Adult Carnival Party

A few weeks ago we celebrated Andrew's birthday. I personally love the fact that his birthday falls on election day in the beginning of November. It's in between the craziness of summer and the craziness of the upcoming holiday season. Which makes it the perfect time to throw a party.

It's kind of become a trend now for the past 2 years, to throw a party for Andrew's birthday. When Andrew turned 40 I did a Budweiser theme which was as you can imagine got rowdy. So after the night of drinking 40s I promptly drove us to Newport at 4:30am to run the Pell Bridge Run (5 miles!) and ring in the next decade - clearly a bad idea on my part but memorable non-the-less.

Last year I went with the fall theme and cooked up a big pot of chili and had a DIY grilled cheese bar, the ultimate comfort food as the leaves are changing and winter is knocking on the door. It was also a crowd pleaser as it was kid friendly and smores could be devoured in the backyard.

This year I bounced around a few ideas on my favorite time waster, Pinterest. I finally came up with an Adult Carnival theme. Invitations read: HAB - Hire a Babysitter. No kids allowed. Sometimes adults need an excuse to be kids free for a night, and thats what we did.

We had all the carnival favorites, ring toss & darts, as well as some spins on the classics, Bobbing for nips and mango margarita snow cones were the highlights. My personal favorite was the cotton candy machine  and the homemade kissing booth. I mean, who doesn't love spun sugar?!

We didn't just serve sugar though…I served all the greasy, "fat free" favorites you get at a carnival - tator tots, soft pretzels, popcorn & peanuts, corn dogs, and sliders. Carbo load.

And to finish it off, everyone won a goldfish for the night. The kind you get in the bag at the state fair and it dies the next day…that kind. Except we still have 5 living and swimming in a bowl in our bathroom - I guess that plan kind of backfired on us.