...is the process by which we create, discover, learn and grow with those we cherish most.

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noah turns 4 - vintage carnival to celebrate

The 2nd biggest party of the year, for us, was Noah turning 4 on Saturday. I was inspired by so many creative party ideas posted online - with over-the-top tables, backdrops and favors...  the ideas are quite literally endless! Trying to squeeze in some creative planning and brainstorming between "it" all, may not have resulted in the picture-perfect tablescapes like I had imagined in my mind - but, the party was  - and in every essence.

There's something more nostalgic and special to me when things are homemade, re-purposed, and brought to life with the helping hands of family and friends whose every intention is to make it special for the birthday boy and the little people in our lives. It reminds me so much of my childhood - where parties were homegrown, there was always something "else" happening in the background, and everything simply went with the family flow...

Here's a snapshot of what we all pulled together for a vintage carnival party honoring our Noah, who turned the big 4!
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A banner sign that matched the party invitations, welcomed guests at the door...

Noah's 4th Birthday

Mom arrived early to help us set up our "olde time carnival" lunch, and before guests arrived, more than 100 balloons hit the ceiling throughout the house...

Noah's 4th Birthday

The food table:

Noah's 4th Birthday

My sweet flea-market find a few weeks ago of an old carousel made it to the center of the table - holding the condiments for the hot dogs. Other menu items included curly fries, nachos with queso, meatballs skewered with cherry tomatoes, chicken pesto wraps and fruit and watermelon trays.

Noah's 4th Birthday

The chicken pesto wraps {Barefoot Contessa recipe} is one of my favorites. These delicious wraps were held together with cute toothpicks donning sparkly fuzz balls. A last minute thought on how to decorate the food table came to me when I saw the underside of the cupcake liners, which read beautifully for the occasion:

Noah's 4th Birthday

Plastic baskets lined with paper, plates, queso {which had to be kept warm}, stood by on the side table - including a handful of clown noses!

Noah's 4th Birthday

On the other side of the food table, we made a self-serve drink station and served ice tea and lemonade. Mason jars {big and small} with daisy cut lids was my personal way of tipping off my hat to "olde time" - including red and white striped paper straws. {I love how they are biodegradable!}

Noah's 4th Birthday

Noah's 4th Birthday

The front yard hosted our carnival midway, which kicked off the party at noon. Here a bounce house with balls and bubbles entertained the kids, as well as games {basketball, ring toss, can toss...} earned the kids tickets to later redeem for prizes {Ava and Noah's favorite part}.
Noah's 4th Birthday

Noah's 4th Birthday

Noah's 4th Birthday

Spin-a-Prize - we made number "4" the winning number for 10 tickets...
Noah's 4th Birthday

Noah's 4th BirthdayNoah's 4th Birthday

Prizes were fun to gather. Remember ice-cream shooters? We also had slinkys, mini-beach balls, pin wheels, erasers and small toys.
Noah's 4th Birthday

After an hour, we filled up on carnival fare...

Noah's 4th Birthday

Noah's 4th Birthday

followed by a midway of confectionery treats...

Noah's 4th BirthdayNoah's 4th Birthday

Noah's 4th Birthday

Aaron made pink cotton candy while Aunt Roshana made sno cones for all the kids...

Noah's 4th Birthday

Noah's 4th Birthday

After food, games and treats, we sat down to take in a show! A "last-minute" idea {because I'm notorious for procrastinating}, Cindie, the Event Manager of DFW Kids Parties and Events, helped pull some strings and coordinate the perfect entertainer for our event, which made it extra special...

Noah's 4th Birthday

"Topper", the comedic-magician, had Noah and the kids brimming with excitement, attention and laughter. The kids gravitated closer and closer to him - wanting to participate in everything he pulled out of his suitcase and bags of tricks. He did an amazing job with this young {and older} group!

Noah's 4th Birthday

Noah's 4th BirthdayNoah's 4th Birthday

Noah's 4th Birthday

Noah's 4th Birthday

Noah's 4th Birthday

Some of the kids put on clown noses to pose... even Zoe our dog made it into the group picture!

TopperwKids

After the show, we got ready to help the birthday boy blow out his candles... Mom made a home-made double layer vanilla and chocolate cake with butter cream frosting. Between cars and trains - Noah's 2 favorite things, I found a vintage animal train on Etsy - for the cake topper. The flag bunting {I literally sewed together that morning} was like the cake was having a party of its own - I couldn't have been more pleased with how it all turned out! Aaron also baked a dozen rainbow cupcakes for the kids...  which we served with strawberry milk!

Noah's 4th Birthday

Noah's 4th Birthday



































And then the most magical moment {at least for me} came, when we sang "Happy Birthday" to Noah, who fixed his eyes on me, too shy to look up - and at that moment, I exploded with so much joy - feeling so thankful and blessed with the gift of his life...

Noah's 4th Birthday

Noah's 4th Birthday

Noah's 4th Birthday

Noah's 4th Birthday

_MG_2510

After wards, we headed outdoors again. Even though I flooded the day with lots of sweets, I couldn't break the birthday tradition of opening a pinata!

Noah's 4th Birthday

Noah's 4th Birthday

Children left with their goody-bags of prizes and candy, and a "thank you prize"... of a fish in a bag! Reminiscent to winning a goldfish at the carnival - these were actually bags of vegan extra clear glycerin soap with vinyl fishes inside made to look like they're swimming!

Carnival tins I had collected over the years, held more than 75 cake pops, candied in our vintage carnival colors, for our friends and family to take home and enjoy {red velvet cake with cream cheese frosting!} This was the first time I had ever made these sweet phenomenons {and perhaps the night before the party wasn't a good idea since it took 5 hours and 30 trials} but my sweet tooth {and party guests} would perhaps confess... they were worth it!

Noah's 4th Birthday



















We had a lot of fun creating an "Olde Time Carnival" at home. What made it extra memorable for Aaron and I, was how involved Ava and Noah were throughout the planning process. From driving around town looking for red and white twine, to store-hopping, assembling invitations and even dipping cake pops at 1am, they each contributed in their own special way, making this very much a "carni" family celebration... where laughter, hard work and insanity... are inseparable.


Noah's 4th Birthday

11 comments:

  1. Your did a gooooorgeous job. Excellent!!!

    Your boy looks so happy. He is so handsome. You look happy too. Congratulations and Happy Birthday to your little one.

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  2. You are soo sweet Giozi - thank you so much. Noah really had a blast - when I asked him what his favorite part about the party was, he said, "all of it!" :) Thank you for the birthday wishes and compliments! xo

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  3. This is one of the most amazing things I have seen in a very long time. Every accent and every detail to the core blew my mind. You are tremendously talented, and cannot wait to take home some of these ideas! You are an awesome mother, and party planner :)

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  4. What a wonderful party! Your cleverness is truly amazing.

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  5. Lots of brilliant and wonderful ideas! Don't you just love Cindie? They are awesome. I think you may have inspired me for a future party. Would love to know how you did the daisy cut toppers for the mason jars!

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  6. It turned out wonderful! We have my kids combined party next weekend.' western theme! I love your idea of using mason jars. Just yesterday I was at the store picking up the plates, cups and utensils and opted for some small paper cups versus largemplastic because I figured they are at least biodegradable, but I still left withthis uneasy feeling about getting them. Well, thanks to your post I am returning them and using all of my canning mason jars!!! I can't believe I hadn't thought of that before! Btw- where did you get the straws? Pretty cool they are paper and not plastic.

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  7. Thank you Bianca! Yes - Cindie is so great to work with. We coordinated Cinderella through her for Ava's party too. She was really great about finding exactly what we wanted - aka I didn't want a "clown" with a painted face, nor balloon artists... etc...

    The daisy cut lids... clever no? I just fell in love with this idea I came across from party blogs. My google search turned up an online company called Peak Candles - you can buy the mason jars {by the dozen for less than $1 a piece with whatever lid you prefer, and this was an option. I love how these fit perfectly for the straws. I ordered them that week, and they delivered just in time for the party. All in all, I was really impressed by all the online companies I ordered from. I've hyperlinked the sources in the post. Thanks so much!

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  8. Thanks so much Lisa! I can't wait to see your western theme! I may have to do that one next seeing as how we are from Texas {hee-hee}. Definitely return the plastic stuff. Mason jars you can keep and reuse forever and for any occasion. That's how I justified the new expense :) The straws - you'll see them all over Etsy selling by the handfuls, but I found a great deal on CanDoChefs - I hyperlinked the company's website in the post. They may not be "perfectly red" like those on Etsy - but you get 500 of them - again, can be used well after the party. We love straws - but I've always resented buying plastic ones. This is the best thing ever! I didn't know how it would hold up in liquid for so long - but they do! They also come in a variety of colors, strips or polka-dots! Thanks Lisa - and good luck next weekend!

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  9. Michelle GarzaSunday, May 29, 2011

    I think this is the most spectacular birthday party I've ever seen. Where do you find the time? You pulled off, perfectly, in 3 weeks what would have taken me a year...and STILL not be done as well. Incredible.

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  10. Michelle - you are too kind! Thank you so much my dear for the generous compliments. To be honest, this is an example of "not having time" and wishing I had more of it to do all the things that were dreamt up in my head. Like the banner for the cake - made at 6am, and my hands were shaking because I felt like I was running out of time - there was still so much to do! Needless to say, I pulled 2 {or was it 3?} all-nighters in a row - and still, I was "running." Funny... family and friends were telling me I should go into event planning, but I quickly shot that idea down. I think its because this is for my own kids that makes me work so hard, and am afraid, won't have the same passion or energy for others. Shameful I know... :) XOXO

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  11. For the record, i was not trying to steal the kids candy in the pinata picture - Hamzah was laying on the ground and i was trying to deflect the candy from hitting him in the face.

    (i might have escaped with some smarties in the process though)

    Each time a birthday or holiday rolls around in our house, you can guarantee that Zarlacht will start planning months in advance. I think sometime in January she told me something about a carnival theme for Noah's birthday. I thought she was confused and maybe was thinking he was born in March - but soon afterwards we started receiving boxes in the mail. She does not mess around! Every detail was planned for - if something wasn't done, it wasn't for lack of planning. It was just because there weren't enough minutes in the day to finish everything. 2 nights prior, we both pulled all-nighters. The night before, delirium set in for me and i had to take a few hours of power napping - but Zarlacht never quit.

    I think she might be a robot....





    ....or maybe just a really really really good mommy.

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Thanks for sharing - I will respond to your comment here as well so check back! xo

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