Lemme Try That: A Night at Le Cirque des Rêves

I briefly mentioned my graduation party in last week's post, revealing that it was themed according to Erin Morgenstern's The Night Circus (or Le Cirque des Rêves, "the circus of dreams"). I had originally wanted it to be a backyard bash, but the weather didn't cooperate with me (ain't that life?). So, I changed plans the night before (when I read that the weather forecast was solid rain for the next 36 hours), and luckily, I was able to use almost everything I had made/bought for the party, despite having it inside my brother's house as opposed to his backyard.

Since I haven't been feeling too crafty recently (job-searching and grad school burnout will do that to ya), I'm going to take the next few posts to talk about my crafting for "A Night at Le Cirque des Rêves." It was definitely a party on a budget, and I spent roughly two months gathering supplies and making decorations. Those of you who stress-craft will understand how therapeutic that was in the midst of writing a thesis. ;) I'm planning to use this post as a landing page of sorts for my various party craft posts, which I will ultimately link back to this page as I write them. But I'd also like to use it as an introductory post for the party itself.

Confession: This party turned me into a Pinterest user. Like many, I have a love-hate relationship with Pinterest. I am an outspoken skeptic and decrier of imminent Pinterest fails (aka pictures of results that will never, ever be able to be reproduced following the directions given), and there's just something about vicariously crafting through curating others' work that rubs me the wrong way. Craft snobbery? Maybe. At any rate, I did discover the usefulness of Pinterest as an inspiration board, and I created a secret board where I began outlining ideas for my party (I've since turned it into a public board, now that the party's over). It was a great place to store all of my ideas (I pinned a YouTube video, various craft ideas, and even products/food items that I thought might work).

Photo by Luis Beltran

Once I had a theme down, and an inspiration board going, I set about creating a Facebook event. Here's the event description:

Ladies and gentlemen, step right this way... to a backyard gathering to celebrate my triumph over graduate school and my 26th birthday! The event name is from a novel called 'The Night Circus,' but don't worry if you haven't read the book. Just read the information below, and you'll be all set - you can also watch this short video to get a feel for the ambiance: http://bit.ly/Z3VfFR.

-- "The towering tents are striped in white and black, no golds and crimsons to be seen. No color at all, save for the neighboring trees and the grass of the surrounding fields. Black-and-white stripes on grey sky..."

In case you missed it, this is a themed party, and there is a dress code. Like the description above, clothes worn to "A Night at Le Cirque des Rêves" should be black and/or white. Bits of red accents are allowed (see: http://bit.ly/Y8zfGC).

-- This is also an after-dinner party, so while there will definitely be goodies, you might want to eat dinner beforehand. Also, if you want to bring food/drink, that would be awesome. However, it has to be either black or white (again, bits of red are allowed, and we can cheat a bit with chocolate!).

-- This will be a night of revelry, by which I mean hanging out, catching up, and later watching a vintage circus movie in [my brother's] sweet basement: "The Greatest Show on Earth" (1952, see http://imdb.to/gJxtwk).

Come one, come all, just RSVP. ;)

Some elements I wanted in my circus-themed party were games, vintage photos/fliers, a photo booth, and themed snacks (it was an after-dinner party, so the food was lighter). Below are a few groupings of pins for each party aspect, and I'll add the link to each post as I write it (so stay tuned!):

Game elements (circus games post):