Carnival Party
Featured Recipes
- Carousel Cake 9 inch round cake decorated with animal sugar cookies attached to straws with royal icing. Sugar cookie canopy created by gluing together triangular scallops with royal icing and decorating with candies and icing.
- Pink Lemonade Pops
- Brown Sugar Cookie Cut-out Try an animal design.
Snack Ideas
Decorating Ideas
Cut-out Clown
This is the perfect party photo opportunity for kids (both big and small) to clown around by putting their face on a clown body. What you will need:
- Foam board
- Scissors
- Markers or colors to decorate the clown
- Yarn for clown hair
- Two pieces of wood for stakes
- Small nails and a hammer
- Camera
Draw a kid-sized clown on the piece of foamboard. Cut out a hole where the clown face should be. Color and decorate the clown. Attach the wooden stakes to the foam board with a few small nails. Secure it with a stake in the ground. Get your camera ready for some great pictures.
Carnival Posters
If there's an artist in the family or maybe old carnival or circus posters around, have the kids decorate the posters to make signs for freaky side shows like "the strong man", "the bearded lady" or "the man with two heads!" as decorations around the carnival area.
Other things to help create and decorate the booths:
- Tables for games/booths
- Party streamers
- Balloons
- Prize bags (popcorn bags or regular white bags with clown stickers)
- Poster board for names of games/booths
- If you would like to, bring out all of the kids stuffed animals for a colorful backdrop to the game booths
- Music - don't forget the radio or CD player
Activities
Prize Bag Decorating
This could be the first activity of the day. Each person takes their prize bag and personalizes it using markers, crayons, or water colors so if a bag is left behind, there is no doubt who it belongs to.
Face Painting
Washable paint for this can be found at many craft stores. It is recommended than an adult be in charge of the face painting.
Clown Face Pictures
Using the cut-out clown described in the Decorating Ideas section, place the clown in a sunny spot where a person can walk behind it and put their face in the cut-out hole and have their picture taken as a clown.
Food Booth
Set up a booth only for food and drinks.
Game Suggestions
Balloon Popping Contest
This is a game for everyone at one time. Begin with a bag of medium size balloons. Mark off a large square area and invite the contestants into the square. Each participant takes two balloons and blows them up. Use a piece of string to attach a balloon to each ankle of the participants. When everyone has a balloon attached to each ankle, they begin trying to pop everyone else's balloons by stepping on them. The last person with a complete balloon attached to their ankle wins.
Ring Toss
Try to toss a plastic or rope ring over a 1 or 2-liter plastic bottle. Make sure the bottles are either full or secured to the ground so they will not fall over. The bottle can be secured by filling the bottles with water or sand. Another option is to have an unopened bottle, and that if the ring lands on it, that bottle is the prize.
Bean Bag Toss
Toss a bean bag onto an already pre-marked circle or square on the ground. If the bean bag lands in the circle or square it is a winner.
Water Balloon Races
This is a competitive game where teams of two can compete against each other. One starts with a water balloon and then passes it off to their team mate, like a relay, and the second person runs to finish the race without breaking the water balloon.
Bucket Brigade
Place two large buckets without water as a finish line for this game. Each team of two or three members then has two smaller buckets. One to fill and run over to the larger bucket, and the second to be filling while the first bucket is being raced over and dumped into the larger bucket. Whichever team fills the large bucket with water first wins.
Party Favors
- Small stuffed animals
- Bubbles (bottles with the stick to make bubbles)
- Noisemakers (whistles or something that can be loud)
- Yo-yos or other small items
- Stickers or temporary tattoos
- Instant camera to take pictures and allow the guests to leave with photos of them participating in the carnival
Not all activities or party ideas are recommended for all ages. For the safety of all in attendance, no party should be held without adult supervision.
Party Accessories
Click on any item below to download the themed accessory. You can then print and use them to help make your event a success!
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