circus party

One of my favorite things about providing unique party supplies through fort & field has to be when I get to see them in action! Nancy, a fabulous customer who recently retired from a 20 year career in event planning and fundraising to stay at home with her family, coordinated the most amazing circus themed birthday party for her children who are 3 years and 1 day apart....Caroline turned 5 and Nolan turned 2. The circus theme was chosen so it would be appropriate for both boys and girls of all ages. The event was hosted in early October in their backyard under the trees. Throughout the event, a cute circus tent graphic was repeated on paper goods, labels and more. Nancy worked with Jessica of Pen and Paper Flowers to have this custom graphic created. Also throughout the party, fabric and paper in the Anna Griffin Riley circus print were used for the sign backgrounds, place mats, accents, dessert table backdrop, and for the custom birthday outfits worn by Caroline, Nolan and her niece Amelia. The outfits were custom made by Ellie Beans children clothing and are so adorable!...


As the children came to the backyard, they stopped first at an orange and white ticket booth made out of a wardrobe moving box. Bags were made with personalized labels with each child’s name using the circus tent graphic. The bags were great to hold their tickets but also to collect all of the prizes won throughout the day...


Games and activities included:

Duck, Duck, Match - Guests chose 2 ducks from the pond; if the #’s matched they won a prize...


Go Fish – Guests tried to toss a ping pong ball into one of the little glasses; they won a precious mini fish packaged in a bag of soap purchased from Brown Bag Bath Bars....


The Kissing Booth - Children estimated how many candy kisses were in a jar; the closest guess won a prize at the end of the party.

Lucky Boxes - Children chose a number from the candy jar which coordinated with a numbered, small blue box. Inside the box they found a prize or the message “try again”...


Gator Round Up - Everyone was given 3 rings to toss around the nose of a large toy gator. If the ring made it around the nose, they won a prize; if not, they could use more tickets to try again.

Oreo Stacking - Everyone stacked Oreos and registered the number they stacked before it tumbled down on a report card. A boy and girl winner was announced from the 2 highest stacks registered...


Prize boards were created by pinning an assortment of prizes in small cellophane bags with handmade, scalloped toppers to several boards throughout the stations...


There was also a caricaturist which was a huge hit!! Guests were so excited to have a caricaturist draw their pictures and the artist placed each drawing in a colorful folder customized with a circus themed “thank you” sticker to keep all of the art safe and clean...


No one went hungry during this party! For lunch, tables were placed under the trees. The birthday table had a beautiful white chandelier hanging from the branches which was draped with a variety of festive ribbons. On each table was a Ferris wheel centerpiece. Each place setting had a circus paper placemat (made from the Anna Griffin paper) with small gable boxes adorned with custom circus labels containing a box of Chick-Fil-A nuggets, puff-corn, and apple slices (Nancy worked with her local Chick-Fil-A and they delivered the nuggets to her home … a huge help!) The parents received box lunches which included gourmet chicken salad sandwiches served in nostalgic orange and white striped bags from fort & field, cups of fruit salad, a mini white bag with cheese straws, and a fork wrapped in an orange napkin tied with orange and white polka dot ribbon...


Nancy created an amazing dessert table and ice cream setup as well!...


Custom cupcake toppers from Two Sugar Babies were placed on a variety of flavored cupcakes (lemon, vanilla, chocolate, strawberry and orange crush). Guests chose from clown toppers, “N” toppers for Nolan, “C” toppers for Caroline, or they selected from the two cupcake towers which featured party circles Nancy made specific to Caroline and Nolan (initials, name and age). The table also featured adorable circus fondant animals purchased from LC Cakes, which were placed on Nolan and Caroline's personal cakes as well as on cupcakes that held special positions under a variety of mini glass domes.


The dessert table also featured mini bags of animal crackers with scalloped paper toppers, salt water taffy, chocolate circus tent suckers Nancy made with a “Happy Birthday” tag, dipped marshmallows (made by the birthday girl and mommy), boxes of popcorn with a custom label, and paper cones of caramel corn...




There were also itty, bitty, mini ice cream cones and for too small to handle a tiny cone, small cups were provided with multicolored plastic spoons purchased from fort & field...


The drink table was backed by paper pennants and featured pink and orange sugar cookies, more tent suckers, marinated cheeses (a huge favorite!), bottled water with custom labels Nancy made from the circus tent graphic by Pen and Paper Flowers, and orange and white striped paper straws from fort & field for sipping...


On all of the tables, selections were clearly marked using stainless steel place card holders purchased from fort & field...


During the event, little orange bags stuffed with cotton candy were passed out as guests played games...


To always keep the special day close, over 550 memories were captured by Tracy of Photography by Tracy. A table was also set up with a tree full of circus ornaments. Under the tree, guests were asked to sign circus-themed books for Caroline and Nolan’s library. Caroline’s book was Olivia Saves the Circus and Nolan’s the Disney classic Dumbo...


So amazing, right?! If you'd like to see even more photos of the party, visit Nancy's flickr set here.