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Carnival Party - Candy Apples

July 2000

Julie in Colonia NJ USA

1st Runner-Up

CJ's Carnival Party Lots of preparation..but LOTS OF FUN!!

THE INVITATIONS READ: Step Right Up and Join the Fun CJs carnival party will be the best one!! Games, prizes, face painting and more, cotton canny, popcorn, treats galore!!  The festivities can't start until you arrive so we'll see you (the date) from 2 until 5.  We need to know if you are coming so we can plan, so give us a call as soon as you can..then give your phone number.  Then it said  (your last name) Fairgrounds and give your address!  I went out and put balloons cut out of multi colored poster board that said CJ and had arrows for directions.  I attached an admission ticket to each invitation and had the kids REDEEM them at the ticket booth, which was a refrigerator box cut out and decorated in red and white fabric & crepe paper.

I of course did my TRADEMARK balloon arch at the end of the driveway, all in primary colors..balloons everywhere!!!  I also placed pinwheels along each side of the driveway heading up to the ticket booth..they are cute and at the end of the party, throw them in the loot bags!!  I found a great calliope record that I put on tape so we had circus/carnival music playing what a great time that was!!! I pre-made cotton candy and put it in medium sized plastic bags..that way each child could take one to eat or put in their loot bag and also its hard to make cotton candy with a line of children..hers is bigger than mine, I want a red cone, I want a blue cone :)I did fire up the cotton candy machine for some, but most of the kids took what was on the table.  

I also pre-made the candy apples, small apples work great!  And the smell of popcorn popping, that was well worth the cost of the rental. At the ticket booth each child got a large shopping bag with their child's name on it and inside they each got a name tag , a baggie with 8 tickets, one for each game, a ticket for the ANIMAL CRACKER GUESS (just animal crackers in a round bowl with a lid), a voucher for each of our fun food ( cotton candy, candy apples, juice boxes, popcorn, sandy candy) girls had a HAIR BEADS coupon and the boys had a TATTOO station coupon and they all had one that said FACE PAINTING.  Also, their plastic loot bag for the piñata was in the bag, already with their name on it.  

I had 8 different carnival games, each assigned a color to coordinate with its ticket..Example..Wheel Game ~ Red Tickets and I had a red sign at the wheel that said WHEEL GAME for those youngsters who couldn't read yet.  I did a Duck Pond Toss in a small pool and also had the weighted ducks swimming in the pool and had the Duck Bucks game, finding the ducks with the $$ on the bottoms. Crazy Kans, Pin the nose on the clown,(made out of posterboard, I drew a big clown face and each child used a red round sticker with their name on it to see who got closest) ping pong toss ( into plastic goblets) ring toss with soda bottles, and a great water arcade game I  found on ebay…just like the water race games on the boardwalk. 

There were 8 different prizes, one for each game and they put the prizes right into the shopping bags.  It was one win choice and once everyone won they could go back and play as many times as they wanted. Some of the prizes were…plush animals, keychains, foam visors & inflatable beach balls..but you could use happy meal type toys, tattoos, stickers, candy, pencils, crayons..depending on the age group.  My son turned 4 and most of the kids were between 4 and 7. 

The kids got their bags and did face painting, beads or tattoos until all the guests arrived and then we did all the games. I walked around with my digital camera and took pictures of each child doing a game or participating in something.  When the clown arrived to do the balloon animals all of the loot bags went to LOOT BAG ALLEY, just a table I had set up, where I could make sure each child had one winning prize from each game and at that time take out their plastic loot bag for the pinata and place it at their place setting on the kids table each chair with a balloon with their name.

I went in to my PC and uploaded the digicam pics, then added the date and "CJ's carnival party" and printed them onto iron on transfer paper.  As I printed one, my sister ironed them on to a white t shirt. Another reason why you need to know exactly who is coming, to get t shirts in the correct sizes..hard of you have a show up you weren't expecting, but I had a few extra t shirts just in case.  Its always good to have extras of everything in case someone comes with an older or younger sibling.  We placed the t shirts in the loot bags with a thank you card I had pre printed and had my son sign, and a few thank you gifts..yo - you balloon, one Magic Wand (chocolate covered marshmallow pops I make) birthday bubbles and a handful of mini Hershey type bars that I printed wrappers that said thank you and the date again. 

I then took the bags and put them into a LARGE DECORATED BOX that I hid on my side porch.  I was lucky that I had the hour while the clown was entertaining to do all of that..you really need to have help at these things.  I had parents and older kids running the games as a help also. 

After the clown left we did the pinata.  One suggestion I do have is that make little baggies with candy and tie them together and put them in the piñata so when it breaks they find the bag with their name, instead of scrambling for candy…Ill try that at the next party. 

I made cupcakes in ice cream cones and the kids decorated them themselves with red hots and sprinkles and mini chocolate chips.  I made Jell-O jigglers in the shapes of balloons, clowns and carousel horses and had fruit kabobs.  Cupcakes are so much better than cake, less waste and no plates!!  Everything was done in primary colors and there is no such thing as too many balloons!!!  We ended the day with the "loot bag treasure hunt" where I read off the first clue and the kids go from clue to clue and the last clue leads to the box with all of the loots bags and they see the new stuff I added and the t shirts were a HIT!!!!!!!!!  Half of the kids changed right into them! 

We then picked the winner of the animal cracker guess..they won the bowl and sent everyone home with a loaded loot bag and a smile!!!

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