Lily's Birthday Carnival

The entrance to the house

Thanks to my mom for drawing the clown and Ingrid & Carl's mom for coloring it!

The carousel cake

When I started decorating this cake, I thought maybe I had bitten off more than I could chew. This was definitely my most ambitious cake to date, but the cake was very important to me because it was THE thing that Lily consistently talked about leading up to her birthday party. The bottom is two 11" scalloped funfetti cakes (chosen by Lily), then the carousel horse separators, followed by a 9" chocolate cake (Carl's choice), and a made-from-scratch vanilla round cake on top. All the decorations are edible cookies and candies.

The food table.

On the menu: mini hot dogs wrapped in bagels, chili, pumpkin bread, and apple slices with caramel dip.

The gift table


All guests picked up their tickets for the carnival games and their goodie bags from Angela, our greeter extraordinaire!

We had Lily's birthday party on Sunday to try to accommodate family in for the weekend and to take advantage of the waning summer-like weather. The weather couldn't have been better - sunny and in the 70s! We had such a fantastic time and were so happy with the entire event. In order for such a production to take place, many, many people pitched in. So, I have to take a moment to thank my dad for getting, putting up, taking down, and returning the tents that greatly added to the carnival atmosphere and for the delicious chili. Thanks to my mom for help in numerous ways including baking the homemade pumpkin bread and helping me in shopping trips leading up to the big day. Thanks to both my mom & Angela for watching Lily the day before the party so that Carl and I could finish up all the last-minute details. Thanks to Ingrid for the sugar cookies, caramel dip, tattoos, and occupying Lily before the party. Thanks to Ryan for a terrific job on a very difficult task, the balloon arch, and for manning the ping pong toss game. Thanks to Suzanne & Angela for all their help prepping and their enthusiasm in heading up the games! Truly, this party would not have been nearly the same without everyone's help. Thank you so much!!!!!