You're invited to the "World's Greatest Party!"
William was around four months old when I was out shopping, totally minding my own business, and found these fabulous circus party supplies. It didn't matter that I had eight months to wait. I loved them and knew that I wanted his party to be circus themed. Thus Cirque du William was born.
To start the party on a festive note, I found these cute little box invites from Oriental Trading Co. They came with a clown nose and party whistle. I added a couple of other things to make it a little more fun.
Various party decorations. I found the balloons at Party City (the only benefit of your child having a very popular name). My crafty momma made the directions sign. The party favors were Barnum's animal cracker boxes (the sign beside them says "Hope you enjoyed the show"). I painted the ringmaster onto a poster board with acrylic paints (my inspiration was found on Google Images - more about that later).
The dessert table...my favorite type of table!
I knew I wanted a book for the guests to sign and Dr. Seuss' If I Ran the Circus was perfect. I also wanted a poem with instructions for the guests. I searched and searched but couldn't find exactly what I wanted. I found this poem and tweaked it a bit.
Thank you for being here today
And helping celebrate my first birthday.
I cannot believe I'm already one,
But I'm planning on having lots of fun.
Please open this book and leave me a note.
I cannot wait to be able to read what you wrote.
Some more of the décor: dollar store animals spray painted blue, added some rick-rack and feathers, topped with a sequin and...viola! Circus animals!
I found a picture of acrobat silhouettes on Pinterest that I liked. Well, my mom took the idea and ran with it. She traced and cut out the following shadows by hand. They wrapped around the kitchen island, but in all the excitement, I forgot to get a picture of the finished product. :(
They were magnificent and William enjoyed taking them down after the party.
William wore a personalized romper from Little Sofie's Boutique via Etsy. (http://www.etsy.com/shop/LittleSofiesBoutique ) It was so perfect for the party!
We created the big top look with a roll of striped tablecloth. It brought back a lot of wedding memories, because my mom and I used a similar method to put up a white canopy over our wedding reception.
This little photo prop took every artistic bone in my body, and it still wasn't that good, but it served it's purpose. I use Google Images for inspiration all the time! In this case, I found some cartoons on Google Images and sketched the pictures onto the plywood with a pencil first. Then I painted over the pencil with cheap acrylic paints. (Love William's expression in this.)
Opening presents with mommy and daddy!
This was William's reaction to tasting the frosting. He loved it, but that's all he tried. He only licked the icing off with his fingers. There was no "smashing" involved with his smash cake.
Happy 1st Birthday, William Gabriel!
