Another Birthday Boy

{I apologize if you've stopped by here this week and found a big disaster. We've been busy with birthdays and holidays (yes, more than one of them) and days off school, and all sorts of things that I want to blog about. And then blogger decided this would be a good time to get ornery about loading pictures. I'm hoping to get caught up soon. Here's the post I started 2 weeks ago.}

 We leave no time for boredom to creep in or dust to settle at our house in November. We're usually still finishing up leftover cake from boy #1 when it's time to celebrate another boy. I usually try to vary who has a 'big' party (meaning they might get to invite a friend or two) with who has a 'just family' party. This is all done in favor of my fleeting sanity! A few years we've even done a joint party but apparently they don't really count.

This year it was Reagan's turn to have some friends over. Turning 6 is pretty important. We decided on a Carnival theme. I've been wanting to do that one for a long time! I might have had more fun than the kids did. There is just a ton of things you can do and most of them are really quite simple and inexpensive.

The Menu: We simply had to do supper, so many food options that fit the theme. I invited the guests for a "light supper," because, as I told my husband, "that sounded better than we're just having junk food."

Ideally this would be an outdoor party so there would be plenty of room for the games but since my children's birthdays are in November and January that didn't seem all that ideal after all. So I removed as many spiders and dust piles from our old basement as I could and set up the games down there.

I love the challenge of finding a cake to go with the theme and it's usually fun to make them but I new better than to try to pull off a carousel cake which was about the only idea I could find online. I opted for cupcakes instead and they turned out super fun. (Bonus: they were e.a.s.y. p.e.a.s.y.) I ordered the clown picks online, $3 for a dozen, and used circus peanuts for some and mini marshmallows (cut) with yellow sugar, to look like popcorn, for the rest.

I had salvaged a bunch of cardboard with no idea what I would do with it at the time. I used it to paint all the little signs. My husband laughed at me and my junk hoarding but admitted later that it all turned out pretty cool. And once again we have my 2 best friends, cheap and easy! I threw in some balloons and red and yellow streamers to complete the transformation from dining room to circus tent.

  
On his actual birthday (the party was a day late) he chose cheeseburgers and fries for dinner. "White french fries with vinegar, lots of vinegar!" Silly boy gets frustrated when I make sweet potato fries because he likes the ones with vinegar better.

 {wearing the birthday king hat he got at school}

And the photo shoot of my Handsome Six Year Old.

 Love that Boy!