Ian’s Carnival Inspired First Birthday Party.

Hello everyone! I am back with the party details! Poor Baby Ian was not the happiest because he was teething and wasn’t thrilled about missing his afternoon nap. Nonetheless, he was a trooper and I was nice enough to put him to bed after he annihilated his smash cake. This post will undoubtedly be photo heavy so brace yourselves!  I wanted Ian’s first birthday party to reflect his personality; happy, fun, and vibrant. Thus the Carnival inspiration.


A blown up poster of the invitation greeted visitors at the door. The picture used in the invitation was from the session referred to in my last post. The invitation was created by Kottageon5th on etsy.  Totally adorable! The poster was created at my local FedEx office. The invitation set the tone for the stripe motif that was dominant throughout the party décor.

I couldn’t believe my luck when I found these elephants at TJMaxx! They are made in India and one cannot be having a carnival inspired party without elephants, right? Also, check out the stripes; jackpot!! A side story: Before Baby Ian was born I did a little exercise for a friend who asked me to think of what type of animal his energy represented. I told her his energy exuded that of an elephant and lo and behold, here we are incorporating elephants into his first birthday party. Charlotta, guess I was spot on, right?

The apothecary jars are from my ‘party stash.’ I labeled them using blue removable chalkboard wallies/sheets that I purchased from AC Moore. I freehand cut the bracket template and used chalk to write the words. There were twizzlers, animal crackers clown noses, mints, rainbow watermelon suckers/lollipops, pop corn, rainbow tea cookies(pictured in front of the Sweet Treats sign) from WackyCookies. Those cookies are so delish and they were not too sweet; just perfect!! The rainbow lollipops were from Kara’sPartyIdeas.

Colourful stripes were everywhere in the details.  Utensils were ordered from Kara’sPartyIdeas shop. They are from the Rainbow collection. The adults loved them especially because they are wooden. A couple adults even took a few home. They are even more beautiful in person. In addition, A big Thank You to Chickabug of etsy for creating the gorgeous printables and water bottle labels. Everyone loved the personalization! Everything is also from their Rainbow collection.

These are from Martha Stewart craft collection. I assembled them and didn’t have the time to hang them.

On the Wall:

I purchased this book, titled Live Now from TJMaxx for only $3. It has detachable inspirational notes that would bring a smile to your face AND Ian always brings a smile to my face. It was a must have.

Note cards from the book were placed on either side of the arch that’s adjoining the foyer.

Probably my favourite element of the party is this collage that showed Baby Ian from birth to 12 months. I reused the frames that I had used to create the collage from Zion’s first birthday party. My wonderful and creative friend Hollie has a print shop where I purchased the space print that she photographed. Hollie also personalized it for me with the circus font to read; You’re Out of This World.

Entertainment:

I might have been overly ambitious with the things I wanted to accomplish for this party. I think I forgot I was single Mommy and not superwoman. In my head I planned all these games for the children which I had but didn’t get time to set up. However, the children had more than enough to keep them entertained. They loved this Castle Circus bounce house.

The face painter/balloon maker and the photo booth were a hit. For the photo booth I put up fabric that I purchased from Hobby Lobby on the side of my shed in the backyard.  The photo props were from Paper and Cake.


I used Zion’s easel from his play room to display the sign; Smile and Strike a Pose next to the photo booth. Zion, the artist decided he needed to make it better.

Mommy and the birthday boy

The Cake!

This cake was TDF!! Of course the design had to incorporate stripes and an adorable elephant.

I made the thank you sign with paper plates and decorative tape that I had laying around. I used painters tape to affix each plate to the wall.

Each child received a gumball machine with gumballs in their goodie bag.

Personalized favor tags were made by Chickabug.

A big shout out to Patty of Patty K Photography for capturing almost all of the images (and the others that I didn’t post )in this post.  Thank you Patty for being such a sweetheart to work with!! Ok, I hope it was worth the wait!. As usual, too many pictures to post, but those of you are friends with me on facebook are in for a treat.  Much love everyone and I have been praying for everyone affected by Sandy throughout and after the devastation. XX