Hazel's Birthday Carnival

For Hazel's fourth birthday we threw a carnival. It was a ton of fun.

Hazel and all her friends.

The cotton candy fizzled in the humidity and heat.

But the snow cones were a hit. (It was in the 90's.)

There were lots of games. The kids won tickets to get prizes at the prize booth.

We had a Kerplunko game (kind of like Plinko from Price is Right.)

A bounce house.

Bean bag toss.

Shoot-the-ball-off-the-peg-with-a-water-gun game.

Sponge toss at Isaac. (I think he was the only non-sweaty-and hot person in attendance.) He LOVED this job and was a really good sport. Other games were clothespin drop, tattoos, and knock over the tin cans.

Aspen and her friends were a big help. The kids loved picking prizes.

Hazel's cake was fun. I made her a smaller one and gave all the guests cupcakes (it was easier than having the kids try to eat cake on a plate with a fork on a blanket in the grass).

This was the funniest part of the day:

I set the cake on the table after she blew out the candles. But it melted and all the frosting started sliding down before I could get it in the house. It was still yummy.

Other notes: all the fabrics were samples from the As-Is bin at IKEA and I got them dirt cheap! Best bargain ever. And really helped contribute to the carnival atmosphere in the back yard.

Thanks to great friends for lending me the snow cone machine, cotton candy machine, bounce house, kerplunko, bean bag toss, and the shade canopy. They really hooked us up!

Also thanks to Nate, my kids, Aspen's friends, and my friends, Keri and Leslie, for helping out during the party. I couldn't have done this without all their help.