Ideas Carnival


Index Carnival Pinatas Carnival Paper Goods Carnival Masks Carnival History Accessories
Carnival Ideas Planning Checklist Add your Link Links
	Ideas Carnival Here you will find differents ideas, subbited by other people that had one Carnival Party! Julia's Birthday Carnival! My daughter's birthday was just in June and after going to several Carnival's last year, had decided she wanted the theme for her birthday this year to be a Carnival. I started planning approx. 6 months in advance because we normally have upwards of 100 people attending - 50 children. We transformed our back yard (luckily we have lots of land) into the most fantastic sight you could ever imagine. We had 8 carnival games - all easily hand made (Putt-Putt Golf, Nerf Archery, Milk Bottle Toss, Football Toss, Ring Toss, Go Fish, etc.). We built a wooden structure around each of the games and hung flags just like you see at a Carnival. At each game, the children won a prize - no matter what. I use the Oriental Trading Company for purchases. Their stuff is "stuff" but a decent quality and at a very reasonable price! We had a "big tent" with tables and chairs that sat 150 people comfortably. Each table had a different vibrant color tablecloth - the plates, napkins, cups etc. were also all different colors lending to the carnival theme. When the children arrived, we manned a table and handed out their "bags" - since there were sooo many prizes to win plus a piñata at the end of the day, I opted for nice canvas bags that they could use again for just about any event (day at the beach, lunch bag, etc.). I printed their name on the bag so they would not misplace and sent them to the games! We hired a stiltwlaker to greet the children and cheer them on while playing the varied games. We were very pleased to find a professional stiltwaker who was not that expensive and willing to do a child's birthday party. We rented a hot dog cart and cotton candy machine. Family members manned the m and had a blast serving hot dogs and cotton candy throughout the day. They wer eboth very easy to use. In fact, we ran out of holders for the cotton candy early on and made our own by rolling regular printer paper. As a child, I used to love birch beer - so we bought a 1/2 keg of birch beer and the kids drank every last drop. The keg saved me $$$$ and aggravation. It was much better than those box drinks which you find cleaning up after a party, still half full! We had a face painter as well as a balloon magician. The kids rotated around going from the games to the face painter and to the balloon magician...who made animal balloons, balloon hats, swords.... With 50 kids, it is near impossible to find a piñata that will hold enough candy and toys - so my talented daughter-in-law, made the most beautiful (and gigantic) pink elephant piñata you ever saw. Every child had at least one turn trying to knock open the piñata. We eventually had the stiltwalker hold it high above his head and drop all the candy and toys out.... My husband is a photographer, so we also had a Photo Booth set up! After the kids had their faces painted, my husband took their picture, often with the Stiltwalker. We had the film developed and sent everyone a picture in their thank you notes so that they could remember all the fun we had. It was a magical day and lots of fun to put together and hold. This party works for all ages! Carnival Party 5 year I just had my 5 year olds carnival birthday. It was the best party I have ever thrown. I started the kids off at a table where they could decorate their own goodie bags. I had stickers, markers, crayons, and color pencils for the kids to decorate their plain solid color paper bags. We then went outside to the sand art table. Then the festivities began. I gave all the kids their tickets and explained to them and their parents that they could play the games as many times as they wanted but they only got a prize if they handed in a ticket. We had a ring toss game that we made out of 2 liter bottles and used plastic bracelets as the rings. Everyone loved the throw the wet sponges at Uncle Joeys' head game. He stood behind a piece of ply wood and got wacked by the kids. (Some of the adults even got in on this game.) For the bean bag toss my husband made 5 different size holes in a 2x2 piece of ply wood and made legs for it to stand up. I had a duck pond game. The fishing game that my husband got wooden dowels, fancy colored string, and clothes pins to make the fishing poles. My 13 y.o. brother loved manning this game, attaching the prizes to the clothes pins while throwing in a sock every now and then. One of my friends came with some straw that he hid prizes in for a game. (It was kind of like an Easter egg hunt with the kids scurrying around.) We had empty cans that the kids had knock down with a bean bag for another game. The lollipop game was just a styraphone cone with lollipops stuck into it. Half of the lollipops were colored on the one end. When the kids found a colored one they got a prize and they kept the loser lollipops. I drew my own clown on a 11x13 piece of poster board. My daughter got to color it in. That was the pin the nose on the clown game except we used red circle stickers. Then we had a pull string piñata. I also had a clown there. She made the balloons. I was able to get an air tank af helium so all the kids went home with a balloon. The clown that I got was in shock of all the stuff that we had. She asked me why I even had her there. It is a party that requires a lot of planing. Our house looked like a recycling center for months. You also need a lot of helpers for all of the games. I thank my family for that. I don't know if I will ever be able to top that party and I really feel bad for the people that couldn't make it. We had soft pretzels, popcorn in popcorn bags, Kool-Aid, pink lemonade, rice krispie treats and rice krispie lollipop balls (in the middle of hardening wrap a fist full around a long lollipop stick), and sugar cookie lollipops. We made ice cream cone cup cakes and bought a store cake. I also made an activity book with my daughters picture on the front and having a birthday maze and other coloring book activities inside. Carnival & Haunted House We turned our backyard into a carnival. We had about ten game areas set up under a big tent, such a knock 'em down cats, a wheel of fortune, duck pond fishing, bean bag toss, balloon darts, ring toss and others. Everything was homemade and cost very little (except for the time in preparation). The kids played the games and won tickets which they redeemed for prizes at the end of the party for their goodie bags. For another party we took and planted about 150 poles in the ground and wrapped yards and yards of cloth around the poles to construct a giant walk-through maze. (I was lucky in that I was able to build the maze for our Brownie troop also, and I got the fabric as a donation from a major manufacturer). Finally, on a similar note, for one party we had a Halloween theme. I aquired a dozen large appliance boxes from a local retailer and connected them (four wide by three deep) to construct a haunted house. You entered in one door and were led (like a maze) through all the different rooms, with different features in each, like a flashing strobe light, a black light, eerie sounds, scary lit faces. It was built and painted to resemble the Norman Bates house. It was really awesome and completely kept the kids entertained going through again and again. We had spider cupcakes, create your own tombstone and monster relay races, where the kids had to run, skip, jump and walk like dracula, the wolfman, Frankenstein's monster, etc. Again, it cost very little except for the time invested. I hope these ideas help someone out because I'm sitting here idea-less and trying to think of something for the next party.	Click Here to Buy Movie Posters!

Here you will find differents ideas, subbited by other people that had one Carnival Party!

Julia's Birthday Carnival!
My daughter's birthday was just in June and after going to several Carnival's last year, had decided she wanted the theme for her birthday this year to be a Carnival. I started planning approx. 6 months in advance because we normally have upwards of 100 people attending - 50 children. We transformed our back yard (luckily we have lots of land) into the most fantastic sight you could ever imagine. We had 8 carnival games - all easily hand made (Putt-Putt Golf, Nerf Archery, Milk Bottle Toss, Football Toss, Ring Toss, Go Fish, etc.).

We built a wooden structure around each of the games and hung flags just like you see at a Carnival. At each game, the children won a prize - no matter what. I use the Oriental Trading Company for purchases. Their stuff is "stuff" but a decent quality and at a very reasonable price! We had a "big tent" with tables and chairs that sat 150 people comfortably. Each table had a different vibrant color tablecloth - the plates, napkins, cups etc. were also all different colors lending to the carnival theme. When the children arrived, we manned a table and handed out their "bags" - since there were sooo many prizes to win plus a piñata at the end of the day, I opted for nice canvas bags that they could use again for just about any event (day at the beach, lunch bag, etc.).

I printed their name on the bag so they would not misplace and sent them to the games! We hired a stiltwlaker to greet the children and cheer them on while playing the varied games. We were very pleased to find a professional stiltwaker who was not that expensive and willing to do a child's birthday party. We rented a hot dog cart and cotton candy machine. Family members manned the m and had a blast serving hot dogs and cotton candy throughout the day. They wer eboth very easy to use. In fact, we ran out of holders for the cotton candy early on and made our own by rolling regular printer paper. As a child, I used to love birch beer - so we bought a 1/2 keg of birch beer and the kids drank every last drop. The keg saved me $$$$ and aggravation. It was much better than those box drinks which you find cleaning up after a party, still half full! We had a face painter as well as a balloon magician.

The kids rotated around going from the games to the face painter and to the balloon magician...who made animal balloons, balloon hats, swords.... With 50 kids, it is near impossible to find a piñata that will hold enough candy and toys - so my talented daughter-in-law, made the most beautiful (and gigantic) pink elephant piñata you ever saw. Every child had at least one turn trying to knock open the piñata. We eventually had the stiltwalker hold it high above his head and drop all the candy and toys out.... My husband is a photographer, so we also had a Photo Booth set up! After the kids had their faces painted, my husband took their picture, often with the Stiltwalker. We had the film developed and sent everyone a picture in their thank you notes so that they could remember all the fun we had. It was a magical day and lots of fun to put together and hold. This party works for all ages!

Carnival Party 5 year
I just had my 5 year olds carnival birthday. It was the best party I have ever thrown. I started the kids off at a table where they could decorate their own goodie bags. I had stickers, markers, crayons, and color pencils for the kids to decorate their plain solid color paper bags. We then went outside to the sand art table. Then the festivities began. I gave all the kids their tickets and explained to them and their parents that they could play the games as many times as they wanted but they only got a prize if they handed in a ticket. We had a ring toss game that we made out of 2 liter bottles and used plastic bracelets as the rings.

Everyone loved the throw the wet sponges at Uncle Joeys' head game. He stood behind a piece of ply wood and got wacked by the kids. (Some of the adults even got in on this game.) For the bean bag toss my husband made 5 different size holes in a 2x2 piece of ply wood and made legs for it to stand up. I had a duck pond game. The fishing game that my husband got wooden dowels, fancy colored string, and clothes pins to make the fishing poles. My 13 y.o. brother loved manning this game, attaching the prizes to the clothes pins while throwing in a sock every now and then.

One of my friends came with some straw that he hid prizes in for a game. (It was kind of like an Easter egg hunt with the kids scurrying around.) We had empty cans that the kids had knock down with a bean bag for another game. The lollipop game was just a styraphone cone with lollipops stuck into it. Half of the lollipops were colored on the one end. When the kids found a colored one they got a prize and they kept the loser lollipops. I drew my own clown on a 11x13 piece of poster board. My daughter got to color it in. That was the pin the nose on the clown game except we used red circle stickers. Then we had a pull string piñata. I also had a clown there. She made the balloons.

I was able to get an air tank af helium so all the kids went home with a balloon. The clown that I got was in shock of all the stuff that we had. She asked me why I even had her there. It is a party that requires a lot of planing. Our house looked like a recycling center for months. You also need a lot of helpers for all of the games. I thank my family for that. I don't know if I will ever be able to top that party and I really feel bad for the people that couldn't make it. We had soft pretzels, popcorn in popcorn bags, Kool-Aid, pink lemonade, rice krispie treats and rice krispie lollipop balls (in the middle of hardening wrap a fist full around a long lollipop stick), and sugar cookie lollipops. We made ice cream cone cup cakes and bought a store cake. I also made an activity book with my daughters picture on the front and having a birthday maze and other coloring book activities inside.

Carnival & Haunted House

We turned our backyard into a carnival. We had about ten game areas set up under a big tent, such a knock 'em down cats, a wheel of fortune, duck pond fishing, bean bag toss, balloon darts, ring toss and others. Everything was homemade and cost very little (except for the time in preparation). The kids played the games and won tickets which they redeemed for prizes at the end of the party for their goodie bags. For another party we took and planted about 150 poles in the ground and wrapped yards and yards of cloth around the poles to construct a giant walk-through maze. (I was lucky in that I was able to build the maze for our Brownie troop also, and I got the fabric as a donation from a major manufacturer).

Finally, on a similar note, for one party we had a Halloween theme. I aquired a dozen large appliance boxes from a local retailer and connected them (four wide by three deep) to construct a haunted house. You entered in one door and were led (like a maze) through all the different rooms, with different features in each, like a flashing strobe light, a black light, eerie sounds, scary lit faces. It was built and painted to resemble the Norman Bates house. It was really awesome and completely kept the kids entertained going through again and again.

We had spider cupcakes, create your own tombstone and monster relay races, where the kids had to run, skip, jump and walk like dracula, the wolfman, Frankenstein's monster, etc. Again, it cost very little except for the time invested. I hope these ideas help someone out because I'm sitting here idea-less and trying to think of something for the next party.