Join me on the carousel

This sweet vintage carnival party was perfect for a little girl's 1st birthday party! Come take a ride on the carousel with us! Check out the highlights for more details!

• Funniest Moment

  My daughter is not shy when it comes to eating... before we could even finish singing happy birthday, her hand were already into the smash cake. We never had a chance at that birthday picture with the cake.

• Best Dressed

  My daughter's dress was the inspiration for the party. She wore a vintage corduroy dress with a carousel horse that belonged to me as a child.

• Desserts

  For the cake I made a simple 10" round cake with some basic piping. Then I hand-painted a carousel topper piece to match the rest of the decor. I put the cake onto a turntable and the cake turned just as a real carousel would. http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=kUTPPRRhiKc I also made a smash cake for my daughter. I used two of the decorative straws and matching fabric from the pennant banner to pull it all together. Behind the cake I created a display from canvas and inexpensive paper fans.

• Party Favors

  For favors we gave out bags full of salt water taffy... mmm.

• Activities / Games

  For the older kids we brought out some simple coloring books with crayons and stickers. Despite it being so low maintenance it kept the kids amused while the grown ups finished eating.

• Budget

  I was really excited how much impact I was able to have on my shoe-string budget! I was able to make the faux carousel horses for less than $25 each. The cake topper cost me about another $25, and all my glass drinking bottles were free! I think the whole party, with food AND decorations, came out to about $15 per person.

• What People Ate

  We wanted to keep with a carnival theme so I gave guests the opportunity to create their own specialty hot dog or sausage sandwich. They had a host of toppings to choose from including coleslaw, peppers, onions, bbq sauce, and more! To help the indecisive I posted a menu of some regional specialties including "the Hotlanta", "the Italian," "the Big Easy," and others. We also offered an old fashioned potato salad, and freshly popped popcorn out of a popcorn machine for that really authentic smell.

• What People Drank

  as well as old fashioned Lemonade and various specialty sodas in bottles (like black cherry, cream soda, and root beer). For the glasses for lemonade I used empty frappaccino glass bottles that neighbors donated to me.

• WHAT PEOPLE SAW

  For my daughter's 1st birthday I hand-made just about all of the decor. I created 3 faux-carousel horses (from garage-sale children's ride on toys), and then hand-painted them. I made a fabric pennant banner with matching birthday hats, and created ticket chains. Additionally we hung large pictures of my daughter up on the walls. Pink gerber daisy flowers in bud vases finished off the tables.