Come to the Carnival!!

Last weekend, we celebrated Faith's 3rd Birthday with a big Birthday Carnival! Since we are in the midst of our debt payoff, I did the Carnival on a very limited budget. But I really wanted to throw an awesome party that was all about Faith because the couple of weeks before her birthday was going to be all about TicTac. I started planning in May and asking friends, family, and even strangers off Craigslist to donate items that we'd need. For food, I waited until things went on sale at Safeway and Lucky's for 10 for $10, and most of my decor came from the Dollar Store or the used plastic table cloths that I snagged from Vacation Bible School, that were otherwise just going to be thrown away!

My total cost, for a party of 55(ish) people, including games, prizes, decorations, and lunch, was $50! You read that right... $50. I rock. And so did the party. :)

Faith helped frost her birthday cupcakes with Gram!

Explaining one of the games to Papa since he would be the one facilitating that one.

Setting up the 3 games, Bean Bag Toss, Gone Fishing, and Kick Bowling.

The Bean Bag Toss board was on loan from my friend Melissa, who I went to High School with, and threw a Carnival Party for her 2-year old. My other friend, Emily, graciously made my the cutest little bean bags for the kids to toss. If they even tried to play the game, they got a gold coin as their prize.

For Gone Fishin', the kids went "fishing" over the wall and were given small bags of Goldfish crackers as their prize.

Kick Bowling consisted of 6 empty Coffeemate containers (I'd been saving them since May!), and a Nerf soccerball we've had since last summer. The kids won a gold coin after playing this game.

The gold coins could then be taken to the Prize Booth and they could choose from things like Ring Pops, Bouncy Balls, Sidewalk Chalk, Silly Straws, or candy bracelets as their prize (all bought at The Dollar Store). Each kid also got a couple stickers and a box of Crayola Crayons, donated by Faith's Godmother, Ali.

The Happy Birthday Banner was donated by my friend Michelle, who had it left form her son's 1st birthday party last year. We also had a ton of Organic Juices given to me by my mom, as well as filtered water in large glass carafes. I just used my Brita pitcher to fill those up, instead of spending a ton of money on bottled water.

Auntie Lizz made Faith a very special birthday dress! We got to go to the fabric store and pick out the pattern and the fabric. It came out even cuter than I had imagined! The icing on the cake was the fact that Faith let me put her hair in cute pigtails and use the special hairbows Auntie Lizz made to match. She looked sooooo cute!!

Auntie Ali bought this super cute pinata for the party too!! She filled it with fruit snacks, and all the kids got a chance to whack on it. A few times. And then a little more. That sucker just wouldn't break! We had Daddy take a couple big swings and finally got it open.

Popcorn bags bought at The Dollar Store.

Auntie Lizz put temporary Tattoos on the kids. They were a BIG hit! By the end of the day, Faith had at least 7 tats on her arms.

The super cute Bean Bag Toss board!

Faith, munching on her birthday cupcake.

Thanks to everyone who donated items! We had a BLAST at the party and I know Faith felt very special so many people came to celebrate her special day. Thanks to Daddy, who thought to take pictures of the "booths" when I was running around trying to get everything set up. Thanks to Auntie Lizz for taking pictures of the dress (and for making it, duh!). And thanks to Michelle, from whom I stole some of these pictures from ;)