Circus Party -4yr- Circus Games

For my sons fourth Birthday party we decided to have a Circus theme.  I started planning months ahead of time because I knew I would be making every thing I could to save some money. 

For the invitations I took a piece of cardstock and cut it into the shape of a popcorn bag.  I then glued on stripes of red foam on the bottom half to make it look like the bag.  I then glued on real popcorn at the top.  On the inside I wrote Come on down to child's name Circus party!!  There will be games, face paintg, a clown and more.  Then I wrote the date, time, etc.  I put them in an envelope and placed a sticker that smelled like popcorn on the back. 

For the decorations I started with the outside.  I hung balloons and streamers on my porch.  I had a sign that said child's name Circus hanging at the bottom of the steps that lead to my house. At the top of the stairs I had an elephant and a clown on either side.(I made the elephant and clown by cutting the shape out from cardboard and then painting on the detials.  I took another piece of cardboard and stapled it onto the back so they would stand by themselves.)  I also had a bubble machine on my front porch that was blowing bubbles everywhere and circus music playing. 

For the inside I had circus flags hanging all around the rooms.(Construction paper cut into triangles with yarn stapled to the back)I also had pictures of circus people and animals hanging on the walls,(Printed pictures off my computer and colored them) and a tight rope walker hanging from the ceilling. (I hung a piece of yarn from the ceiling and then tied a piece of fishing line around a stuffed ballerina and hung it to look like she was walking on the yarn.) I had the kids table set up with a circus table cloth, circus plates, circus napkins, circus tent plastic cups,(orientaltrading.com) red silverware, a clown nose and a circus train as the centerpiece.(I made the train by taking three empty tissue boxes and cut them to look like train cars and then wrapped each one in construction paper. 

Next I took lids from Crystal Light containers and drew lines on them with a marker for the wheels.  I then drew different designs on the sides of the cars with marker.  Finally I took a piece of yarn and attached the boxes together and then placed toy circus animals inside of the boxes.)  I also had a Happy Birthday sign hanging behind the table made out of the circus flags.  I wrote each letter on a separate flag. 

Above the table there were monkeys on the trapeze.(Take empty paper towel rolls and paint them gray.  Then hang them from the ceilling with fishing line or yarn.  Finally attach stuffed monkeys that have velcro on their hands and feet to the rolls)  I also had a table set up that had a red and white table cloth, markers, construction paper, pompoms, and circus themed paddle balls.(orientaltrading.com)  As the kids arrived they made clown hats and colored their paddle balls. 

Once all the kids arrived we ate Lunch.  I had the food stand by the kitchen so it would be easy for me to get the food for the kids.  I took a table and covered it with a red and white tablecloth.  Then I hung a sign that said food in the middle of the table and also hung pictures of hotdogs, popcorn, and soda around the table.(I made the signs the same way as the elephants and clowns. They were just smaller.) On top of the table was another sign that I made from an empty cereal box.  I cut the edges off and folded it in half so it would stand by itself.  Then I painted on pictures of the food we were having.  We had hotdogs, popcorn,(served in popcorn bags from the Dollar Store) apples, carmel dip,cotton candy, nachos and cheese, juice boxes and soda.  The kids told me what they wanted and then I got it for them.  Another adult helped the kids back to the table. 

After Lunch I gave each child a clean popcorn bag and 18 tickets for there prizes and to play the games.  The prizes were: small-circus stickers and tatoos, medium-circus pencils, bubbles and other small toys, large-beanie babies that I got from Ebay.   I took the kids to another room to play the games.  I had the room set up with tables that had red and white tablecloths, a empty vedgie can wrapped in construction paper and decorated, and a game.  Behind the table I had a sign hanging that had the name of the game and what they had to do to win a small, medium, or large prize.   I also had a table set up for face painting and I had a piece of costruction paper that had diffrent pictures that they could choose from. 

For the games we played Gone Fishing-(Draw fish onto a cardboard box with a circle by the mouth and cut them out.  Then paint all the fish and glue on a googly eye on each side.  Take an empty box and cover it with blue construction paper.  Then place fish, starfish, seashells, etc. one the construction paper to help decorate it.  Next cut slits at the top of the box just big enough for the fish to fit in.  Make sure the fish are standing straight up and are easy to be removed from the box.  Then take a dowel rod and tie a piece of yarn to one end.  Tie a paper clip to the other end and bend the clip to make the hook.  Each kid takes the fishing pole and tries to get the hook into the circle attached to the fish and then pull it out of the box.  The number on the fish determines the prize the child gets. 

Circus Bowling-Take empty vegie cans and decorate them to look like different circus characters.  I took construction paper and glued it to the can for the body.  Then I made the head, legs, arm, and tails.  I made lions, tigers, elephants, clowns, and a lion tamer.  I gave each kid a ball and they got two tries to knock the cans over.  Skeet Ball-Take a long cardboard box that still has the flaps on it.  Cut nine holes out of the box and paint a number underneath each hole.  Then cut a plastic bag into pieces and hot glue it to the back of the box so the ball wont fall through.  Also hot glue the top and the two side flaps together.  Have each child roll a ball up the box and into a hole.  The number the ball lands in determins the prize. 

Carrot pull-Take an empty box and cut several holes just big enough for plastic carrots to fit in with some of the carrot still sticking out of the box.  Then wrap the bottom of the box in green construction paper and glue green Easter grass on top of the box.  Wright a number on the bottom of each carrot and place it in the box.  Have the kids pull a carrot from the box and the number determines the prize.  Bean Bag Toss-My mother in law made this game by taking a piece of wood and painting a picture of a clown on it.  Then she cut several holes out of the wood and screwed another piece of wood to the back so it would stand by itself.  She made the bean bags by taking material that had clowns on it and sewing it together and stuffing them with dryed peas.  Each child got five bean bags to toss at the clown.  The number of bags they got in determined the prize. 

Frog Pond-Take a piece of cardboard and paint it blue and then paint small medium and large lilly pads.  I gave the kids a small bean bag frog to toss.  They got to keep throwing the frog until it landed on one of the lilly pads.  The size of the pad determined the prize.  Race Car-Takea big cardboard box that is still together and cut a square from the front of the box for the screen and two holes at the top and two towards the bottom.  Also cut a slit toward the bottom so the kids can put their tickets in the slit.   Next take a long piece of paper and draw a Starting line at one end and a Finsh line at the other end.  Also draw a road, trees, bushes, houses, etc.  Then staple the ends of the paper together making sure it is tight.  Next take the paper and place it inside the box.  Then take a dowel rod and put it through the hole you made at the top of the box.  While doing this take the paper and put the dowel rod through the paper and out the other hole.  Do the same thing at the bottom.  Next take a sterring wheel(I used an old wheel from my sons toy) and attach it to the box makeing sure that you can still turn the wheel.  Make a car out of a piece of heavy paper and poke a piece of wire through the bottom of the car.  Then wrap the wire around the back of the steering wheel.  Make sure when you turn the wheel the car turns in that direction.  Finally I took my sons race car chair and sat it infront of the wheel. 

As the kids played the game I turned the top dowel rod so the paper would move and the kids would try to keep the car on the rode by steering the wheel.  Each child got a piece of candy when they were done playing.  The kids liked this game the most.  Lion Tamer-Take a cardboard box and cut it out into the shape of a person holding a hoop.  Take another piece of cardboard and staple it to the back so it will stand up.  Next paint the person to look like a lion tamer. I also cut red felt to look like flames and glued it to the hoop and put my sons Indiana Jones whip in his other hand.  I gave each child a stuffed lion and had them try to throw it through the hoop.  I gave the kids four tries. The amount of times they got it in determined the prize.  If they didn't get it in at all I still gave them a small prize.  Ring toss-I took my sons big stuffed elephant and tapped it onto a big ball.  I stuck the ball in a box so it wouldn't roll around.  I gave each child four plastic rings and they had to try and get the rings onto the elephant's trunk or over its body.  The amount of rings determined their prize.  While the kids were playing the games I had a clown(my dad) walking around handing out balloons and big lollypops to the kids.  He also joked around with them.  After games it was time for cake and ice cream.  The cake looked like a elephant balancing on a ball.  We bought the pan at a local cake store. For the ice cream I put a scoop on each plate and then added pretzel ears, licorice trunk, and M&M eyes to make it look like a elephant. After cake my son opened his gifts.  Then I made sure all the kids had their prizes, plastic cup, balloon, clown nose, and big lollypop before the kids left.  This party was a lot of work but well worth it.  Everyone had a great time including the adults.