My son turned 11 years old on May 10th. For months I pondered over how we should celebrate. It was a difficult task because the age group of his friends ranged from 5 to 16 years old. I first started with a birthday theme. There were several that would appeal to all of the children in his age group but the theme that best fit was a Carnival. Once I decided on the carnival theme, I have to devise a plan that mapped out the location, equipment, food, games, prizes and activities.
I began my research with the internet. I started my internet search with carnival games, equipment and ideas. The search was a great resource of the types of games and activities that would add a carnival atmosphere to my backyard. We live in El Paso Texas, also known as Sun City, so there was no doubt that the carnival birthday party would take place in my own backyard. By having the party at home, I was able to save lots of money instead of using a party rental space. I began calling party rental vendors in the area to see what type of carnival equipment they had available.
My first mission was to get carnival booths. Nonetheless, there were no carnival booths for rent in the surrounding area. So, I went to my next option which was renting 10×10 tents that had red and white striped canopies from my local party supply vendor. To help create that carnival atmosphere, I placed two 10×10 tents side by side in one open area. Under each tents I included one 10 foot table and two chairs. I placed the tables in the middle of each tent. These tables were used to display table-top carnival games. Hint: Make sure delivery, set-up and breakdown is including in the cost of the rentals.
To continue with the carnival theme, the foods of choice for the party were cotton candy, popcorn, hotdogs, cupcakes, and individual variety bags of potato chips also little individual packed juice cups such as boxed drinks. I rented a cotton candy and popcorn machines. Some party rental vendors may also have snow cone and hot dog machines. I set up a separate 10 foot table area as the food booth. Instead of renting a hot dog machine, I used a large crock-pot. I fully cooked the hot dogs and left them on warm so the kids would enjoy fresh hot, hot dogs. Of course, the hot dogs came with all the fixings such as hot dog buns, ketchup, mustard and relish. The popcorn and cotton candy machines were a great hit for the kids.
They enjoyed seeing the cotton candy being spun onto the cones. The party supply vendor provided all of the popcorn and cotton candy supplies as well. These supplies included red and white stripped popcorn bags, cotton candy cones, cotton candy mix, paper hot dog holders, clear bags to cover the cotton candy and an all-in-one popcorn package which included salt butter and kernels. The supplies were very inexpensive and came in abundance. Your party rental vendor can help you determine how much supplies you’ll need for your size party. You can also serve nachos with hot cheese, French fries, pickles, corn-on-a-stick, candy apples or other carnival favorites.
Another important part of the carnival atmosphere is the prize booth. I created a prize booth by visiting my local dollar stores. Many dollar stores have a wide variety of small games and toys that appeal to children of all ages. Your biggest decisions in selecting these toys are to make sure the games or toys appeal to both boys and girls. You can also include candy as a carnival prize. I got lots of individually wrapped candies by the bags and offered each piece as a prize. If you’re going to have prizes, you have to have prize tickets. These tickets determine which prize the winner is able to select.
How does the prize booth works?
The prize booth is a space that displays and stores prizes won at the gaming booths. Once a child has won a game, they receive a ticket. They can collect tickets and visit the prize booth. Each prize is labeled based on how many tickets you think it is worth. For instance, stuffed animals were worth 10 tickets while a single bubble gum was worth 1 ticket. Once the winner brings the ticket to the prize booth they are able to select as many prizes as their ticket or tickets allow.
Hint: Be well stocked with prizes. The stuffed animals and water guns were in highest demand.
What are some game ideas?
Many toy stores or department stores such as Target or Walmart carry carnival styled games. However, you can be creative at creating your own games. I was able to purchase 5 carnival styled games, such as the laser shooting games and real arcade-style basketball game, from Walmart. These games were very inexpensive. I also looked for games that were similar to carnival games I researched on the internet.
I marked an “x” on the bottom of one of the ducks and called it a “guess which duck is marked” game. I used an old idea with a twist and included a fortune teller. Although, the fortune teller was an IQ game I purchased during Christmas. This game simply tells you what a person is thinking based on a series of questions. This was a hit because I had a young friend dress up as a fortune teller and sit in a child-size tent for a dark, hide-a-way setting. A simple sign outside of the tent will really bring the kids in to get their fortunes told. Target and Walmart have several themed children tents, such as castles that can only be purchased online. To help the children exert some energy, I rented 10×10, 30 foot tall clown bouncing balloon (see photo). This was truly a hit for the entire day.
Here are some other ideas to consider.
Add more to your carnival birthday party by serving carnival style cupcakes instead of a birthday cake and add circus marching music in the background. Don’t forget to add carnival signs at your gaming, prize and food booths. Handwrite them, don’t buy them. Handwritten signs add more character to the carnival scene. Make sure you have lots of help from friends, family or other parents. You will need at least 2 people at the gaming area, 1 person at the food booth, 1 person at the prize booth and 1 fortune teller. No carnival is complete without the carnival park rules. Display these rules at the entrance of the carnival. Make sure the children have read and understand how they should act when enjoying the carnival activities.
How to create party invitations?
I shopped around for the perfect party invitation. I found a birthday invitation in the shape and design of an admission ticket. Although the inside of the ticket did not have space for the handwritten information I needed to provide to the invitees, I typed the information on the computer and then inserted the ticket invitation for printing. It took some time to get everything lined up properly but they came out perfect. Invitations were distributed two and a half weeks before the party date. Three days before the party, we also distributed lollipop reminders. The reminders were simple Dumb Dumb lollipops with address labels around the sticks to remind the children of the date and time of the party.
We were all once children too! When planning a birthday party think about those memories that made you smile as a child. You can create the perfect birthday party celebrate with a little creativity and lots of planning. Good Luck!
