Betsy's 4th Birthday Party Circus / Carnival!!!

We did it!  

After all the weeks of party prep, we managed to pull off one heck of a circus / carnival for our sweet four year old girl.  

what's a circus without a ferocious lion and lion tamer? 

Our twin girls were on the parts! 

Here's the candy bar...

I made this candy / sweets sign myself.  When I was at Cost Plus one day, I saw a huge display with this signage.  I asked if I could purchase it, or wait until it was ready to be discarded, but the manager said it would be there through spring.  Hmph.  So I ended up taking a photo of it, then having it blown up onto posterboard.  I then mounted it onto foam board (from the dollar store by the way!!!) and cut it out with an exacto knife. 

The cute DIY peanuts, candy, cookies labels can be found here:

http://www.etsy.com/shop/partyinvites

super fun favor bags with silly glasses, tops, scooby doo snacks and 'tickets' to the carnival. 

We draped the outdoor fireplace and dressed it up and hung vintage string lights across the grassy area of the backyard for the full effect.

Fresh cotton candy topper for the birthday girl's cupcake. The only problem was that cotton candy and Houston humidity did NOT agree.  It turned into this hot pink mess within minutes.  But it was cute while it lasted!

our birthday girl back in the day when she was just a year old. 

I'm really glad she has hair now.  We waited a long time!

our little Emily looking out the window after her nap. She looks just like Betsy did at 11months.  

Note the baldness!

 the tables (I have to have SOME shabby chic in my parties!)

The poms were purchased here:

http://www.etsy.com/shop/partyson

we bought the mini circus tent for the twins, but all of the kids had a great time playing in it.

welcome to the Lion's Den

plenty of fun and games

and funny faces!

I made this little birthday banner and was very happy with how cute it looked on the cake

the birthday girl