Carnival Theme Party

Creating memories is the purpose of an over the top birthday celebration.  Through the creation of there memories those in attendance will always remember the person being celebrated long into the future.  Creating these over the top celebrations is not always easy and can take a large amount of money to pull off correctly.  That is the purpose to this blog, to help provide ideas to others who want to throw the epic celebrations but do not have a lot of money to do so.  The great part about this is that all it takes is a little imagination, ingenuity and time to create a birthday celebration that is both well executed and memorable. 

In the past I have been involved in many different parties for numerous different purposes but the 30^th birthdays seem to be the ones that go a little beyond the rest not only in detail but also in scale, time and planning for an almost perfect execution.  As a result, a majority of the parties that are addressed in the blog are all 30^th birthday parties that I have been involved in creating. 

The 30^th birthday carnival began as a joke two years before the birthday girl’s actual 30^th birthday around a fire pit in the back yard.  She was talking with a friend; the two shared a 30^th birthday date within a month of each other and were talking about combining their parties together to make the celebration even more over the top.  They decided that they wanted a dunk tank, ball put, jumping castle and mini rollercoaster at their party.  In short, they wanted a carnival.  Fast forward two years and the financial realities were that none of the wish list was going to be possible so something else needed to be done.  There were talks of having a monster/horror themed birthday party, a 20’s themed prohibition/gangster party or to stay with the carnival theme.  In the end, one of the birthday girls backed out and had her own party with her own theme leaving the original birthday girl to have her own solo party.  It was decided to keep with the carnival theme because it would not be something that was expected, truth is that most guests would have expected the monster/horror theme so it was perfect.

With the theme chosen, not began the process of attempting to execute the party in the most cost effective manner possible.  A large chunk of the budget was already allocated to renting Sumo Suits, the only thing that was requested directly from the birthday girl (yes she knew the theme almost right away).  With over 1/3 of the budget gone just on one component of the party I needed to get creative.  Here is how I managed to pull of a full carnival on a very limited budget.

The venue:  Where to have a party is always a difficult part of the party planning.  Since we did not have very much budget remaining we asked a friend to host the party in his back yard.  After a little bargaining, and a plan for crowd control when it came to using the bathrooms inside his house he agreed.  Cost: FREE

Invitations: The invitations were created using a scrapbooking program on the computer to make them personalized as well as fun.  The invitation is the first step in the party, it makes the first impression and this invitation did just that.  In addition to it being a first impression it also helped to control the number of guests that were invited by having some only receiving an ADMIT ONE ticket to the carnival or couples who received ADMIT TWO tickets.  This also helped decrease the number of invitations that needed to be printed.  Once created, they were copied on a color copier at a local office supply store onto cardstock and assembled.  Again to save money, the invitations were divided up among close friends to distribution.  Only three invitations were actually mailed, this saved a lot of money on postage.   

The invitation and envelope

Games: Creating the atmosphere of a carnival was a combination of the décor and the games that were chosen. Here is a list of the games that we did:

Ring toss:  I asked a friend who is a bartender at a local pub to save empty beer bottles in the cases so that we can have a ring toss.  Another friend actually had rings and allowed them to be used at the party.  The rings were stored in a colorful sand pail when not in use so they would not get lost in-between players.  Placing the bottles on the ground with a piece of wood also on the ground to stand behind to throw the rings from and the game is complete.  Each person did their own thing and it was the honor system, if someone won then they could take a prize.  

Ring Toss

The prizes were handing in between two trees behind the ring toss.  This was not only practical but also added to the décor and overall carnival esthetic.  Prizes for the ring toss were noise making stuffed animal key chains that were purchased out of a clearance bins a local toy store, and I had a coupon for 20%off my entire purchase.  There were enough prized for each person to win one key chain.

Bean Bag Toss: Using empty juice mix containers and a large bag of rice, scrap fabric, needle, thread, paint and glue are all that is needed to create this carnival game.  I filled each of the empty plastic containers with rice and glued the lids on before painting the containers with bright colors.  The bean bags that were thrown at the completed containers were nothing more than bags of rice that I made on my sewing machine out of scrap fabric and rice.  The canisters were stacked up on top of a small table that was found in the garage and a piece of wood was placed on the ground to throw from. 

BeanBag toss

 The bean bags were stored in colorful sand pails when not in use so they would not get lost in between players. Each person did their own thing and it was the honor system, if someone won then they could take a prize.  The prizes were in a basket on the floor in front of the table.  Prizes for the ring toss were plush Angry Birds finger puppets that were purchased out of a clearance bins a local toy store, and I had a coupon for 20%off my entire purchase.  There were enough prized for each person to win one finger puppet.

Balloon pop game.  Complete with safety barriers, carnival bunting,
carnival "tent" and repursposed "balloon" throwing line.

BalloonPop:

This is the most dangerous game that we had at the party because of the use of real darts.  The darts that we used were found in a basement and were quite rusty so beyond the obvious concerns of someone getting hit by a dart, there was the added concern of tetanus.  As a result of these concerns, extra planning and precautions were made in regards to this game.  First was the placement of the game itself.  We did not want any part of the party events to be down range from then darts.  Also since there were four different dart boards that can be chosen from a plan for darts that miss all together needed to be put into place.  Additionally there was a concern that people might walk through the range and end up in the line of fire so the area needed to be secured in some way.  All of these potential problems were addressed, the boards were suspended between tow trees away from the remainder of the party and a tarp was hung behind the boards to catch any stray darts.  Behind the tarp was a row of trees that acted as a natural barrier but just to be safe additional banners were placed to discourage wondering. 

The entire area was also roped off to prevent someone wondering into the line of fire.  The boards themselves were made out of plain plywood (scraps from another project for this same party) that was covered with colorful fabric using a stapler.  Mini bulldog clips were attached to the boards using a stapler as well to hold the balloons.  This allowed the balloons to be easily replaced by everyone as the balloons were popped.  Each balloon had a small toy or piece of candy inside so as they were popped the prizes would drop to the ground so the winner to claim. 

Extra balloons for Balloon pop game

 Extra balloons were into an empty tub next to the game for easy restocking so the board reminded full at all times.  The line to throw the darts from was created through recycling the wood lollypops used in a previous party (Wizard of Oz) and repainting them to look like balloons on the reverse side.  The darts were placed in a colorful sand pail that was nailed to a tree so they would not get     

lost in between players.

Jumbo Bowling: This was the least involved game at the entire carnival.  I found this bowling set on sale for $3.00 the week before the party and just purchased it as something extra to have.

Décor: Creating the atmosphere of a carnival was a combination of the décor and the games that were chosen. Here is a list of the décor:

Entrance into Carnival

Entrance “Tent”: This was created using poles from an old and broken camping tarp that was found in the garage and some colorful curtains purchased at a local home good store in the clearance sections.  Using in store coupons brought the cost down even further.

The entire thing was assembled on the ground then stood up and anchored to the ground utilizing stakes and rope.  The rope was a potential safety hazard, so a few pieces of reflective tape were placed on the ropes so they could be seen after dark.  The Happy Birthday sign is something that has been used at Birthday parties for years, it was attached to some remaining poles from the same camping tarp and placed next to the entrance.   

Carnival “Tents”: Using a hula hoop and some old twin bed sheets that were cut into strips and a sewing machine these “tents” were created. 

Carnival "tent"

The tops are sewn together to give it some stricture but the bottoms were left unattached to allow them to blow in the breeze.  This also allow them to be used at a Halloween party in the future is desired because they are a little creepy when they are moving.  They were suspended from trees in location where they would be out of the way but still be effective as décor. 

Carnival Banners: There were also created out of old bed sheets that were cut into triangles and sewn to florist ribbon that was purchased at a local thrift store (50 yards of 2 inch ribbon for $0.50).  These were stapled to trees all over the party and created a sort of continuity throughout the entire space. 

 Snack Bar: This was created using cardboard, paint and some scrap fabric from left over from the carnival “tents”.   This was hung above the food.  While it was not all the types of food being served at the party it got the point across. 

Photo Wall: Created out of plywood and some old large picture frames that were painted bright different colors and attached to the plywood that was precut and covered in wallpaper.  The entire thing was stood up and different props were provided to allow for guests to create their own memories at the photo “wall”.  A camera on a tripod with a timer set allowed guests to take their own pictures throughout the event.

Fun at the photo wall

Misc: Plastic tablecloth purchased in a large roll provided barriers as well as other necessary elements of the décor.  Christmas light were placed in different areas of the party for when it got dark outside to provide some dim lighting.  Spot lights were placed on the games to allow guests to play long after it got dark.  Since this was an October Party in the evening, it got dark early, so lighting was very important.  Balloons of every color were attached to poles and placed in the ground for additional color. 

More to come...