Emilia's 3rd Birthday Party!

To celebrate Emilia's 3rd birthday, we invited her friends for a Birthday Carnival in our backyard :)

I started to feel like I may have been a little over ambitious planning a birthday party at our house for 20+ just 5 weeks after Olivia was born, but OF COURSE, we pulled it off thanks all the help I had from my parents and my crafty friend Susan!

I had come up with the idea of a Birthday Carnival a couple months before Emilia's birthday and gathered ideas online for decorations and the games we could set up to keep the kids entertained. I bought colorful beach buckets for each of the kids to collect the prizes they got after they took their turn at each game. I decided last minute (literally, that afternoon while Emilia was napping before the party) to make some rainbow cupcakes for the occasion. We were just going to have a sundae stand where the kids got to put whatever toppings they wanted onto a scoop of Neapolitan ice cream, but Emilia had been to a birthday party that morning where there weren't any cupcakes and she expressed some concern about there being no cupcakes at the party... I HAD to make sure the birthday girl had the cupcakes she SO desired at her own party that afternoon, so my Dad and I worked together to make some pretty great rainbow cupcakes for the girl :)

Emilia was still in a deep sleep when her first guest arrived, so I tried to wake her up gently, hoping to not have a crabby birthday girl. I changed her into her birthday dress and brought her to the backyard to show her the transformation that had taken place while she was sleeping. It was a great day, which we were very thankful for since all the fun was dependent on being outside! The games we had set up were...

Water Balloon Toss

Jeff completed this game with a cute clown face on the bucket cut out while I was doing the cupcakes. He decided we need to increase the challenge and excitement of the game and I think it did just that :) It was so fun to watch the kids faces while they threw the water balloons towards the bucket.

Go Fish
The kids used a little fishing net to collect 3 ducks that were floating around in the pool.

Pin the Tail on the Donkey
I was pretty sure these 3 year olds weren't going to love being blindfolded, and I was right. There was only one kid that complied with the bandana being tied around their eyes. We just made sure they were nice and dizzy and lead the to the donkey while reminding them to "keep your eyes closed!"

Bean Bag Toss

They all lined up for their turn at the bean bag toss. Emilia had been practicing this one, so she was excited to show off her skills! Everyone had their own technique...some walked right up and dropped them into the holes while others were very persistent, retrieving every bean bag that missed and re throw it until it got into the right spots.

Tattoo Booth

The kids got to pick out a couple tattoos for their arms and got a Pixie Stick once they were on :) You can't be a true Carnie without a couple tattoos.

Sundae Stand + Rainbow Cupcakes

After a meal of hot dog, baked beans, chips, watermelon the kids got to build their own sundaes! They loved the sundae stand set up at just the right height to really scoop on the toppings. Once everyone had their dessert, we sang Happy Birthday to Emilia. She just sat there smiling, looking out at everyone singing to her. It was adorable to see her just loving the moment.

After cupcakes it was time for presents and lots of running around the yard to burn off the sugar! There's just nothing cuter :)

Many thanks to everyone for being there to celebrate! It isn't a party without friends to share it with!