Carnival Birthday Party

We made most of our games and only purchased a few. You will want to have enough games available to keep a crowd of kids busy. We had about eight games at our party. Be sure to get a roll of carnival tickets, so you can give them to the kids as they win each game. We also made signs by the game, so they knew how many tickets they would get, if they won the game.

*Bean Bag Toss - You will need three bean bags for tossing and any basket will do for catching the bean bags.

*Pick the labeled duck - We used our water table and filled it with water about half way. We bought six rubber ducks and marked an X on the bottom of one of the ducks. If the kids picked the duck with the X, they got a ticket.

*Ring Toss - We purchased a ring toss game and gave away 1 ticket for one ring on the stick, 2 tickets for 2 rings and 3 tickets for 3 rings.

*Guess how many gum balls - We counted as we filled a gumball machine and put the answer in a safe spot. Each of the kids got a turn to guess how many gumballs and the kid that was the closest got the gumball machine, full of gumballs.

*Velcro Darts - We hung a dart board on the wall and put a piece of tape on the floor for the kids to stand behind. Tickets were given based on how many darts hit the board.

*Find the hidden treasure - We purchased some silver coins and one gold coin. We put them in a container full of rice and had the kids reach in and grab a coin. One ticket was given for silver coins and two tickets for the gold coin.

*Pin the Nose on the Clown - We purchased a pin the nose on the clown. After all of the kids got their turn we gave away a ticket to each child for playing, and five tickets to the child that was closest to the clown's nose.

*Fishing game - A plastic fishing rod and some fish were a lot of fun for little ones to try and catch. We put the fish in a small pool of water.

A sucker pull can be a very inexpensive game to use at your carnival birthday party. This game will require very little supervision. You can assign one adult to the sucker pull and one other easy game.

You can make your sucker pull a couple of different ways. A shoe box works great for a sucker pull. You can wrap the shoe box in festive wrapping paper, or let the birthday child decorate the box with construction paper and stickers. Poke holes in the top of the box for all of the suckers. Color the bottom of the sucker stick with a red marker for some winning suckers. It's up to you to decide how many winners you want to place in the box.

A Styrofoam piece will also make a nice sucker pull. Wrap some pretty ribbon around the sides of the Styrofoam and push all of your suckers into the top of the Styrofoam and line them into neat rows.

The kids can keep all of the suckers they pull as prizes. You can give out some tickets to the kids that pull the suckers that are marked as winners. This game actually gives a prize for every turn, because the kids get a sucker. The really great part is that this game will only cost you a couple of dollars for the cost of ribbon, wrap and suckers.

You can make a bean bag game very easily and it won't cost much to make. I took a basket, which ran me about three dollars, and used some scraps of fabric I had around the house. I made an elephant out of felt and stuffed it. I then glued it to the basket, so it looks like my elephant is hugging my basket. An ordinary basket will do, or you can dress it up a bit. Use bean bags or soft balls to let the kids toss them into the basket. You can give tickets for each bean bag or ball that makes it into the basket. A line of masking tape on the floor will give the kids a place to stand, for a little challenge.

Another very inexpensive option is to make your own Tic Tac Toe, three in a row game. You can use a box and cut the top flaps off. The flaps are what you will use for the dividers, inside the box. Wrap the box inside and out with some fun and festive wrapping paper. Once you have the box wrapped, you will then cut slits into the flaps and fit them into each other, so you have a tic tac toe board inside your box. Bean bags or wiffle balls are great for tossing into the box. This is a challenging game, if you choose to have the kids get three in a row. We gave ten tickets, if the kids got three balls in a row.

We used an extra large tin and filled it with rice. We tossed in some gems and made the blue gem the winning gem that would win the kids some tickets. Bury the gems into the rice, let them feel around and pull out one of the gems. If it is the blue gem, they won!

You can use gems and pick a winning color, or buy some plastic coins and use a gold coin for the winner.

This game is an easy one to have at your carnival party. Purchase a gumball machine and put it on a table, with a decorated box nearby. The kids can guess how many gumballs are in the machine and put their slips in the box. At the end of the party you can check all of the guesses and the gumball machine can go to the child with the closest guess. This game is a lot of fun with toddlers. You will be entertained by some of the responses you get. If you want to limit the number of guesses you receive, have the kids use one of their tickets they won, per guess. Don't forget to purchase your gumball machine and gumballs.

The carnival tickets are what make these parties so much fun for kids. They get really excited about winning their tickets and adding them up to see what they can get with their winning tickets.

You will want to get a variety of prizes and put them in groups on a table. We put a sign by each group, so the kids knew how many tickets each prize would cost them. We've made of list of some carnival prize ideas below. We usually purchase carnival prizes in a range of prices, so we have some inexpensive prizes for a few tickets, or a stuffed animal for ten to twenty tickets.

Here are a few prize ideas:

*Stickers
*Coloring Books
*Sidewalk Chalk
*Bubbles
*Beach Balls
*Bubble Gum
*Tootsie Rolls
*Dum Dum Suckers
*Jump Ropes
*Rubber Ducks
*pencils in festive designs
*erasers
*stuffed animals
*lip gloss

A candy table will light up any child's eyes. You can use candy a couple different ways. We added some novelty candy to our prize tables. This allowed the kids to get some candy with the tickets they won. Or, you can set up a pretty candy buffet for the kids to snack on as they play. Some groovy candy bags allow the kids to select some candy to take with them after the party.

Novelty candy

Bottle Pops
Mini candy bars
Pixie sticks
Swiry Lollipops
Candy Necklaces
Candy bracelets
Pop Rocks
Fun Dip
Air heads
Ring Pops
Rock Candy Sticks
Old Fashioned Candy Sticks

These choices are all great for displaying on your prize table, because they are individually wrapped. If you want a buffet of candy, some pretty jars will display a beautiful table full of festive candies. These candies do not have to be individually wrapped. You can fill the jars and give the kids some small tongs or scoops to fill a candy bag at the end of the party. You can choose from a candy table that is done in the birthday child's favorite color, and fill all of your jars in candies that coordinate with that color. Or, you can fill the jars with a variety of colors and pick the birthday child's favorite candies.

Face painting is an inexpensive activity for a carnival party. You can paint the kids faces with something as simple as a butterfly, or you can get really fancy and paint masks on them. Face painting is something that excites all kids. This carnival activity is sure to be a hit with your crowd!

Balloon animals are a party favorite. They are really easy to make and the kids love them. This is an inexpensive and fun item to have at your parties, no matter what kind of party you are having.

A decorating kit is an easy way to decorate for your carnival birthday party.

This Carnival Decorating Kit comes with a 24 feet long Fringe Banner, 24 foot long Pennant Banner, 24 foot long Bunting, and 65 inch Sign Banner.

You can purchase the Carnival Decorating Kit at Amazon.com

A moonwalk is great fun at parties. You can expect to spend between $100 to $200 to rent a moonwalk for your party. It is more economical to purchase a bouncer or moonwalk, if you have more than one child. Not only will you have the bouncer/moonwalk on hand for all of your kids birthday parties, you will also have it for play dates or an afternoon of fun. This is a great way for kids to get some great exercise.

Let's say you have 2 kids and you rent a moonwalk once a year for each of your kids birthday parties. If the kids have a party until they are 13, like most kids do, and you figure 2 kids at 13 birthday parties, on the low side of the rental fee, this adds up to a cost of $2600 over the years to rent the moonwalk, if you are lucky enough to get the cheaper rental fee. Most entertainment companies cost more than $100 dollars to rent the moonwalk for the afternoon. So, you can see that it will save you big to own your own moonwalk. And, you will have it on hand for some afternoon fun whenever you are in the mood.

One thing to keep in mind, a moonwalk will hold more weight and a larger amount of kids. Bouncers will only hold a few hundred pounds and are only safe for about three to four kids at a time.

Photo Props are another great activity for a Carnival Birthday Party. Set a few up in your yard or house and then take pictures of your party guests posing in them.

You can then print out the pictures on a photo printer if you have one or make prints later and include them in the thank you notes your child sends out to each guest.

Amazon.com carries several Photo Props at very reasonable prices

No party is complete without some tasty treats. We went with the carnival theme and got some hot dogs, peanuts, and popcorn. We also made sure that we had some fancy containers to serve our yummy treats in.

Elephant ears are really easy to make and they are a very inexpensive treat.

Elephant Ears

1 package active dry yeast
1 cup warm water
1 cup warm milk
3 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons salt
3 tablespoons shortening
4 to 4 1/2 cups flour
Oil

Dissolve the yeast in the warm water. Add the milk, sugar, salt, shortening, and 2 cups of the flour, beat until smooth. Stir in enough flour to form a soft dough. On a floured surface, knead the dough until it is smooth and elastic. Place in a greased bowl, cover with a towel, and let the dough rise for one hour in a warm place.

Punch down the dough and divide it into fifteen ovals. Heat oil to 375 degrees in fryer. Fry the dough one at a time, about three minutes per side, or until golden brown. Drain. Sprinkle with Cinnamon/sugar mixture.

Cinnamon/Sugar mixture

1 cup sugar
3 teaspoons cinnamon

Hot dogs are yummy and an easy food to serve. You can prepare them in a slow cooker and have them all ready to serve. There are some fun wrappers and serving trays for serving.

Peanuts are another tasty treat for carnivals.

Cotton candy is a yummy treat that most kids do not get to enjoy very often. We have a cotton candy maker in our home. This was one of the kids favorite treats at our carnival party.

Sno cones are another carnival favorite. These tasty treats are quick and easy to whip up, and inexpensive.

No birthday party is complete without cake. Whether you decide to go with a cake, or cupcakes, there are many great embellishments to compliment your dessert.

Some people prefer plates, instead of hot dog trays and other assorted wrappers. There are some fun plates with carnival themes.