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Carnival 8yr - Clown & Balloon Animals

August 2004

Marilyn in Barrie, Ontario, Canada

Special Mention

For my son's 8th birthday we are having a carnival party. 

Using clipart I downloaded from the net I designed and printed out my own invitations and worded them using phrases from old time carnival's such as Step right up and join the fun etc.  I bought popcorn bags and tickets and put each invitation into a popcron bag and stapled a ticket to it.

As each child arrives they go to the ticket booth (set up so they have to go there before entering the house) and get a small bag (which I printed off and glued together from DLTK's website) with tickets in it for games,food and the booths,they also get a laminated name tag (which I downloaded from the net)in a carnival theme with their name on it.  There is a face painting booth, tattoo booth, balloon animals (I printed off instructions on how to make them off the net and bought the pump and balloons from Wal Mart).  We have two clown costumes one adult and one childs so two people will be dressed up for the occasion.

There are 16 games which I built out of wood such as Ring Toss which is a a 3' x 3' plywood with nails hammered in and the kids toss plastic rings and try to get it on a nail, Bean Bag Toss which is a 4' x 8' clown I painted onto a piece of malamine and had him holding balloons which are cut out for the kids to toss the bean bags through, Waffle Ball which is a 4' x 4' sheet of malamine with tons of holes drilled into it and kids throw ping pong balls onto the table and try to get it in the hole, Lucky lollipop which is a 3' x 3' piece plywood with holes drilled into it and suckers stuck into the holes and some have colored ends for extra prizes, Jar guess which are mason jars filled with bubblegum, gummi bears etc…

Dig for Gold is a styrofoam cooler which I spray painted gold (be very careful when doing this or the paint eats the styrofoam)and filled with rice (you can use sand for an outdoor party)and chocolate coins that I bought at the dollar store which are individually wrapped, these are hidden in the rice and the kids have a certain amount of time to search for them, Pick a Chick is a laundry basket filled with plastic easter eggs and inside 4 eggs are a little yellow chick, the kids search through the basket to find an egg with a chick in it, Potty Toss (my personal favourite) is a large wooden box 2'x 2' with a hole cut in the top and a toilet seat attached and the kids have to toss a ball into the toliet seat to get a prize, Plinko which is a 6' x 4' sheet of plywood with nails hammered in and the kids drop a ball from the top and try to get it in a can at the bottom, Bowling…

Crazy Cans which are 6 empty soup cans stacked in a pyramid and the kids toss a ball at it and try to knock it down, Ball Toss which are empty soup cans in a wooden box and the kids throw a ping pong ball and try to get it into the cans, you can place the prizes in the cans if you wish, Balloon Darts which is a 4' x 6' piece of plywood and lots of small balloons which will be attached to the plywood using tacks,kids throw darts at the the balloons to pop them (you will need adult supervision for this one!), Duck Pond which I purchased a dollar store blow up kiddie pool and lots of rubber ducks, on the bottom of the ducks are coloured dots which correspond to prizes, Lucky Spin which is a wheel cut out of plywood, (this is a miny version of the wheel of forutne wheel)each section on the wheel is a winner, prizes are drawn onto the wheel, Fish Bowl Toss which are glass bowls (purchased at the dollar store)and plastic fish placed inside the bowls and the kids toss ping pong balls into the fish bowls. 

These games have taken months to build and paint.  I bought red, blue, green and yellow paint from mistints at the hardware store and have painted all games bright colours with their names on them.  For decorations I bought tons of balloons and streamers in primary colours and the room will be decorated like a big top tent using streamers with balloons outside and in.  All the plates, napkins, cups and cutlery are in the primary colours.  All prizes were bought at dollar stores such as playdoh, noisemakers, notepads, pencils, gum, candy, puzzles, etc(there are too many to mention) I am also making candy kabobs which I have purchased things like gummi worms, marshmallows, jub jubes etc and they are slid onto wooden scewers and placed in bags and tied with coloured ribbon.  We decided on awarding consolation prizes for each game so the kids didn't feel bad if they didn't win.  Larger prizes will be awarded when the kids win. 

I purchased large primary coloured loot bags from the dollar store to store all their goodies in.  Each child will get a bag of popcorn (I bought large bags and I have divided it into small bags for each child)caramel apple (kits bought at the grocery store)and cotton candy also bought at the grocery store to put into their loots bags.  I will pop some popcorn just before the party so the smell will be in the air as the kids come.  We decided on a barbeque of hamburgers and hotdogs with salads, fruit and veggies and dip, I bought drinking boxes for all the kids which will be placed in a huge cooler for them to take as they want to.  Instead of a cake I decided to draw a picture of a clown on bristol board and have streamers going from his hand up to cupcakes (which look like balloons)and are decorated with primary colour icing. 

There are approximately 20 kids coming so I have hired some young girls to help out with the games.  I wanted a relaxed atmosphere this year so it is not a structured party, the kids come in, get their tickets and go play games.  The food will be ready so they can eat whenever they choose and things don't have to stop.  Inside each loot bag I have placed a thank you card for each child which I downloaded from the net in a carnival theme.  Fortunately I used leftover material from our building site to build all the games.  I have spent many months (about 8)building, painting and purchasing things for this party and I can't wait to see how it comes together.  Happy Birthday !!!!!!!!!!

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