Jo Jo's Circus -2yr- Rented Cotton Candy & Popcorn

I threw a Jo Jo's Circus party for my two year-old daughter.  For the invitation I filled an old-fashion red and white striped popcorn box (found on ebay) with real popcorn (I used bagged popcorn so it would stay fresh longer.) and stuck the invitation inside.  The invitation was in a zip-lock bag. 

The invataion said Jo Jo's circus is coming to town.  "It's someones birthday can you guess who?  It's Haven the Clown and she's turning two!!  Appearing One Day Only:  Saturday, May 14th At the Smith Family Circus:  123 Beverly Street Show Time:  3:00 pm  4:00 pm Don’t Clown Around!  R.S.V.P. to the Ringmaster:  913-555-5555.  I created an address label with Jo Jo's picture on the left and my daughters name and address on the right.  I stuck them on the box.  I put play money inside to be redeemed at the party for tickets.  We hand delivered the invitations. 

Decorations were kept simple because the bulk of the budget was spent on rented cotton candy and popcorn machines, but we did purchase a helium tank and put balloons everywhere.  As each guest arrived they were handed a party hat to wear.  I had several styles to choose from.  They were also given tickets, whether or not they remembered their play money from the invitation.  Once inside, they had several things to do.  I had six stations set up. 

Pin the nose on the clown, sucker pull, guess how many cookies in the jar, face painting, cotton candy, popcorn, and I made a clown face cut-out and took each child's picture so they looked like a clown.  I used these pictures to personalize each thank you card which I sent using amazingmail.com.  The cotton candy and popcorn were the real thing, it smelled like a circus at our house!! 

I created a Jo JO cake since there is no pan for her yet, it was so cute.  I used two round cakes I left one whole for her face and cut the other one for her hair and hat.  I even put the little red ball on her hat.  I used fondant for her smooth white face and used frosting to pipe on her eyes, nose and mouth.  She's a very easy character to draw.  For the children I make cupcakes that looked like clowns using sugar cones for the hat and little fluffs of cotton candy for the hair on the sides. 

The goodie bags were made using a miniature tin pails found at the dollar section at Target.  I filled them with clown related things including circus crackers, a clown watch, and a red sponge nose.  I bought clown masks from US Toy and wrapped them around each pail and then personalized the mask with each child's name. 

The table looked so cute with the JO Jo cake in the middle, the cupcakes surrounding the cake and the goodie pails around the edges.  Several weeks before the party I bought a chair at a garage sale for $5.00.  I painted it bright red, painted "Haven the Clown" on it and on the seat of the chair I painted Jo JO's face. 

My daughter sat in the chair when she blew out her candles and opened her presents.  She loves that chair and sits/plays with it every day.  She also wore a Jo Jo t-shirt that I got her on e-bay. 

The party lasted exactly an hour.  My husband ran the cotton candy machine and we made popcorn right before everyone got there.  It was a great turn out and I got tons of complements afterwards.