A Circus Baby Shower

I hosted a shower last month and thought I'd share some of it with you.  It was so fun to plan and it turned out so cute.  Here was the invite I made in Microsoft Word (I blacked out any personal info...so it would read the "...Amazing expanding Smith family!"): 

I used yellow, red and blue as my color palate.  The decorations across the back and in the windows are from Hobby Lobby.  They have an entire party section devoted to circus/carnival parties!

As I was checking out I found circus peanuts near the register:

The blue pom poms were left over from my sister's shower.  They are so easy to make.  Just fold tissue paper back and forth like a fan, secure in the middle with a string or rubber band, cut the ends into tips and then pull the layers apart.  The more tissue paper you use, the fuller they will be.  Click HERE for HGTV's tutorial with pictures.  

I made gourmet popcorn for favors and attached a little poem from 'Baby'.  :)

I had so many requests for the popcorn recipe afterwards that I'll share it with you now.  It was so easy and so yummy!

Circus Popcorn

• 2 bags of Orville Redenbacher Tender White Popcorn, popped
• 1 tray of vanilla CandiQuick, melted
• 5 cups of pretzels, crushed (I used honey mustard because that's what I had)
• 1 bag of M&M's (I pulled out the red, blue and yellow ones and gave my guys the others)
• Sprinkles

1. Pour the CandiQuick over the popcorn and mix (you may have to use your hands but be careful because it's hot).  
2. Mix in the M&M's and crushed pretzels.  
3. Spread it out on wax paper and added the sprinkles.  Do this quick because once the candy sets, the sprinkles will not stick.
4. Once it hardens, break it into pieces.
5. Enjoy! 

Advice cards for the mother-to-be were at each place setting.  They were later collected in a clown hat and randomly drawn for prizes.

We had tons of yummy desserts.

I also made clown and popcorn cake pops.  These are not mine but this is a picture from the book that I got the ideas from.  That popcorn is actually mini marshmallows snipped on the top but my husband thought they were real when I showed him mine!  

We had a lot of fun!  Soon we will use many of the decorations for a carnival party for the little guy.  :)  

~ Nicole