I feel like that title is pretty darn wordy.
But the truth is, it’s a pretty over the top theme for a 4 year old party I feel like!!! When I asked Girlie what kind of party she wanted this year, I wasn’t all that surprised when she replied that she wanted a circus party because we are a little, tiny, somewhat crazy- fan girl obsessed over here about The Greatest Showman.
We have the soundtrack on repeat and my four year old knows every word. Her “favorite guy’ is Zac Efron and she insisted that we needed peanuts.
It also still needed to be girly. Girly circus it shall be.
So here I am to give you all the details on our super girly, glammed out circus, Greatest Show DIY party in all it’s glory 
My main focus when doing a party is the food table- I like to pour lots of details into it to make it the star and then sprinkle some fun details randomly throughout that tie it all together. Let’s chat food table first though!
Lots of fun layers is the key!!!
I was trying for a tent-vibe so I went with several layers for the backdrop first.
A cheap Amazon sequin tablecloth did the trick for the main body of the backdrop. My table happens to be in front of a large window so I had to layer everything over another white tablecloth so the light didn’t just shine straight through the thin sequins. I’m supposing if you were against a wall, you may be able to get away with just the tablecloth itself.
So…for the backdrop:
Gold sequin tablecloth.
Two strips of blue fabric for the tent openings on either side
Ribbon to tack the blue curtains back
Embroidery Hoop ‘centerpieces’
I reused the floral large hoop from last years’ Belle party and layered a smaller hoop that I made for this year’s party inside of it. I love love using these guys for creating some awesome centerpieces!
And neutral-ish ones like the floral hoop are great for re-using from year to year!
For the table itself, I bought scores of pink & white striped fabric from Walmart (it took forever to track this stuff down, ya’ll) and cut it into three sections. One small section was wrapped around the middle of the table and the other two were draped on either side, and then met in the middle and draped back like circus tent openings.
Pieces of simple tulle tacked them back with safety pins.
The gorgeous glitter banner spelling out “The Greatest Show” is from Sasstronaut Studio on Etsy and she was amazing to work with.
Check out more of her work here.
We wanted to create a ‘circus train’ type of look underneath the table and hubby helped cut bars from cheap wood pieces that I then painted gold.
I snagged Girlie’s white shag rug from her room, and then wedged the wood pieces under the lip of the table and the rug for a tight fit. No glue needed.
Bubby’s elephant and lion were quite happy under there for the party and it was a rather entertaining game to see how many kids tried to help them break free throughout the event
The top of the table was so easy to throw together it was crazy.
I had two buckets leftover from my brother’s wedding already painted pink and with a couple of gold vinyl triangles added, they were the perfect little elephant podium/stand/thingies- what ARE those things called anyhow?!?
I added a couple glass bowls filled with tufts of cotton candy and pink, glittery elephant toppers out the top for the perfect large table toppers to stand on either side of the cake.
Mini elephants, tents and 4s made for great cupcake toppers as well as iced animal crackers. I loved the eclectic look of having different things for different ones
The cake was different than any cake we’ve ever done before and I just loved it!
My sister experimented with it and we were super nervous about it but it turned out beautiful. It’s some variation of a bare iced cake and I love love love the simplicity of it.
I painted a tiny elephant for the top, added a few paper flowers and another glitzy 4 and it’s just the prettiest cake you ever did see.
Those gorgeous gold elephants standing guard on the table are Dollar store finds that I spraypainted gold. Love those guys.
I scattered peanuts all across the table for another circus detail (but I’d check your guest list for allergies first on that one!) and we kept the menu simple!!!
Our menu:
*Cotton candy (dollar store!)
*Cake
*Cupcakes
*Cups of popcorn & peanuts (Dollar store)
*Pink Lemonade
Tabletop Resources:
Fabric- Walmart
Cake Plate: Target Dollar Spot a couple years back
Buckets flipped over, painted and vinyl applied: Hobby Lobby spring collection
Gold Elephants: Dollar Store, spraypainted
Glass Jars: Hobby Lobby
Gold Popcorn Cups: Target
Glitter Banner: Sasstronauts Studio
Paper Flowers: Hobby Lobby
4 Cake Topper: JoAnns
Elephant Cotton Candy Picks: Made by Me
Cupcake Toppers: Made by Me
Embroidery Hoops: Made by Me
The birthday girl was a tad bit happy with everything…
Let’s chat her birthday outfit a sec because some amazing small shops made it all happen and I have to brag for just a hot second. Not only did they make her feel incredibly special but they went out of their way to make items to match for her Molly Dolly which makes Girlie’s heart sing.
Matching Dolly & Me Leotards & Matching Dolly Maxi Skirt: Cutie Qs
Tassel Necklace: Tassel Thief Co
Cape Skirt: Jaw Drop’n Studs
Wooden Toy Cameras: With Love Halle
Custom Bracelet Stack: Brooklyn Rose Beads
Dolly Crown: Simply Chique Crowns
Birthday Crown: Love Crush Crowns
And, yes, she is wearing Zac Efron’s face and proudly showed it to everyone at her party. Gah. Hilarious.
Alright, so other details to tie everything together… I like to have a couple simple games, it’s for a 4 year old, so simple games but fun!
We had a ring toss game…
Painted wine bottles (I mean, that’s just fun to prep for all by itself), painted rings from a summer discount item from Hobby Lobby) and a simple basket make an easy but super fun game for the littles.
I’ll tell you what, it’s not a game, but the mini teacups at the drink station are what the kids loved the most. They seriously think it’s the funnest things EVER.
I threw a tophat on the lemonade and let them go to town.
I added vinyl to our back door and hubby found some sticky suction balls on Amazon that the kids used for target practice. That’s a game that keeps on giving, considering those elephants haven’t come down yet…
And we put our balance beam to good use and brought it out as a party game for the ‘trapeze act’. Hubby built this last year for her to practice her gymnastics on and the kids loved it. It’s a simple enough build and the pink/white color scheme just so happened to be perfect with the party colors. It’s like she lives and breathes those colors or something…
Between the ring toss, filling lemonade cups and the balance beam, the kids were left pretty entertained.
As our guests left, they got to pick a prize from the prize board- I snagged discounted toys from the summer aisle at Hobby Lobby when I noticed them and managed to rack up on some fun- non candy- options for loot bags.
A simple poster board and extra cheap painted boards make a quick prize wall and I can re-use it for things to come as well
I feel like I keep saying that this party was simple enough to throw together and it really did feel that way this time around. Maybe because I’ve become a party supply hoarder and I now have enough items in my ‘party closet’ that it’s becoming shameful.
But, gosh, it’s making party time so much easier and fun to pull together.
We had such a blast throwing this circus together and letting our sweet girl celebrate turning 4.
I’d love to hear about a circus bash you threw or answer any questions you may have about trying to throw one in the future! Feel free to leave questions below, message me on Facebook or find me on Instagram!!!
I hope you enjoyed my party tour- it really felt like our Greatest Show yet!!!
Like me on Facebook. Follow me on Pinterest. Subscribe to my feed.
