Carnival Themed Backyard Birthday Party For Kids

When it comes to planning a birthday party for a child, we usually look for creative ideas. Every year we sit down and try to come up with something different and unique. This past spring, my sister came to me and asked me to help her plan a party for her 8 year old son.

We wanted to do something fun for him and we came up with a backyard carnival theme. Once we came up with the theme, it was time to plan the entertainment, food and games. Here are the ideas we came up with.

Interactive Entertainment Ideas

1. Hire a professional or have a friend dress up as a clown.
2. Hire a face painter or temporary tattoo artist.

Carnival Style Games

You can make your own game supplies or purchase ready-made games. If you are looking to save money, then try some of the ideas below.

1. Bowling Pins Game – Take ten empty 1 liter soda bottles and remove the labels. Fill bottles 1/2 way with sand or dirt. You will need a few tennis balls or bocce balls. Object is to let the kids roll the balls down to the pins. If they knock them all over they win a prize.

2. Ring Toss Game – Take ten empty 1 liter soda bottles and remove the labels. Fill bottles completely full with dirt or sand. Purchase several plastic flying discs or rings. Have children throw the rings at the bottles, if one lands around the neck of the bottle, they win a prize.

note: you can spray paint the bottles if you want to decorate them.

3. Rubber Ducky – Purchase 10-15 plastic or rubber ducks from your local dollar store. Use a metal wash bin or a small inflatable baby pool. Using a sharpie marker, number the bottoms of the ducks. Float the ducks in the wash bin and let the children select a duck to win the coordinating prize marked on the bottom.

4. Penny Toss – Set up 10-15 glass or plastic dishware items at various heights. Have the children stand 5-10 feet away from the display and toss pennies at the items. If a penny lands in one of the containers, the child wins a prize.

5. Ball Toss – Purchase 5 round plastic bins from the dollar store. You will also need 15 tennis balls. Set the bins up 10 feet from the throwing line. Each child gets 3 tennis balls to throw towards the bin of their choice. If a ball lands in the bin, they win a prize.

Game Prizes

You can visit your local dollar store and pick up some great things to use for prizes. Here are some ideas: stuffed animals, sticker books, coloring books, die cast metal cars, travel-size games, art supplies, candy, etc.

Food For The Party

You can go all out with the food or you can keep it simple with hot dogs, hamburgers, grilled vegetables, chips, pretzels, cake and ice cream. If you really want to add to the Carnival theme, provide candy apples, funnel cakes, cotton candy and sno-cones. These days, you can buy or rent cotton candy and snow cone machines inexpensively. Check out your local discount department stores such as Kmart, Target and Walmart, you can usually buy home-versions of the machines for less than the cost of renting them from a party supply store. You will need a wide variety of beverages such as soft drinks and juice.

Party Decorations

You will need a lot of helium balloons in festive primary bold colors. If you are looking to save money, purchase them from your local dollar store, if money isn’t an issue, you can purchase them from a party supply store. We decorated our mini carnival game booths with primary colored pennant flag streamers to match the colors of our balloons. You can usually buy this on 100 foot rolls. You will need additional decorations such as plastic tablecloths for your picnic tables, centerpieces, party hats and party loot bags…all of these can be purchased inexpensively from your local dollar store or party supply store.

To plan a party of this magnitude, it’s best to sit down and make a list of all of the games that you would like to have along with the supplies that you will need for each game. Take your list to your local discount store and purchase what you can to save money. Your next stop should be the party supply store. Recruit the help of some teenagers to help run the carnival games at the party. The most important thing to remember is to plan ahead, get organized and then throw a memorable and fun birthday party.

Shelly Hill is a busy mother and grandmother and enjoys party planning and entertaining friends. You can contact Shelly via her website at: http://www.workathomebusinessoptions.com or at http://my.tupperware.com/Ravish30 or her recipe blog at http://wahmshelly.blogspot.com