Carnival Party 5yr - Balloon Invitation

We had a carnival party for our daughters 5th birthday.  I got many ideas from this site.

INVITATIONS: Cut out circles with 5 different colored construction paper and arranged to look like a bouquet of balloons.  Attatched curling ribbon for string.  At end of string we put a piece of paper with the invite attatched.  It read:  Step right up and Join the fun.  (Child's name) Carnvial Party will be the Best One!! Games, prizes, tattoos and more,  Cotton Candy, popcorn, treats galore.  The festivities can't start until you arrive,  So we'll see you (Date) from 2 until 5.  We need to know if you are coming so we can plan, So give us a call as sson as you can.  Phone #,  (Your Last Name) Fairgrounds and your address.  Made a ticket booth out of refrigerator box.  My daughters and I painted it yellow and red.  Cut out window and decorated with red streamers made to look like curtain.

Bought a roll of tickets at party store and made sure that each child had enough for each game.  I had my older daughter hand them their tickets with their loot bag when the arrived.  Wrote on box below window rules for entering.  1. Must have tickets to play games.  2. Must follow direction of game attendent at all times.  3. One player at a time.  4.  Must have FUN.  My older daughter and some of her friends helped out with the games. Also some of the parents were so into it they ended up helping and I do not know what I would have done without them.  My husband used 2 X 3's and framed up 6 booths.  They were approx. 4 ft. wide.  He used plywood for the games that we would be throwing things for the backdrop so the attendent would not be running to retrieve balls, beanbags etc.   He used black tivec paper for the seperating walls. 

We had the balloon dart game.  I stapled a piece of foam board approx. 1/4 inch thick to the plywood.  I stapled the balloons to the foam board and had 3 darts per turn.  We had "knock the blocks."  This game consisted of three wooden blocks stacked on top of each other placed on a platform.  The platform was a piece of plywood 12" x 12".  This was placed on a pedestal on a table. The pedestal was a block of wood, approx. 6" by 6".  They had to throw a tennis ball and knock all 3 blocks off the platform.  This sounds easy but is not.  We had "crash the cans." This was the same as the blocks except we had 6 empty soup cans in a pyramid.  You threw beanbags and had to knock the cans off the platform. 

We had the ring toss.  This I used empty liquor bottles with the lables taken off. I got these from a restaurant, they would have just thrown them out so they did not mind.  I used 2 milk crates and put colored tissue paper in between all the bottles to make it look pretty and to catch the rings.  I got the rings on e-bay.  I had two buckets with 18 rings in each bucket.  Each turn was 3 tickets for a bucket-o-rings. 

We had the fishing game.  I orded plastic ducks from Cromers.  I had 6 dozen ducks, 4 different colors.  I attached small magnets to each duck.  I used 3 toy fishing poles with magnets attatched to each string.  I put the ducks in a baby pool and they had to fish out the pink ducks to win. I had a water gun game.  I used a large wooden block, approx. 6" x 6" and placed a plastic 12 oz. cup on it.  They had to use the water gun to propell the cup off the block.

Each game had a sign that I made from poster board.  I put the name of the game on top and followed with a rhymn that explained the game.  For examples:  Come Right Up, Try this game, Grab 3 darts, Be sure to aim, Pop the Bolloons to show your skill, I'm sure the prize will be a thrill.  Another was, Grab a bucket full of rings, Toss them on the bottles to make them sing, if one lands around the neck, Then a prize you can select. Another, Grab a pole, cast your line, Catch a pink duck, For a prize that's fine.  These were stapled at each booth pertaining to each game.  I also used old stuffed animals and stapled them to the booths for some of the prizes.  Also used lots of Happy Meal toys purchased on e-bay for almost nothing. 

Each booth had a box of toys for prizes.  I had tattoos for each child and face painting. I used the pencils for this as it is not as messy. My sister in-law wore a clown outfit and made balloon animals.  She also worked the popcorn and cotton candy.  I rented a popcorn machine, cotton candy machine and dunk tank.  I ordered popcorn bags, hotdog bags and cotton candy cones from Cromers. I also served sausage with peppers and onions.  I made a poster board from plywood.  I painted it white and stenciled a strong man and princess on it.  My daughters painted it and my husband cut out the faces.  This he propped between 2 trees with a 2 x 4 and nailed to trees. 

The children took turns throwing whipped cream pies at my husband and some of the older children while they were poking their heads through the faces.  I know this party sounds like alot of work but it was so worth it and I am sure she will remember it forever.  It took me 3 weeks from the time I started.  I should have started planning more in advance but that's not me.  You could cut the cost by not renting the dunk tank,  and if you did not want to rent the popcorn and cotton candy machine you could buy big bags of popcorn and just fill the bags for individual use, same with cotton candy. The cake was made by a friend and was not related to the theme.  My daughter wanted something particular and I just went with that, but you could have a ferris wheel, clown, big top, etc.  There are many options.  I hope I have given someone some great ideas.