A Vintage Carnival by Love, Paper, Paint

When my friend, Katie posted about her sons’ combined birthday parties, I was blown away. I know that she and her sisters put on RAD parties but the latest “Vintage Carnival” party was over-the-top! The best thing is this was all a DIY job and it looks like everyone had fun. Katie is an artist who works primarily with invitation design and decorative painting. So you can expect that anything she does will have that special touch to it.

There were so many details in the party that she had to make separate posts to feature them all. Here are some highlights and you can hop on over to Love, Paper, Paint to see the rest.

Photos by Lot116 Photography (unedited shots) and H3 Photography (vintage edit).

Let’s start off with the invitations…

Talk about over-the-top—Isn’t this just awesome? This was just a taste of what was to come. Check out the pennant bunting at the top of the invite and the spinning game in the center! Wow.

Next the decor:

I love the colors. Katie had a lot of help from family and friends to make the decorations. The vintage element and consistent colors stayed throughout the event and kept decor at a budget. She even painted silhouettes on canvas to match the invitations! She is able to reuse a lot of the decorations for future parties for family and friends. The painted backgrounds will be used for drop cloths for her custom paint projects. What a way to be environmentally conscious!

The Treats:

You must click on over to her site to see the menu. She kept with the “carnival food” theme – Chocolate-dipped bacon? Oh, heck yeah! Also check out this cupcake tower made by Jeff of Rhino Cake Company. Yes, that’s a popcorn ball on top.

The Candy Buffet / “Sweet Shoppe”:

I love how every bit of this party ties together (no pun intended). The labeling, the types of candy, the ribbon… I think I got a cavity just looking at how sweet everything is! The decor is so simple – craft paper on the table and red-striped ribbon. But it looks just awesome.

Entertainment:

What else goes with a vintage carnival theme other than carnival games? Click on over to see the “booths” her husband made for each game station. Participants would win tickets at each game and can redeem them for prizes. They also had balloon sculpting and face painting on site.

Photo Booth:
Katie painted this backdrop on a drop cloth and it made a perfect decoration and background for a photo booth! (Aren’t her sons adorable?) She had props in a costume trunk for guests to use in their photos.