Anton's Carnival Birthday Party

When this sweet eight year old was turning three...we planned a Carnival Bday Party (inspiration here).

Not only did it rain, however. IT POURED.

So this weekend, years later...we did a redo.

And what did the forecast call for this weekend?

Rain.

Every day for the next week, in fact.

But we hit our knees hard and prayed like crazy. And The Lord smiled down on Anton, giving him a gloriously beautiful afternoon.

Most of the decorations are from five years ago at my last attempt at this party.

But some, like this adorable farris wheel cupcake holder are new.

Strangely enough he didn't want cake, but instead asked for root beer floats, so I just used it for pretzels.

Hot dogs were served, along with fruit, veggies + dip...

...and lots of popcorn and pretzels, too

(which our dog is still eating off the grass + patio).

I'm a sucker for cute tableware so I was excited to put the ketchup and mustard in these darling holders.

Gold + pops of color? Condiments never looked better.

We invited whole families over, I always love getting to know our kids parents and siblings better.

And to entice the parents to stay...I made sure there was a bucket of adult drinks available.

Because truly.

If you've ever been to a crazy kid-party...you know these type of beverages are a must. haha.

I'll share the recipe to this yummy grown-up slushy later in the week.

They were SO good.

Sweet Anton made this ticket holder himself from a leftover box from Costco.

He even tied a jack-rope to it so he could hang the box from around his neck like he was selling soda at a baseball game, or something.

It wasn't exactly the look I was going for, but since he worked so hard on it (and was beyond proud of his invention), you know I couldn't put it away.

Just love that kid.

As for our patio table, I used wrapping paper as table runner (per usual).

I taped a long strand of tickets to the edges as a border, to give it another pop of color.

Those adorable pinwheels have made it through multiple moves and multiple uses...I first made them four years ago for Laith's second birthday (which was a Vintage Toy theme).

Aren't they so fun??