, we are alternating the big friend party every year between the boys.  Micah turned one last year, so he got the big party.  You can see the post about his barnyard bash from last year here.

Carter is obsessed with roller coasters, water slides and any sort of amusement park.  I couldn't rent a roller coaster, so we are doing a carnival themed party. 

As soon as I started researching carnival party ideas, all kinds of fun, creative decorating ideas and activities popped into my head.

I got some great ideas at these posts on Lil Luna and Cute as a Fox. 

I bought a slew of premade carnival type games at Party City, which I can spread around the backyard.  We also have a bounce house we bought with two other families, and we rotate that amongst us as we need it.  I'll have the bounce house and our swing set ready for play.  My nephew got a cotton candy maker and a popcorn maker for Christmas and his birthday, so I hope to borrow those--I still have to ask. I want to have a soft pretzel station where the kids take some dough, shape their pretzel and then I'll bake them up hot and fresh.  We will have face painting and a "photo booth" station area.  I also got some sacks for a sack race!  I plan on having "popcorn" appearing cupcakes (SO adorable) and a candy station.  Whew!  I love this kind of thing--theme parties are so fun.

For the invitations, I knew I wanted to do some type of "ticket" invitations in primary colors.  I have never been a scrapbooker or card maker, so I knew I needed to keep it simple.  I think it turned out pretty cute from someone who is not a perfectionist.  There was also a cute idea of putting popcorn in a popcorn bag and writing on the bag as an invitation.  I just didn't want to hand deliver all the invites--too much work. 

The tickets slide into a slit in the invitation (below)

I'll share pictures of the various activities, food, crafts, decorations, etc. as we get closer.