A Birthday at the Big Top!!

Ariel turned 6 a little over a week ago, while I was away at Hearts at Home.  I had to wake up at 4:20, and left the house at 5am.  As hard as it was being gone on her actual birthday, I knew she was absolutely fine with her daddy and siblings, plus I would have plenty of opportunities to celebrate for her friend/cousin party and family party.  Plus, the night before I left (the eve of her birthday) we sung "Happy Birthday" and had some cake to top it off.  Here's some pictures from that night....

...on the day of her birthday, Neil took all the kids to the zoo, along with a special guest - Father Tom....

You know how much we LOVE birthdays and picking a theme for games, food, etc...  Ariel chose a CIRCUS themed party this year.  There were hundreds of ideas online, but having been gone 2 days prior to the party, I had made it as simple and stress-free as possible so that it was practical to pull off. 

Each guest received a popcorn bucket that included a clown nose, a hat, and a party blower.  And of course, every circus party needs a magician (Fone) and a clown (Mario)....

For game prizes, we had ice cream chalk, animal crackers, circus peanuts, and of course, cotton candy!  (I had a couple extra popcorn buckets, so I put the prizes in them)

Games/Activities....

1)  Pull the rabbit from the hat if you say the correct magic word.  Fone had a card for each girl and they had to read the word before performing the trick.  Some of the words were:  abracadabra, hocus pocus, and rango lango chango. 

 2)  Ring of Fire - Fone and Mario taped red and orange streamers on a hula hoop to make a Ring of Fire.  During the party, the girls took turns throwing a stuffed lion through the ring. 

3) Musical chairs - Neil found a circus mp3 off of amazon to be played for the party (and I think my neighbors loved it so much, we may just make it our jingle and play it all spring/summer long - hee, hee!).  I printed off circus coloring pages online and had the kids color them.  We cut them out, taped them to 6 chairs (since there were 6 girls at the party).  And, then we folded up pieces of paper to be drawn from a hat (that described each of the pictures on the chairs).  When the music stopped, whoever was sitting on the picture that Fone drew from the hat, received a prize.  Pretty simple and a lot less competitive than the normal musical chairs.  

 4)  Obstacle course - First, the girls had to ride a "clown car" (big wheel) to pick up a pie.  Second, they had to walk across the "tight rope" without dropping the pie.  Third, carry the pie on top of their head over to the clown.  And, finally, answer the clown's riddle. 

5) face painting - I had bought a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad  face painting kit.  It was less than $10, so I should have expected it.  After I had painted the girls' faces, they played outside and their hair blew in their oily goopey painted faces, and all of them asked if I could wipe it off.  Oh well!  So....  next time, I'll have to do some research and get nicer face paints.  Any suggestions??  Here's pictures of how they looked (from this not so very artsy face painter)....

5.  balloon animals - My wonderful, mother-in-law made a comment a few years back that it would really be neat to learn how to make balloon animals like the clowns did at a local run.  I can't really explain how my brain remembered (by God's grace!!), but as soon as Ariel decided on her theme, I knew I had to ask Grandma Jean to start working on her new talent.  And, let me tell you, the girls were all giggles and smiles when Grandma showed up with bags full of animals and then the pump and balloons to blow up more of them.  What a wonderful addition this was to the party!!

 
**And of course, cake and candles to top off the Big Top birthday party.  What a wonderful, blessed time it was to celebrate 6 years with our sweet, sunshiny daughter, Ariel!  

**We did have a second (more simple) party a week after the party at the Big Top - it was the family party (grandparents, aunts & uncles, cousins).  We save all the fun stuff and games for the friend party, because there are less attendees and that one is all about the birthday girl.  Here are some pictures from that party....