LoLovie: LoLo's Circus and Carnival

Long time no see! That only means that I've been busy working on so many projects I could not find time to actually take photos and post until NO! Tararararaaaa here are the photos of LoLo's party, which would have been washed away had it not been for my quick thinking husband, who had a genius idea to ask a nearby hotel for a space. And there we were in one room instead of our spacious courtyard but ce la vie! With many adjustments and reconstruction we were able to have fun and enjoy another LoLo milestone ...

I found this old poster on the internet and edited in the words. I used picmonkey, the only editing program I can sort of use.

The food table ...

Home-made:

* Paper fans on the wall are from newspaper and card stock; The circle in the middle is a paper plate trimmed to size.

* Tablecloth. Made from 99. cent plastic table covers that you can buy in any party store. The yellow and white were cut on the fold lines to 4 equal strips, shirred by hand and taped with clear tape to the bottom (red) tablecloth. Make this ahead of time if you are thinking about one for your party. It takes a while!

* Banner. Easy! Paper plates with letters printed from word on them (I have a silhouette that I can't use :); holes punched on two sides and tied together with a string. They work very well on the wall, but making them stand upright against the tablecloth was a challenge at time ...

* Circus train. Made from boxes bought at Staples. The wheels are doubled black paper plates, the chimney is a toilet paper roll wrapped in yellow paper and another one wrapped in stripy paper.

* Photo. The picture is an enlarged black and white photograph from Staples and glued to a white foam board.

I am very proud of the circus train, though London hated the idea of the animals and cages and I had to promise him that they will be let free once the party is over. The photo of them on the train is an actual photo from a train ride we took in Budapest past summer.

* I made the stacked pom-poms with newspaper straps at the bottom

* I am pleased with my printables done with picmonkey.

Food:

There was cheese, crackers, grapes, popcorn in a fruit barrel and hummus cups with celery and carrots and I baked cheese and chive biscuits (that came out yummy btw :).

I did not want to overload the kids with desserts and candy, so we had cream puffs and cookies with milk (that we forgot to serve until the last minute). There were also peanuts in bags and lollipops and mini chocolate coins at the prize table. We ordered pizza for a quick lunch and then there was the amazing cake that London and Lola's x nanny, Didi made! I thought it was just the right amount of food for a kids party.

We also had a photo booth. Though I did learn something .. don't make the booth adult size for a kids party! How about my jeans I am most proud of?? I bought them from a boutique in Carroll Gardens. The had my name written all over them and were on sale! Nobody wanted them for ages until I appeared ... Do not be mistaken! I wear them in the summer on a regular bases and get compliments all over the city. I've had people calling me wonder bread girl :)) I've gone back to the same little shop in hopes to buy another funky pair but they do not carry the brand any longer and I wasn't able to find them even on the internet .. :(

By the way ... as it turns out nobody likes clowns! Many people are afraid of them, I just simply do not like them. The reason being that when I was growing up, my mom would take me to the circus all the time and when the clown came on stage I was expected to laugh and smile like all the other kids, but I never found falling off pants on a guy with a big red nose funny .. lol .. now maybe I would :))) My mom would always check if I had a smile on my face, which I never did for the clown and she'd proceed with questioning if I didn't like the show and why and so on and so on ... As a character I now think they are cute .. I mean how would anyone not like that huge rainbow afro???

The TATTOO station ... I bought circus themed tattoos from amazon.

Another activity was the bean bag toss ... bottom right!

There was face painting by our talented aunt Janet. We picked five designs to make it easier for everyone. Rainbow really wasn't among the choices, but Lola insisted ..

Activities we did:

* Photo booth * Face painting * Tattoos * Bean bag toss * Pin drop * Coloring station * Duck pond

And what we could nod do, because of the rain :(

* Clown race * Hula hoop * Hopscotch * Bubble station * Baby rug