Clown Around at a Carnival Birthday Party

Bring the excitement of a Carnival Birthday Party right to your own backyard!

It's easy to do, and loads of fun!

Carnival Birthday Party Invitations

Bounce House Invitations would be a great choice for this party theme! They are festive and fun, and get the kids excited about what's in store.

Popcorn bags also make adorable invitations.

Buy red and white striped popcorn bags here, or make your own by using red and white striped paper.

Cut a rectangle out of yellow cardstock (cut thin enough to fit inside the bag, and long enough to stick out of the top).

Cut the top edge in a "cloud" shape to look like a mound of popcorn.

Print all of the party details on the cardstock.

Carnival Birthday Party Decorations

• Carnival booths: For each booth, cover a large box with a brightly colored plastic tablecloth. Use empty wrapping paper rolls to prop up a posterboard sign with each booth's name. Decorate with balloons, streamers, curling ribbon, etc.



• Balloons and Streamers: Put these everywhere to create a party-ful atmosphere!



• Carnival Tents: If it's going to be a hot day, pitch some carnival tents for shade. They make a great addition to this party theme!

Carnival Game Ideas

• Face painting: Kids love to have their faces painted! Make sure you enlist extra hands to help out at this table because there's sure to be a long line.



• Penny toss: Cover the sides of 5 or 6 small little rubbermaid bowls with different colors of brightly colored wrapping paper. Use masking tape to adhere them to a square of cardboard or plywood, covered with a contrasting colored wrapping paper. Standing at a starting line, let the kids try to toss pennies into the bowls. Have coordinating bags or buckets available. If they toss a penny into the yellow bowl, they get a prize from the yellow bucket...etc.



• Feed the Clown Bean Bag Toss: Paint a clown face with a big, open smile onto a piece of foam board. Prop the board up against a stool or something to make it stand up, or you can use another piece of foam board to create an easel. Have the kids toss bean bags into the clowns mouth to "feed the clown!"



• Bottle bowling: Add some sand to 6 or 7 empty 2-Liter soda bottles, then turn them into clowns by attaching styrofoam ball "heads" to the mouths of the bottles. Use felt, pom-poms, curling ribbon, markers, stickers, etc. to make the face, hair and clothing. Stand the bottles up in a pyramid shape, then have the kids toss a ball at them to see how many they can knock down!



• Fishing: Cut fish shapes out of different colors of foam, then attach paper clips to their mouths. Put some water in a baby pool for the fish to "swim" in. String magnets onto stick poles and let the kids go fishing for a prize! Have different color bags or buckets filled with little prizes available. If they catch a red fish, they get a prize from the red bucket...if the catch a blue fish, they get a prize from the blue bucket...etc.

Water Balloon Toss: A perfect outdoor activity that's loads of fun!

Water Gun Blast: Balance lightweight balls on top of empty water or soda bottles. Use water guns to blast the balls off of the bottles.

More Carnival Booth Ideas

Here are some more ideas that would be a great addition to your carnival birthday party:

• Balloon Animals
• Magic Show
• Jumpy Inflatables (like a Moonwalk)
• Hire a Clown for entertainment

Carnival Party Favors

Use all of the prizes that the kids win throughout the day as their party favors.

Some ideas for prizes are noisemakers, pinwheels, clown noses, stickers, candy, and little plastic toys that can be bought in bulk.

Use popcorn bags or boxes to hold all of the goodies, or make your own goody bags by decorating containers with brightly colored stickers, polka dots cut out of cardstock, and glitter.

Carnival Party Food

A carnival birthday party calls for classic carnival food! Here are some good, old-fashioned favorites:

• Hot dogs or corn dogs
• Popcorn
• Chips
• Caramel Apples (or apple slices with caramel dip)
• Cotton Candy
• Sno-Cones

For a real carnival feel, you can rent popcorn machines, cotton candy machines, and sno-cone makers from your local rental supply store.

Carnival Birthday Party Cake

Well, kind of...

How about Carnival Birthday Party Ice Cream Clowns?

They are SOOOO adorable and easy to make! Here's what you need to do:

Spread open cupcake liners and scoop a ball of ice cream onto each one. Place an upside down ice cream cone on each scoop to make a clown hat. Put them in the freezer while preparing the frosting.

Using decorating bags fitted with star tips, pipe hair on each side of the ice cream, pompoms on the hats, borders around the bottom of the hats, and ruffled collars around the base of the ice cream ball.

Make the face by using chocolate chips for the eyes, half of a cherry for the nose, and red licorice for the mouth. Keep frozen until ready to serve.

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