And the planning begins....

My son's birthday is 2 months away.  The clock is ticking.  Party planning now has to get kicked into high gear.  Expectations are high, and are weighing on me like a ton of bricks made of parental guilt and a healthy sense of competition.
I booked the venue in January. The theme is settled. Invitations have been ordered.  Now it's time to take care of the other details:  cake, candy, craft, entertainment, ponies (oh yes, ponies. It's time to really up my game!), favors, decorations....and the list goes on.
The actual party details will come later, once I have the photos of the actual party to share.  But now it's time to share last year's party.  I posted the 2nd birthday music party, and the 3rd birthday topped that with a Carnival theme.
Since Kevin's best bud has a birthday the day before his, and they had the same group of friends from daycare, we again split the party between the boys.  I am a firm believer in hosting the party at a venue or location that is NOT MY HOME.  The time saved to clean to get ready for the party, host the party, and then clean up after the party is well worth the cost to rent.  In that vein of thought, I rented a fire hall for the carnival. 
Entertainment for a 3 year-old's party is key, so then began the search for a magician.  After reading reco's from mom's groups and doing some interviews, that was decided.  Maximizing on the out-sourcing theme, I also hired the magician to do cotton candy, face painting, and balloon animals.  They also brought a candy card for the kiddos to fill up their favor bags.

 

Waiting in line for the Balloon Animals after the Magic Show

 

 Face (or arm, in Kevin's case) painting

 Making selections from the candy cart

The Magician and his assistants

The magician also brought all of the balloons, which we used as centerpieces. I also made some fun candy-themed centerpieces for the tables.  The tables were decorated with red, blue, and yellow table clothes.  We put banners and flags up on the walls in the same primary colors. 

Upon entering the party room, guests were given a bag for prizes, a clown nose, and a box of animals crackers. 

 
The kids them took the bags to the carnival games we had set up.  Each game had a prize bucket, where the kids could help themselves after they won.  These prizes were our favor bags.

 Clown ball toss with rainbow mini-frisbees for prizes

 Ring Toss with Carnival Finger puppets as prizes

 Carnival bean bag toss with blow up mini-beach balls for prizes

 Pitchin' Chickens (toss a rubber chicken in the tub) with carnival big top sippy cups for prizes. 

 Grab a Duck game with carnival themed rubber duckies for prizes. 

Plinko with pinwheels for prizes. 

Besides the candy cart, we did serve a full meal for the kiddos and their parents.  We tried to keep it as carnival themed as possible with chicken fingers, mini hot dogs, hot pretzels, corn on the cob, sausage & peppers, and perogies. 

We also had chocolate milk and juice boxes for the kids. Along with soda, water, and some "adult carnival beverages."

Finally, we get to the crowning moment of a birthday party: the cake.  Rather than having to deal with cutting a cake for 70 guests, we went with cupcakes for everyone, and small 8 inch cakes for each of the birthday boys to blow out their candles.

Of course, we decorated everything with the primary colors and carnival theme.

It was such a fun party theme to have, and the birthday boys LOVED every minute of their party.  With such a great success, I hope you can understand why I have started to plan the 4th birthday celebration months in advance!