The Halloween Carnival

I was really flattered when asked to style this shoot. If you follow me on my personal Instagram, Monochromemum, it’s no secret that I love all things black and white so this was the perfect theme for me.

Initially, the look I was going with was Tim Burton’s BeetleJuice. I’m always looking for inspiration for my events and I was in the process of putting my mood board together, with The Greatest Showman movie in the background. It’s played daily in our house as my daughter Sienna loves it. I had also just came across Harlow’s Carnival party by amazing mama Alicia from Hudson & Harlow, so the Halloween Carnival theme was born!

I loved getting caught up in every little detail, from the custom ticket roll I had created, to lifting all the carnival animals from (my son) Rocky’s nursery at the last minute on my way to the photo shoot, and the gorgeous custom ‘Halloween Carnival’ bags from Small Print Design.

What I love most about this theme, is that it is perfect for all ages, and with a few tweaks can literally be a festival inspired birthday theme.

We hand painted the candy cart from 4Kidsnmore to suit the carnival theme and colours. It's a kid size cart, so really is perfect for children’s parties. The candy cart, the ‘Step Right Up’ signage from Very Flamingo, and custom cake topper from Molossi Designs were a perfect match. Suzanne (from Molossi Designs) produces amazing work, even with the briefest of details.

I used mainly black, white and greys with an accent of silver and gold. I tried to add as much detail as I could. Styla Prints & Design created some amazing soda bottle labels, popcorn labels and straw flags. They looked exactly like the Zebras featured on the cupcakes by The Sweet Society Co.

I also sanded a pumpkin, painted it black and placed googly eyed cookies from SweetP Cakes and Cookies on top of it, and beside it, little carnival animals with black and white stripe party hats just like Sienna’s. She was dressed from head to toe in Hubble and Duke and I added some black pom poms to her top to give the illusion of a cute girl clown.

Roxanne from Lovely Occasions made a stunning monochrome and marble garland and we had a few jumbo balloons around the set-up which really added to the overall theme. I also created a hanging balloon feature using two hula hoops with balloons in the middle and we had this hanging from the ceiling to create the illusion of a carnival.

I had an amazing dream team that I worked with on this party and the quality of their work literally speaks for itself – from a Big Top Tent carnival cake (Bakeistry) and Big Top Tent cookies from my gorgeous friend Vanessa from Cookies & Crumbs Melbourne, to stunning Zebra framed cupcakes and soda pop labels. Hours of Pinterest searching and daydreaming, sending screen shoots and mood boards to these talented ladies and they literally brought my vision to life. All of this was captured by the very talented Karlin from Karlin Shot It.

VENDOR CREDITS

Styling and concept Events by Ash Wood

Location, balloons and partyware Lovely Occasions

Photographer & videographer Karlin Pekhu

Carnival Street sign prop print Pink Pom Pom Kids

Circus tent cookies Cookies and Crumbs Melbourne

Halloween carnival bags Small Print Design

Print, soda bottle labels and straw flags Styla Prints & Design

Lollie Cart 4Kids N MoreDonuts Confetti Cake Co.

Acrylic signage for lollie cart Very Flamingo

Cake pops & cupcakes The Sweet Society Co.

Cake Bakeistry

Googly eye cookies SweetP Cakes Cookies

Step Right Up’ Cake Topper Molossi Designs

Donut Wall XOXO Design