My Carnival Party
by Jennifer
(IL)
CARNIVAL THEMED BIRTHDAY PARTY
My 6 year old and 2 year old have the same birthday, which means one big birthday party for me to plan. This year it started out as a small party for the boys' friends... until we booked the bouncy house. The place we rented it from decided to throw in a cotton candy machine and a bubble machine for a package deal and dad decided a carnival theme would be cool and not your average party.
Invitations: Free printable carnival themed invites that looked like real tickets, found on the internet.
Food: Hot dogs and corn dogs with a side of chips or curly fries, with condiments of course.
Snacks: Guests could redeem tickets for cotton candy, pretzels, licorice, suckers, etc.
Games/Events: Ticket booth, Bouncy house, Bean bag toss, photo booth, rubber ducks in a pool (rubber ducks with numbers at the bottom, telling the kids how many prizes they win), ring toss, temporary tattoo station, pin the tail on the donkey, water balloon toss... all costing 1-2 tickets.
Materials needed: Some material used was recycled material, cardboard boxes, 2 liters, wrapping paper.
Ticket booth- 3 cardboard boxes built and decorated for guests to redeem tickets for the games
Bean bag toss- cardboard with 4 holes cut into it.
Photo booth- Cardboard covered with wrapping paper and silly props bought at the dollar store.
Ducks in a pool- Rubber ducks and pool bought at dollar store
Tattoo station- temporary tattoos bought at the dollar store, 100 for less than $5
Pin the tail on the donkey- Poster board with printable donkey layout.
Water balloon toss- bought at the dollar store.
Cupcakes: We had a friend make 2 dozen cupcakes which was cheaper then getting a big cake.
Surprise Box for each boy: Once again using cardboard boxes, I gift wrapped, decorated and cut a slot in the top so the guests could put the birthday cards in and some even put in money!
We had the dads manage a station while the moms walked with the younger kids. After an hour or so, everyone found a station they enjoyed the most and stayed there.
At the end of the party, guests could take any leftover candy they wanted. Everyone had a good time and although it seemed stressful while planning, it actually came together really well.
