Mr. Cufflink the Clown Slayer

On Sunday, one of Lil Sippy Cup's Bottle Cap friends celebrated his 3rd birthday.

How did his parents mark the occasion?  By staging a full-scale carnival in the backyard. 

That's right.  A carnival.

There were games, a moon bounce, a hot dog cart, a cotton candy machine, an airbrush fake tattoo artist and a cake covered in M&Ms.  Yes, that's right, M&Ms.

Lil Sippy Cup, as expected, nearly lost his mind from the over-abundance of awesome.

And I learned a very important lesson as a parent: always make sure your parent friends are way cooler than you.  It'll keep you humble.

More pictures after the jump.  Prep your eyes for the awesomeness.

As usual, we were the first ones there. 
We came around the corner and found this.

I knew we were in for a good time.

These were the goodie boxes. 

Consistency with the theme was, clearly, a priority. And I loved it.

At this point, I found the hot dog cart. 

And the good time turned into a mind-blowing time.

Hot dogs are kind of like a big deal in my world.

Thankfully there were only 2 clown-related activities. 
And they both involved weapons.

Any day where I can hit a wooden clown
with one of these is a good day in my book.

Me: 1.  Demon Clowns: 0.

Here's the birthday boy, Lukas a.k.a The Artist.

And Deko a.k.a The Bibster.

Do me a favor, go look in your closet and tell me if you have sneakers that are this dope. Yeah, I don't either.

Here's Deko's baby sister, Lotus a.k.a. Carrot Cake.

Her crew name is directly related to her hair color. 

And to the fact that everyone seems to want to eat her chub-rock cheeks.

She is, literally, adorable.

The biggest hit at the carnival?  The moon bounce.

Lukas agreed.

Fun fact: I found Fred Flintstone's spare tire in the backyard.

When you were younger, did you ever go to a party that had an airbrush fake tattoo artist? Yeah, me neither.

Want to know one of the benchmarks of being a cool parent?

Getting matching fake tattoos.

Another fun fact: these ladies think I'm really funny.

Which is fantastic for my ego.

Want to know another benchmark for being a cool parent?

Knowing that your son likes being tickled when held upside-down.

And then being willing to do it even though you're both in public.

Turns out that upside-down Sippy Cup is just as awesome as right-side up

Sippy Cup.  I didn't know that.

Remember how I said there were 2 clown-related activities? 

The 2nd activity was the pinata.

Me: 2.  Demon Clowns: 0.

After the pinata, it was M&M cake time, which was made by the good folks at Crumbs Bake Shop.

The cake passed Lukas' stringent taste tests.

And everyone else's for that matter.

What happens when you spend 4 hours playing, jumping on a moon bounce, getting a fake tattoo, smashing evil clowns, and eating hot dogs and cake? 

You crash.  Hard.

Without a doubt, going to the birthday carnival extravaganza was a ton of fun. 

But the best part for me was coming home and having Lil Sippy Cup fall asleep at an unusually early hour.