Friday, March 2, 2012

A Carnival Birthday Party

In NJ the weather is cold and snowy, so I thought I'd warm things up a bit by sharing the details of my daughters 8th birthday party last summer!


The Theme: 
A Carnival Birthday Party! 

Planning a Birthday CARNIVAL is possibly one of the most exciting party themes I've worked with.

If you're a crafty DIY kind of person, this theme will be a dream come true

If you're not, don't worry, you can pretty much find every carnival related thing imaginable for sale or rent online. 

Either way, your CARNIVAL PARTY will be the talk of the town, and the kids (and parents) will have a BLAST!









 YOU'RE INVITED TO KAYLA'S BIRTHDAY CARNIVAL...


 My first project was the invitations.
When I bought the invitations they looked like this.. 
Cute - but a little to young for my big 8 year old! 

So after working some magic with my exact-o knife this is 
what I came up with...

I used these invitations as my starting point and designed the rest of the 
party details and decorations to match.

I printed up matching tags for the party favors -
 Our older guests took home T-Shirts printed up to read  
"I had a Blast at Kayla's Birthday Carnival"  
and the younger guests were given bubbles and sand toys.


GAMES
What fun is a carnival without games?!
With a little help from the Birthday Girl and Oriental Trading, 
I was able to recreate some of the most popular carnival games..
 
 Bean Bag Toss

Balloon Darts 
(Supervision required - Thanks Tara!)
To make this we used large cork board, thumb tacks, small balloons and darts for playing
(I was smart enough to recruit Alison and Matt for balloon blowing duty!)

Duck Pond
I wanted to make sure there was a game for everyone and 
this was a hit with the younger guests

 
Slip and Slide
We set up two of these in the front yard and the kids loved racing down them

 The Main Attraction
The Dunk Tank
We rented this from a local party supply and this was a huge hit with everyone!

Prize Table
After playing each game, win or lose, the kids were given tickets to trade in for prizes

Some Other Attractions

Balloon Animals


Silly Photo Board

The Food
We wanted to stick with classic carnival food so I served
Popcorn chicken
French fries
Sliders
Mini corn dogs 
We put all the food in these cute popcorn boxes that I found at the party store. 
I cut the boxes in half for smaller portions and printed up the "popcorn" stickers.


And of course Cotton Candy 

And last but not least THE CAKE (always my favorite part!)



A perfect end to the perfect party!
-Dana

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12 comments:

  1. It looks like an amazing party! So bright and fun.I would love it if you would share this on my blog party this weekend. Hope you can join in.

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  2. Wow this is GREAT!

    I'd love for you to come link up this post at my From Scratch Friday linkup going on now!

    Christina @ Marriage from Scratch
    http://marriagefromscratch.blogspot.com/2012/03/from-scratch-friday-5.html

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  3. Hi Girls! Your header brought a smile to my face. I am a mom of four daughters. I also live in NJ but more south of you. I live near Cherry Hill.

    I have perused several of your posts and enjoyed each one. So nice stopping by to meet you.

    Kindly, Lorraine

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  4. What a fun party! And that cake is gorgeous!

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  5. How creative you are! I know those girls had a blast. Love every detail, especially the cake - wow.

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  6. You are invited to participate in my blog hop:
    http://juliejewels1.blogspot.com/2012/03/show-your-stuff-13-chocolate-cover.html

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  7. What a cute idea for a birthday party theme! And that cake is beautiful!

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  8. Wow! That cake is great and the party looked like so much fun!

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  9. Cute idea!! We are so glad that you linked up to "Strut Your Stuff Saturday." Hope you'll be back next week! -The Sisters

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  10. Great cake! The party looks like a lot of fun! Thank you for sharing at Potpourri Friday! I always appreciate your participation!

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  11. What a great party. Beautiful cake. It looks like you had some fabulous activities for the kids. I would love for you to share at the weekly Fri-monday Anything Goes linky at Bacon Time.

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  12. How fun!!! What a fantastic party, her smile says it all! thank you for linking up to Uncommon! bonnie :)

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