{surprise!} vintage circus baby shower

I'm going to be an aunty to a new baby very soon!! My brother and his gorgeous fiance are expecting a little bundle of joy in early October...can't wait! Over the weekend family and friends came together for a surprise baby shower. Aimee & I jumped at the opportunity to style the special event in our soon to be released vintage circus theme! 

Starting with this adorable invitation, we carried the gorgeous vintage colour scheme & theme throughout the decor and food...

We filled the dessert table with fun, circus inspired treats...donuts, popcorn, lollies and fairy floss cupcakes!

Inspired by Kiki La Ru, I created miniature cake bunting for the nappy cake centrepiece...so sweet!

Tissue pompoms in red, blue and white were hung throughout the party room.  The red ones were finished with pointed ends...reminds me of pom poms on the end of a clowns hat!

Fairy floss cupcakes and popcorn cones... I just couldn't resist trying out the gorgeous fairy floss cake inspiration we came across last week!! I had originally planned to use the polkadot cones for the fairy floss, but I think the popcorn looks great in them!

I found these adorable 'wishes for baby' cards at lilsugar.com, and customised them to our vintage circus theme with a polka dot background! Thank you gifts were a simple striped paper bag, filled with sweets and finished with a co-ordinating thankyou label.

A fabulous afternoon was had by all! Lots of love to the mum-to-be and an extra-special thankyou to everyone who helped out!

Tanya x

{inspired by} fairy floss cupcakes

We came across these delicious fairy floss cupcakes while browsing for circus party ideas...how very sweet!!!

We love ideas that are so very simple, but so scrumptiously sweet!!

These cupcakes are topped with fluffy persian fairy floss by Pariya Foods (fairy floss for big people!), but would be just as adorable with regular fairy floss!!

Now we have a dilemma! We were planning on doing fairy floss cones for our special vintage circus party that is coming up...but we have fallen in love with these fairy floss cupcakes... what to do? ...maybe both!!

source: gomakeme

{guest post} super hero mask how-to

A special thank you to the lovely Emma from Whimsy Woo for sharing this adorable superhero mask how to!!

Ok so here it is… the Super Hero Mask!

You will need:

• 2 sheets of felt 20cm x 10cm (I use contrasting colours so you can reverse them too)
• Visofix ( I use heat and bond ultra)
• Piece of elastic ( measure your child’s head and take and inch off that measurement) OR I used also an adjustable bra strap that is only 6 mm wide, though you could use wider.
• Scissors
• Sewing machine
• Star, heart, lightning bolt motif for between the eyes…IDEA: if you have a star on one side and a lightning bolt on the other you can play goodies and badies!
• Needle and thread in same colour as one of the felts

NB When ironing felt I put a piece of cotton over the top to stop scalding.

Method:

• Ok so you will need to iron on your visofix to the back of one piece of felt.  
• Trace the mask template onto the visofix backing and cut out, including the eye holes. I used nail scissors for this as they are sharp and curved but you can use any scissors. 
• Remove the visofix backing and place the elastic approximately 1cm above center line on each side with the ends approximately 2cm inside the mask. Add a few stitches using a needle and thread to hold it in place. Not 100% important but helps when doing the next step. 
• Place your mask visofix side down onto the other piece of felt and make sure that the elastic ends are sandwiched between the two layers and the piece that goes around their head isn’t!!! 
• Gently iron the two pieces together, making sure all the edges around the eyes and mask are sealed properly. NB try not to press to hard as this wil make your mask VERY thin.  
• Cut out mask and eye holes to match the other side you have already done. 
• Iron on your motifs between the eyes.
• Take to you machine people…..and sew around the edge of the mask, approximately 4mm from edge, go over the elastic a few times to make sure it is held nice a strong, you can also go around the eye holes and motifs if you like but I don’t.
• Guess what…YOU’RE DONE!

Mix it up, I have also added a fabric to one side instead of felt which looks funky and allows you to match the fabric of your cape to the make even better!

For the girls mask I add cats eye glasses style point at each end and diamantes! Options are endless.

Emma Mullins

WhimsyWoo
http://www.whimsywoo.com.au/

Here's a peak at some of the gorgeous things you can find at the Whimsy Woo website....dummy bibs (what a great idea!), sweet little apron & chef hat sets and these adorable monsters!! Thanks again Emma! Tanya & Aimee x

{inspired by} circus

How sweet are these little pinwheel cupcake topper? We found them, complete with instructions and printables here, at the long thread ....they were designed with 4th of July in mind, but we think they would be the perfect for a vintage circus theme! 

Why the circus focus lately? We have a special vintage circus themed event coming up very soon (more on that soon!!)...and we seem to be finding inspiration everywhere we look!

We adore this circus themed bedroom by stylist Kate Dixon,

discovered at lmnop.com.au

and how cute are these little boxes from fancyflours.com ...great for gift or goodie boxes! 

 

and this gorgeous tabletop puppet theatre...you can find diy instructions here, created from a packaging box for less than $5...would make a great party activity!

  

and last (but not least) a sneak peak at our vintage circus party invitations...

Have a lovely weekend!

Tanya & Aimee x

{free printable} vintage circus colouring page

We are very busy adding the finishing touches to our gorgeous vintage circus theme...we just can't wait until it's finished and we can share it with you all....so we thought we would share a colouring page for your little ones to enjoy!

click here

to download and print your vintage circus colouring page

{inspired by} cake pops by bakerella

Have you heard of cake pops? We hadn't until recently...they are the sweetest little desserts and we have been seeing them feature on dessert tables everywhere!

Angie from Bakerella (the queen of cake pops!) has a delicious book dedicated to these sweet sensations, to be released very soon! You can pre-order it in Australia here. now available from Amazon! Cake Pops: Tips, Tricks, and Recipes for More Than 40 Irresistible Mini Treats

These adorable icecream cone cake pops are our absolute favourites, they look just like the real thing... without the mess!

 

You can find the post here and Bakerella have been kind enough to share basic cake pop instructions here. 

We love this little 'melted' one.

How cute would these be for a vintage circus party? Have fun!!

{winner!} sweet little party winner

What a lovely way to start the week! Announcing the winner of our party giveaway!

Congratulations to Jade Lavery, who is our lucky winner!! Jade has won a party hire package valued at $149, and can choose any of our gorgeous themes!

Thank you to everyone who entered! Don't forget that if you are a mailing list member, you still have time to take advantage of our $99 introductory offer...ends August 31.

Have a great week! 

Aimee & Tanya x

{win} sweet little party hire package

Not long now until we draw the winner of our fabulous party package giveaway!!

Haven't entered yet? You still have time...just!!

How to enter the draw...

Simply join our mailing list before August 15, 2010, it's that easy!

CLICK HERE for all the details and to join our mailing list today

We'd love you to spread the word to all your friends!

What's your favourite theme?

{free printable} mermaid colouring page

CLICK HERE to download your printable mermaid colour-in

A sweet little mermaid colouring page for you!

{party idea} would look gorgeous rolled up, tied with ribbon, and placed in a fishbowl ready for your little mermaids to colour while waiting for all your guests to arrive!

{parks for parties} kings park - lottery west family area

 

 

We visited Kings Park on the weekend...it is so beautiful there, a perfect spot for a weekend picnic or a children's party!

There are a few picnic areas within Kings Park, this one is the Lottery West Family area which has lots of gorgeous play areas for every age group... from tiny tots to tweens.

The central play area features a pirate ship & castle...ideal for a mermaid, pirate or camelot party!

And there are plenty of lovely grassed and undercover areas for a picnic lunch or party food. 

other facilities:

Toilets (including children sized ones!)

Cafe - for coffees, drinks, snacks & meals

BBQs & gazebos just outside of the childrens play area

{create} dinosaur rocks

Thought I'd share a great idea for a dinosaur dig party! I first made these 'dinosaur rocks' when a friend and I ran a school holiday fun club a few years ago. 

We hid them throughout the garden and let the children go on a fossil hunting adventure... they returned with the dinosaur rocks and broke them open to discover baby dinosaurs...they loved it!

Dinosaur Rocks
(makes 4)

ingredients:
1 cup old coffee grounds
2 cups flour
1 cup sand
1 cup salt
1 cup cold black coffee

plus:
4 mini dinosaurs (about $3 for a pack of 10 at Kmart)

method:
1. Combine flour, coffee grounds, sand and salt.
2. Mix in a little cold coffee at a time until well combined and a firm dough is formed
3. Wrap dough around mini dinosaur, creating a 'rock' shape
4. Allow to dry - can take up to a week to air dry, or to speed up the process...pop them into the oven after it has been turned off from dinner.

And now you have gorgeous little dinosaur rocks, perfect for your own dinosaur adventure, or wrapped in hession would make a gorgeous alternative to a goodie bag!

{inspired by} mini lemon meringues

How delicious do these mini lemon meringue cupcakes look? I found them here on http://www.howdoesshe.com/. Shelley gives a step-by-step...starting with mini lemon cupcakes, smothered with lucious lemon curd, and topped with melt-in-your-mouth meringue...my mouth is watering just thinking about them!! These miniature goodies would be perfect for a tea party!

If you haven't visited http://www.howdoesshe.com/ before...I recommend it! It's filled with lots of lovely ideas and inspirations on everything from baking & celebrating to housekeeping & family! 

Tanya x
{p.s. just in case any of you ever have me over for coffee and cake, my absolute favourite dessert is lemon meringue!}

{free printable} mermaid cupcake wrapper

 

It's been a busy week for The Candy Tree! On Thursday we launched our website, and the response has been fantastic! We have taken lots of lovely party bookings and December is already looking to be a very busy month!! Thank you all so much for your support!

We hope you enjoy this printable, perfect for your next mermaid party!!

 

Click here to open the pdf and save.

print out the required amount and cut out each wrapper

(if you have scalloped scissors you can use them to create a sweet scalloped edge at the top!)

then simply wrap around your cupcake (or crackle!!) and tape.

A sweet and simple way to add colour to your party food!