Last Week of Big Top Prep

If you are new to this blog: you can read what Big Top Tuesday is and how is came about here.

If you want to track my progress: you can access all Big Top Tuesdays here.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Well, the other day I was talking to my sister and she said "So....are you excited about Monday?!" and I said "Why? What's Monday???"

Then she said...."uh----the circus party. dork."

And I said, completely aghast, "WHAT?! That is THIS Monday?"

And now you know how my preparations are coming... :-)

Welcome to my LAST installment of Project Big Top. Next week you will get to see the end result. (Hopefully not a total bomb.)

I have been pretty busy and accomplishing a lot, though there is PLENTY more to do. Of course, Corynn is my trusty sidekick, often asking first thing in the morning what we might do today for the circus party. Sadly, I just realized I don't really have any pictures of her helping. :-( Only a picture of the littler ones making....well, a mess.


When we went to the circus this year I learned firsthand how gaudy flashy anything circus is, so I have been gathering "stuff" from around the house. That bin of florals from my wreath-selling days has come in handy. I don't know HOW I will use them, but it is good to know I can do flashy.



Homemade face paint: We did a trial run to make sure it doesn't backfire by staining skin or causing rashing. It works great and guess what? It comes off great too!

The recipe~~~~

Mix together:

1 teaspoon of corn starch
1/2 teaspoon of cold cream
1/2 teaspoon of water
drops of food coloring

I think I ought to make up some designs to choose from though, in case children can't think of something spur of the moment. I found the recipe here, though I used CVS stash lotion instead of cold cream. Or maybe that is what cold cream is? I have no idea.


I finished up the button candy this week too, using this fabulous recipe. Oh my. I am in love. The original recipe is:

2 tablespoons meringue powder OR 2 egg whites

6 tablespoons water

1/4 teaspoon almond extract or lemon juice

1 box (1 pound) confectioners' sugar

ziploc sandwich baggies

food coloring

artificial flavoring (optional)

I didn't use the water at all. And I am afraid if you did, it may not work. And of course, I used egg whites. ;-) Do go to her site, if you plan to make some, as she created a pdf that you can print to make your buttons line up well.

These are such fun and so reminiscent of my childhood. Love 'em. It is taking all my willpower not plucking them off.


Jazzed up some recycling for a tin can game using scrapbooking paper from my scrapbooking days...haven't scrapbooked a single page in about, oh, three years. That stopped when I started going nuts with photography so I gave up. But being the packrat I am, kept all the supplies.)
I made some beanbags but we may use them for a different game and use Matt's hackysack for this one.


I have loved tissue paper balls/flowers ever since I was a KID so the new craze they seem to be causing in the crafting world, is in fact, nothing new. I remember making a bunch of these when I was like 7. I would love to make a bunch MORE for the circus party, but alas, this is all the tissue paper I had in my gift-wrapping stash. :-(


And finally, I did it. I spent money. But I did it before a circus party was even definite. I bought $3.00 worth of rubber duckies for the swimming pool, thinking Adele' would have fun with them in the tub/creek and that they would work awesome for a circus party if I ever had one. Even still, I am going to count it toward the party expenses. As far as I can see, unless I cave on the circus peanuts, $3.00 might be the only expenses this circus party will have accrued.

I believe we have all the plates and utensils to use already still left over from when we moved out here and some other shin-digs we have had in the past. May not be theme-ish or pretty, but they are definitely usable. We may not have enough cups, but I will use canning jars if necessary.

We have fireworks that I bought for last years' Fourth of July party that never happened because I was too cranky and pregnant with a certain little Smooch.

And I am using only food I already have on hand. But a couple families who are coming have offered to bring something as well.

The menu thus far includes:

Lemonade (homemade from lemon juice in pantry)
Mint Iced tea (from homegrown mint)
Good old-fashioned water

beef/chicken spiedies (from our cow and chickens)

rolls (a friend from church gets Price Chopper bakery stuff for free once they have reached their peak of freshness and shares the booty with us (and our chickens/hogs when we had them). I have been freezing rolls and stocking them up for a while.) So yeah. Free.

From pantry:

cinnamon pickles( sound gross but are sweet and delicious)

regular pickles

pickled beets

pasta salad (probably with homemade pesto?)

chocolate cake

sugar cookies (as prizes)

caramel corn/ salty corn (popcorn happens to be our pantry's staple snack)

Possibly some jello?

And that is all I can think of right now. I may add more to the list as I explore my pantry options.

This week is go-time.

I have lots of food to make.

Lots of details to finish.

Gotta plan where/how I am going to set up the yard.

Gotta think about costumes....YIKES.
Gotta......GO.