Carnival Party Decorations

Yesterday, I shared with you the carnival party I threw for my two little boys.  You can read about it here.  Today, I thought I would share some of the decorations I used to create the carnival atmosphere and point you in the direction of some great online resources for your carnival/circus themed events.

I first got the idea for a carnival party from the Klapper Cirkus range of kid’s toys at Ikea.  We had the circus tent set up in the front yard.

 

And I had a selection of ringmaster and jester hats and  clown hand puppets for the kids to play with. You can view these online here.

 

I also had a selection of different sized Ikea Nyttja  frames which I filled with free, carnival-inspired printables from Pink Zebra Lounge.  There were some great food ones.  I loved the hot dogs one for our food buffet and the lemonade one for our drinks table.

 

Ikea also inspired me with their candy striped Christmas wrapping paper.  I used it most importantly as an easy clean tablecloth for the kid’s table.  To add a bit of height and interest to the dessert table’s focal point, the ferris wheel cupcake holder, I covered a box in this wrapping paper for the wheel to sit on.  You can see I also did this for the water urn in the picture above.

I used cardboard bunting to decorate the front fence and above the food table.  I printed the boy’s names on some of the bunting in a carnival style font.  You can download a gazillion different carnival font for free to make your signs and invitations.  One of the better sites is Font Space.

If you are in Australia, you can pick up this bunting in most variety shops these days, along with a whole host of matching decorations and tableware for your carnival parties.

I created my own backdrop for the dessert table with some fabric I bought on sale at my local haberdashery.  I just bought a length of light, narrow timber from my local hardware, luckily it was the same length as my table.  I used a staple gun to attach the material along the length and fishing line to hang it from my window that sat behind the table.  You could create your own backdrop in a similar manner, or try covering a painting canvas or foam sheets which you can then prop up on the table.  I was happy to buy material as I have a use for it after the event, but for a less expensive option, buy some wrapping paper to do this.

I purchased invitations, gift boxes and the like before I came across a fantastic site for free printables.  Catch My Party has a whole range of circus party printables including banners, water bottle and chocolate bar wrappers.  I printed this great sign and my food labels for the table.

 

Pumpkin Petunia also has a range of cute free circus printables.  I am thinking that this thank you card will get used by me.

 

There is a massive range of carnival/circus printables available for purchase online on sites like Etsy.  Most are affordable and adorable, giving your party a real cohesive feel.  Some of my favourites you can find here and here.

I had such fun putting together this party.  If you take the time to do a little internet surfing, you will fall in love with the idea of a carnival/circus party just like I did.  The inspiration out there is endless and I wish I could have jammed more ideas into this little party.

 

 

Christmas Planner

3 months until Christmas!!!!!!

I love the Christmas season.  What I love just as much, is planing  for our Christmas. 

School returning in September marked the start of my Christmas planning.  Each year I would fill dozens of pages with doodles of craft projects, shopping lists, food ideas and promptly lose them, re-draft them, lose them, etcetera, etcetera.   While I had fun daydreaming  and bouncing around with ideas, it mostly ended up being a waste of time.

I contemplated using a planner last year as I followed various bloggers who swore by them,  but pregnancy and a newborn put a stop to that. 

Flash forward to this year and I read Cassadiva’s post on her Christmas planner.  Immediately, organisation and stationery envy was awakened.  Then I saw  Lovely Living’s  free Christmas Planner Printable with the cute owl motif and I was sunk. 

The pages were printed and the planner compiled before I even had time to think about what I was doing.

I love that the whole thing is only A5  size.  It is far from overwhelming and I can easily slip it into my bag when I am out and about over the holiday season.

It has templates for card and gift giving, crafting, baking, menus, traditions and calendars,  just to name a few. Everything to keep me organised!

My hope is that this makes my Christmas  planning more streamlined but keeps the process fun and un-chore like.  I would love to hear  about your experiences of using a Christmas Planner.  Do you find them helpful?

Free Printable – Days of the Week Clothes Tags

Having a newborn makes leaving the house on time, and without stress, difficult.  One of the things I tripped up on was clothing.  I have never been one to do ironing or choose an outfit in advance and this has meant many a morning running frantically between cupboards and the laundry to prepare outfits for the me and the kids.

In the last few months I have endeavoured to iron all the kids clothes in advance and hang coordinated outfits in their cupboards ready to go.  Ever the teacher, I looked for a way to  turn this organisational task into a learning experience for my 3-year-old.   He is very interested in the days of the week so I created clothes tags that had his name and the days of the week printed on them.

After my ironing on a Monday I choose the boys’ outfits for the week and slip on a tag.

Every morning I see if Master O knows what day it is and we find the appropriate tag and outfit.  He is already beginning to recognise the written words.

 The whole process has sped up the morning routine and I am loving having one less thing to worry about come time to leave the house.

FREE PRINTABLE

If you would like a digital copy of these clothes tags which you can then customise for your family, here is what you do…..

1. Either ‘like’ There Was a Crooked House on Facebook or subscribe to updates via email on the blog’s sidebar

2. Drop a quick email to therewasacrookedhouse@gmail.com to say you have done this and I will send you a return email with the free printable attached. Easy!