Planning a birthday party!

In the midst of our adoption journey I have felt very strong in making sure that our life carries on as normal as possible. I think that my husband and I have done an incredible job making sure that happens. A big thing in our family is birthday. As we wait for our princess I wanted to make sure that my boys have one of the best birthdays! I had decided in May of 2008 (yes a year ago) that I would have a carnival themed birthday party for my boys. Since their birthday is only 11 days apart we have always had them share a party. This year I invited all the kids from my oldest son's class and all the kids from my youngest son's playgroup. We are expecting about 14-17 kids as of right now. Here are some ideas and some money saving tips for this theme:
Decorations:
For a carnival theme birthday I want colors and more colors! I ordered a bag of balloons from Oriental Trading. It was much cheaper than Party City and I got so many more balloons. I will blow up all the balloons and disperse them in groups of 3 all of the banister inside the house, the front lamp posts, the mailbox, all along the fence in the backyard, at each station table. I also ordered streamers from Oriental Trading which was cheaper as well. I will put those all over the fence and inside on the banister.
Stations:
I am having a pop corn station (rented the popcorn machine from a local business) this was only $75. I have a station for pin the tail on the donkey, bowling, toss the bean bag, cotton candy (ordered from www.rainbowcottoncandy.com, great site and cheap!), duck pond (got off ebay for $15), face painter (made a reservation with a local artist to come), lollipop tree, and candy apples (my mom is making those)
Food:
I went to Costco and got all the food and drinks. My total for the food and drinks was about $120. I am only serving hotdogs and chips. I figured with popcorn, cotton candy, and candy apples that should be enough.
Cake:
I have a friend making a cake that is going to look like a bag of popcorn!
Bags and Tickets:
Each child will get a yellow bag with their name on it and inside the bag is 20 red tickets that they will use to go from station to station. I bought the bags and tickets at Party City.
Helpers:
I recruited some young teenagers to come over and man each station as the kids come up to it.
Signs:
I bought some poster board and decorated each poster board with the name of the station and the number of tickets that each game requires.
Prizes:
I got some bags of candy/prizes from Party City and some fancy suckers from Oriental Trading.

A party like this can be very manageable and low in price. The kids will probably have a great time!
I will post pictures after the party so you can visually see!