Carnival Birthday Party - Part 3: The Food

Suddenly my little backyard birthday party has almost 40 guests!

It's time for a reality check. This is a 5 year old's party.

I don't know why I thought I could get away with a few homemade cupcakes and a game or two.  After all, its not the 1970s anymore. I guess even my budget was "retro". I love this YouTube 70s birthday party clip.  This was what I mentally had in mind - very Brady Bunch. For that era this was probably a lavish party: they had themed plates & cups and a bakery cake. My mom baked all of our cakes and we ate off of plain white paper plates as far as I remember.

We've been to several spectacular birthday parties this month - one with pony rides and a petting zoo!  Another hired a costumed character to entertain and rented an inflatable bounce house. I am having the kids play simple party games.  I'm not interested in "keeping up" with anybody but I do realize that with kids come adults and siblings, all of whom need to eat at least a little something. When one of us goes to a party with Danielle we want to have a snack, some cake, a cold drink... 

I've given up on my $100 budget and am just trying to figure out how to keep it from getting wildly out of hand. This site cracked me up - its sort of a Party Planners Anonymous for over-the top party planning parents (which I suppose I now am.) I also found this site enlightening for average costs. Now I'm hoping to keep the budget under $200 since I have so many guests.

I still want to keep the food simple. I have to deal with a number of food allergies- dairy, gluten, egg & soy as well as one diabetic child and one vegetarian! In a weird way the food allergies are a blessing. Instead of having to provide a full meal we'll serve snacks: Ian's turkey corn dog nuggets and regular corn dogs, potato chips, veggies and dip, as well as  individual bags of cotton candy and popcorn. The little bags work out great for the kids, but cotton candy was expensive at nearly $1/bag. I'll make large batches of popcorn on the stove so the house will be filled with the scent of fresh, hot popcorn. I had lollipops left over from my birthday party a few months ago. Since candy stays fresh for 6 months I'll be able to set them out again for Danielle's party -add two gumballs machines from Dollar Tree and I have a buffet.

Then there's the birthday cake controversy. Danielle asked for cupcakes and that is something I can easily do at home. A dear friend taught me that frosting makes excellent spackle when your cakes lean and kids love it.

I'll bake egg free vanilla cupcakes (recipe follows). I had several failed attempts before I realized that gluten free, sugar free and egg free cupcakes were an impossibility for someone with my culinary ability.  See the photo...this is NOT the final batch based on the recipe I've included, I promise! I bought a few gluten free cupcakes from Whole Foods after this disaster.

I purchased 4 frozen gluten free cupcakes for less than the cost of the ingredients to bake my own. I've got cute circus animal cupcake toppers (leftover from a previous party) to insert in these to differentiate them from the others. I figure that the kids will never know who is eating the allergy-free cupcakes once they all have one on their plates.

Being from New England, I associate carnivals with Dels' frozen lemonade. I wanted to serve homemade frozen lemonade.  After trying several recipes I gave up (again) and bought Minute Maid frozen lemonades. We'll also provide small bottles of water. Since I'm feeling particularly fancy I've printed out some super cute, free water bottle labels , thanks to Hostess with the Mostess.

While I am having fun making and baking things for the party I can see how this could easily get out of control. Somebody stop me!

Egg-Free (Vegan) Vanilla Cupcakes*

• 1/2 cup butter (or coconut oil)
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 1 1/2 cups milk (or almond milk)
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 3 cups cake flour

Preheat oven to 350. Sift dry ingredients together, set aside. In mixer, beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add vanilla to the measured out milk and add milk and flour in alternate batches beginning and ending with the flour. After ingredients are combined beat for about 1 minute on medium speed. Fill cupcake liners about 2/3 full and bake for approx. 20 minutes until centers are set and toothpick comes out clean.

* make this recipe sugar-free by using Splenda for Baking instead of sugar.

Carnival Birthday Party - Part 2: The Decorations & Games

I love decorations. Streamers, balloons and a pretty table go a long way toward setting the stage for a theme party. I'm lucky that both of my girls have November birthdays so my decorations can often do double duty for both parties.

Kids have great imaginations. My goal is to give them a jumping off point to make their own fun, rather than to orchestrate every minute of the party. My starting point for the carnival decorations is a fabric circus tent from Discount School Supply that we already had in the play room.

I've had a great time making decorations. I grew up with my Mom covering the living room floor with signs that she was painting for various political campaigns. Painting signs for the game stations seemed like a no brainer to me. I started with 10 sheets of foam board from Dollar Tree. The first few signs were pretty pathetic - until I discovered the paint was not my friend. As soon as I switched Danielle's colored markers my signs improved dramatically. Of course I've had to live with hearing,"Mommy, why do you keep taking my markers without asking?"

I handmade a sign for each of the games as well as one for prizes and one for treats. I tried to copy signs that I found online. I also printed out coloring pages and used them for graphic elements on the signs. I admit that I see the irony in making a bunch of signs for kids that are too young to read. I hope the pictures will help...

Some of the blogs I read actually hired graphic artists to design custom signs, invitations, water bottle wrappers and favors! I received a $20 Shutterfly certificate when I ordered Amanda's school pictures from Lifetouch so I was able to create custom photo invitations and several poster sized prints (I lucked into a half price sale)  for free!

I used Microsoft Publisher to create a really cool sign welcoming party guests.  I used a Fourth of July template and added my own photo and text. I'm thrilled with how it came out - it took less than 5 minutes and I printed it through Shutterfly. Buy the supplies, print, cut and paste and you look like one of the parents on TLC's "Outrageous Kid Parties."

Since I've been told this whole idea is "delightfully retro" I've decided to embrace the old school party games I grew up on. None of these are unique - or difficult to find or assemble... but they are all fun!

 Horseshoes (had on hand)
 Bowling
 Penny Pitch (made)
 Fishing Game
 Bean Bag Toss (made)
 Photo Booth or Board (made)
 Temporary Tattoos

The things I've made:
I made the Penny Pitch by gluing a 4 by 3 grid of decorative shapes to sheet of foam board and painting a border around the edges. The object is for the kids to toss pennies on to the shapes to earn a prize or ticket.

The Bean Bag Toss we made

We made a Bean Bag Toss from a sheet of foam board with three large holes cut into it. Danielle and I had fun decorating the surface with paper leaves. I used a dowel to prop it up at an angle, but the holes were  small for the kids when we practiced. We added three brightly colored plastic trash baskets from Dollar Tree - everyone's a winner when you have a big target!

We made colorful beanbags from felt and fabric scraps. I don't have a sewing machine. In fact, I typically rely on the dry cleaners to replace buttons on Kevin's shirts. So hand sewing anything - even something as small as a bean bag was a big deal for me. Danielle helped cut the fabric, fill them with beans and sew them closed. She did a great job! Two are shaped like fall leaves, in case you couldn't tell. I love that we're having so much fun getting ready for her party together.

My friend's father very kindly offered to make a wooden Photo Op board that the kids can peek through for pictures. If I get it in time I'll paint it to look like a scarecrow. I will use some straw and fabric leaves to make it a little 3D.

To decorate the table I cut triangles from brightly colored felt we had on hand and glued them along a piece of twine around various glass containers so that they looked like circus pennants. I used washable school glue so that after the party these can go back to being plain glass dishes.

I'll use red, yellow and blue solid colored plastic table cloths. They came from (you guessed it) Dollar Tree. Various fabric remnants will dress up the tables. The games and decorations that I've made myself cost about $25.

Now for the things that I've had to buy:
I bought temporary Tattoos from Dollar Tree.The Duck Fishing game came from Party City. I ordered a Candy Corn Bowling set from Oriental Trading. I found a $5 Ferris wheel center piece at Hobby Lobby. Dollar Tree was great for streamers, plastic pennants, foam board, prizes and tickets.  You can download tickets at http://images.birthdayinabox.com/partyplanning/carnival_ticket.pdf. 

I hit Michael's when they were having a 30 cent clearance sale. My biggest score was a penny item - a Circus cake topper. How cool! I got beach balls, more party favors, plates and napkins for less than $10. Always check Hobby Lobby and Michaels websites for coupons before shopping. You can normally get 40-50% off one item - sometimes Michaels has 25% off your entire purchase including sale items!

Instead of traditional goodie bags I've made the radical decision to create a Prize Table where the children can trade tickets for prizes. Honestly I did this because when I invited 9 children to the party I expected 9 children... not the 9 children and 8 siblings who responded. However, is also means that Danielle is eligible for prizes - leaving me with a total of 18 kids needing prizes.

Having a birthday right after Halloween means that I can't fall back on candy as a party favor. Most of the kids still have leftover candy at home. Instead I picked little flashlights, fairy wands, helicopter fliers, tops, whistles, rings and tiny telescopes.  I'll give each child 5 tickets to trade for prizes. Any left overs I'll use for pinata fillers in the future.

Tragically I'm nearly at my $100 budget despite my hard work and I haven't purchased any carnival themed food yet. I'm not quite sure where I went wrong... I probably shouldn't have bothered with a theme at all and just let them run around the yard and play.

For more budget party planning ideas please go to http://www.birthdayinabox.com/parties-under-100.asp

Carnival Birthday Party -Part 1: The Planning

Danielle has asked for a "Fall Festival" for her birthday party this year. I love carnivals so I'm totally on board. I enjoy having birthday parties at home because I like to create things for my kids. I consider it my gift to them. In fact, we typically don't buy them a present if they have a party.

For inspiration I've been reading "carnival birthday blogs."  I was stunned at the effort and expense some parents go to for their children's "at home" birthday parties. I'm not going to deny that I devote a fair amount of time to making things while the girls are asleep.

However, I don't have unlimited time to devote to this project.  One blogger claimed," ...my son’s second birthday; a Carnival Extraordinaire... took me a little more than six months of planning to coordinate everything..." Seriously?!?! That's a quarter of the little guy's life that she could have spent enjoying time with her child. My friends teased me for starting the planning six weeks in advance!

There are so many Carnival Party blogs out there it seems a bit silly to create another one. Unless, of course, you don't want to spend the equivalent of a small wedding on your child's birthday. In which case, read on! My favorite carnival party blog was called "Over the (Big) Top" - a party for a one year old with 54 children and a budget which had to have been in the thousands of dollars. WOW! What did she do for when he turned two?

Other blogging advice included tips such as "pick your child's outfit in advance so it doesn't clash with the decorations". A friend thought that was hysterical - so do I! I'll be lucky if Danielle's clothes match and she's got her shoes on the right feet.

I think many of these moms and dads might have forgotten that a birthday party should be fun for the kid. Worrying about their clothes for the photos seems a bit sad to me. I want to live in the moment, not just look at the photos afterward. I remember some wonderful birthday parties my mom pulled together for us - even though there are no pictures of them anywhere.

I don't want to spend a fortune. I'm not going to hire a caterer, a clown or even a professional photographer. Not having the money to rent a miniature train, build a ticket booth or rent a cotton candy machine, my options are more limited than most bloggers, but also more realistic.

In our area it costs an average of $300-400 to host a birthday party for 10-12 children and their parents at a location such as an indoor playground, a museum or the zoo. That's without the "extras" like balloons, goodie bags and cake - things most kids consider necessities. I want to host a party for half that - and for 17 kids and their parents. I also want goodie bags, balloons and food.

Needless to say, "do it yourself" is the key. There will be lots of photos of the various things I make throughout this blog!

Stay tuned for recipes and menu ideas as well as party decorations!

Preview of things to come...

Carnival!

Sometimes a picture is worth a thousand words...

Nothing says "summertime" more than a merry-go-round, a ferris wheel and a big inflatable shark!