Red Gate Farm: a baby shower, circus style

This past Saturday was another shower I co-hosted. ?The shower was at my sister's home, but I took over was responsible for the decorating. ?Perhaps you remember my vintage inspired baby shower a couple of years ago or my daughter's wedding shower last summer... if you know me, then you know that I'm a "theme" girl and this one was not different. ?The theme of course was "circus"... with a bit of carnival and zoo thrown in for good measure. ?Getting all the goods to my sister's house was a bit of a challenge... my little Honda Civic was loaded to the roof with all the stuff I hauled over there!

I forgot to take a picture of the invites. ?I ordered them from Paper Coterie so I was able to send myself a copy, except that the actual invites weren't just rectangular... they were all curvy... and very cute! ?Notice the font was even a circus poster kind of font and the colors helped set the stage for the shower decorations.

Since starting the planning last fall, I've been collecting vintage items at the thrift store, garage sales and antique stores. ?This cute little animal cracker tin was just pennies at the thrift store and the little vintage clown heads are tissue Christmas ornaments found at a local antique store. ?The pale aqua folding chair is child sized and I've had it for a number of years... I like to use it for a bit of height. ?The ticket rolls were ordered from my new favorite party supply store...

A couple of boxes of animal crackers were a must... along with salt water taffy and some vintage ticket bundles.

I found some vintage looking soda pops at my local grocery store...

And no circus themed anything would be?complete?without popcorn! ?We filled vintage styled popcorn bags with caramel corn.

One of the recipes I found on Pinterest was for crock pot hot chocolate. ?So with this still being February and technically winter I wanted to have a hot chocolate bar! ?Toppings like shaved chocolate, mini chocolate chips, chocolate covered marshmallows and of course... plenty of whipped cream!

The other beverage option was lemonade... no trip to the circus would be without lemonade, right? ?We had strawberry and raspberry syrup in case the guests like their lemonade with a bit of extra flavor.

And you just KNEW that there would be paper straws.... right? ?And this little framed photo was just downloaded from the internet... the frames were just inexpensive plastic frames from Ikea. ?We used red, green and white although the red and green may only be available for the Christmas holidays....

The food was fun and finger sized....

Of course, once again I forgot to photograph the food table with the actual food in place! ?But we had?Chinese?chicken salad in white takeout boxes, mini quiche, stuffed mushrooms, pizza puffs (also found on Pinterest and delicious) and veggies with dip.

Vintage styled party hats, tickets, suckers and candy sticks were?strewn?across the table as well.

The guests enjoyed the food and the games. ?The game books were a big hit with everyone!

As were the prizes, of course!

And after all the games, prizes and lunch? ?Well treat time too. ?Mini plain white cupcakes frosted with orange, lemon and root beer frosting.

Mini low fat cheesecake cups and mini frosted brownie bites... both topped with a slice of fresh strawberry. ?A super cute small, gauzy, bunting edged circus looking tent from Ikea's kids section really spotlighted the desert table.

And no party of mine would be complete with out my fantastic sugar cookies! ?Sprinkled with little multi colored sprinkles.

Am I making you hungry for sweets yet?

But really... the stars of the day were these two little angels. ?My nephew, Carson, on the left and my cousin's son, Nash, on the right. ?Still so tiny, cuddly and sleepy!

There's nothing like the smell of a little baby.... and it was a fabulous day!

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Source: http://redgatefarmcuster.blogspot.com/2013/02/a-baby-shower-circus-style.html

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