A Carnival of Celebration

It's been birthday party central here for awhile and I've kind of had my hands full with all the chaos. But this year I did something super smart.

I had someone else entertain my kids and clean up their mess.

Best money I ever spent. We contracted with a local kid's museum to do my daughter's birthday party and let all her friends come and get sugared up. I should have done this last year. And the year before. And the year before that.

Our theme? Well, of course, we had a theme. How could you doubt me? This year was a carnival celebration of pastels complete with fair foods. It all came together in my brain when I spotted this beauty at the party store.

There's a line of paper party goods by a company called Sweet Tooth and I pretty much love everything about them. Lots of whimsical designs and soft colors that don't come off as cheesy or brash. I filled this Ferris wheel up with candy necklace favors and sprinkled it liberally with kettlecorn.

Yes, that's my famous recipe for homemade kettlecorn. I wouldn't go to any self-respecting carnival without it. I even smuggle it into movie theaters, guys. I can't help myself. 

My daughter doesn't like cake. I know. She's weird. It's a family thing really. Both the weird part and the not liking cake bit. So we compromised on these carousel cake pops. I got a garland of pastel unicorns, cut them up and glued them onto cake pop sticks. These chocolate and vanilla cake pops are sprinkled with edible glitter because it's a celebration. 

Glitter is the entire point of a celebration. Or maybe confetti. One of those things.

Last but not least, we broke out the cotton candy machine. Yes, I have a cotton candy machine. I mean seriously- doesn't everyone? We went with lemon and made these big puffed swirls that looked like truffula trees. If you don't know what those are I'm gonna assume you're in the wrong place. 

We even invited a tattooed lady. JK. That's me. 

After the carnival of chaos, I mean celebration was over, I got to leave the confetti and kettlecorn on the floor for some else to clean up. Most cathartic thing ever. Highly recommend. 

Until next time friends, stay on the sweet side of life. 

Looking for more party inspiration? Visit A Sweet Little Life on Pinterest.