They're 5! We Gotta Have a Party!

What?? It feels like a short time ago, Glen and I received the news from our doctor that we would be having not one, but two babies! I walked around for the rest of that day in some sort of haze. It was like seeing double. I kept thinking "two, two cribs, two carseats. two." Other moms of multiples would smile and tell me the first few years would be a blur anyway. No doubt, year one and two were all about surviving with cuteness thrown in between. However, I have been gripping year 3 and 4 to no avail. They still turned 5 on me.

We decided that "5" calls for a real party - with friends and all. I came up with the theme when I happened upon red and white striped straws in our garage. A carnival. We would throw a mini-carnival. Easy, right? Says the girl who doesn't host parties. How hard could it be? I already had straws and a bouncy house!  Those of you who have done this before are smiling right now, aren't you?? And so the adventure began...

I spent a day and a half shopping around, while trying to remain frugral. It took an entire evening to ready decorations and games. And of course preparations began early and continued until guests arrived (even with the help of my mom!).

We had a prize basket,  a favor basket, jelly bean jars and rainbow lollipop jars to name of few things.

Sitting in our garage were 8 brown, medal folding chairs awaiting spray paint. Hey! Why not paint them the day before the party?? The colors totally go with the theme.  So we spent the day before cleaning up the yard AND spray painting folding chairs. My husband loves me. hehe

With little experience at hosting events, I'm afraid I was too busy to capture many pictures of the tables, etc. However,  my niece took over the role of photographer and captured memories of the kids at play. That's what really matters, right?

My sweet brother popped popcorn and stuffed individual bags. My hubby hung balloons in groups of 3 from the trees and we set out tables for our carnival/picnic food. NO PIC - BOO! There were corn dogs, deviled eggs, regular hotdogs, fruit, animal crackers, etc.

I wanted to turn our camper into a sideshow or freakshow. Glen nixed the idea and I ran out of time anyway. NEXT time!!