Circus Party and Carnival Party Ideas

Throw a fabulous Circus Party with these fun ideas.

Invitations

Purchase paper popcorn bags. Cut a rectangle out of yellow construction or scrapbook paper. At the top cut out half circles.

Wrap up a small bag of cotton candy. Tie a pretty ribbon on it with a tag that has your party info on it.

Use ready made "circus party food" cards. Hot dogs, cotton candy, lollipops, popcorn, funnel cakes, and candy.

Make clown party invitation. Use scrapbook supplies, stickers, foam, pom-poms, wiggly eyes, and any other fun things you can think of.

Party Costumes

Have everyone come dressed as a clown. Or you can supply the party costumes. If you want to make it easy, just supply a red nose and let them make their own Party hats

Another great circus costume idea is to ask the kids to come as a circus oddity. Bearded Woman, Strong Man, Monkey Boy, ect.

Ask a parent or hire a teen to dress up like a clown. If your budget allows, you can hire a real clown. They will entertain the kids with magic tricks, balloon animals and party games.

Party Decorations

The Circus Party is a great party to have in your back yard or a park. If the weather is bad, or if you just don't have access to a yard or park, do it inside. It's a fun party either way.

The colors for this party are red, blue, and yellow. Bright and cheery.

Make a ticket stand out of pvc pipe and duck tape. Take two 6 foot pieces of pvc pipe. Duck tape them to a table front. Add a poster board sign across the top that says, "Ticket Booth". Add a skirt at the bottom to cover up the table and tape. Decorate with streamers. Give each guest tickets to play the games.

Play circus music loud and clear. As your guests walk into your party area, have a bubble machine blowing.

As the children walk into the party area, it needs to be very lively and colorful. Set up tents for all your games for the Carnival Party. Or make one big tent for the Circus Party. Stretch a large piece of canvas and secure the four corners to fences, the back of the house, trees, ect. Put a long piece of pvc pipe in the middle. You'll have to push it in the ground a bit. This is for the circus party.

For more of a carnival atmosphere, you can rent white canopies or borrow them from friends and family. These are perfect for the games and food to be served from.

Lots of balloons and streamers for this party theme. Rent round tables and place them in the middle of your yard. Surround the tables with the game tents.

Use red, yellow, or blue tablecloths. For your centerpieces, take one clown mylar balloon and two latex balloons, tie curly ribbon on each one and bunch together.

Secure with a balloon weight. If you can't find balloon weights, you can make them. Fill a balloon with about 1/4 cup of sand and tie. Cover with tulle and ribbon.

Set circus animals around the balloon bouquet. Lay plastic popcorn holders on their sides and have popcorn spilling out. You can also purchase cupcake trees. Make colorful cupcakes with lots of sprinkles and place in holder. It is part of the decorations and the kids can eat them as well.

If you're just wanting a Big Top feel, place benches around in a circle and mark out three rings in the middle with water hoses. Play all of your games in them.

For your Party Supplies like cups and plates, you can order online, visit your local party store, or just use plain red, yellow, or green. Curious George is cute and so is Jo-Jo's Circus.

Create your own little trapezes out of dowel rods cut into 12 inch lengths. Tie string on the ends and hot glue to secure. With fishing wire secure stuffed monkeys to the trapezes. Keep out the reach of little hands.

Cut "animal cages" out of appliance boxes. Set large stuffed animals inside.

Games and Activities

Set up a table with colors, markers, and Circus Coloring Page.

Purchase a Balloon Animals Kit and let the Clown helper make balloons for the kids. They only have to know a few.

A tiger or any animal pinata would be great fun.

Tie a balloon on one ankle with ribbon. Have the kids try to bust the other players balloons. The last one with a balloon left, wins.

Make Clown Hats

Pin the Nose on the Clown

• Fishing Pond
• Ring Toss
• Coin Toss
• Basketball Hoop
• Bean Bag Toss

Food and Drinks

This topper is a great way to create an easy circus cake.

Or frost a two layer cake. Set plastic circus animals on top.

Make a carousel cake. Bake a 8 inch round cake. Ice. Bake horse cookies and frost. Place a support in the middle. You can use the tube from a roll of paper towels. Cover with ribbon. Use small dowel rods for the outside supports. Place a flat plastic plate on top of the supports. Set a 4 inch iced cake on that. Secure the horses to the dowel rods with icing.

Or make this cute Lion Cake.

Lion Cake

Serve traditional circus and carnival fare.

• Hotdogs
• Cotton Candy
• Popcorn
• Funnel Cakes
• Frito Chili Pie
• Peanuts
• Pretzels
• Nachos
• Cracker Jacks
• Ice Cream Cones

• Rootbeer(Virgil's is my favorite)
• Fresh squeezed lemonade

Give prizes at the games and put in a bag at the end of the Circus Party. Purchase red gift bags. Make a clown face out of scrapbook supplies. Glue onto the front of bag. Tie red, blue, and yellow curly ribbon on it with a thank you tag attached.

Ideas for prizes...

• Yo-yo's
• Silly Putty
• Stuffed Animals
• Kazoos
• Funny Glasses
• Magic Tricks
• Small Balls
• Stickers
• Whistles
• Box of Animal Crackers
• Jacks

Here's a really cute favor box.

Curious George Deluxe Favor Set

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