Sunday, December 13, 2009

Carnival Theme Birthday Party


My grandson has just recently celebrated his sixth birthday. My daughter, his mom, spent countless hours preparing a party that my grandson and all his friends will remember for some time. The theme of the party? A carnival. And what a carnival it was!
The party was held at a hall as quite a few of his friends from school were invited along with other playmates and friends of his and his parents. A big bounce was rented which supplied entertainment for the 27 or so kids who attended from start to finish. But that wasn't all the entertainment. A Raffi CD set the atmosphere for a cheery time and various carnival type games were set up in the gymnasium where the party was held. A fishing game, ring toss, pick a duckie game, and three or so other games were run by various family members. Each child was given a white paper bag with handles with their name on it at the start of the first game and each time they got a prize from the various games they could easily drop it into their bag. Prizes were awarded for each game whether they actually were successful at the feat or not. Throwing a ring on a pop bottle netted them a can of soda. Picking up a duck netted them from one to four lollipops depending on the number under the duck. They also got to keep the cute little duck! The fishing pole had a clothes pin on the end which a treat bag complete with trinkets and candy was clipped to, an I Spy book was given as the prize at the game where they had to throw a ball through a hole, and various other prizes awarded at the other games as well. These kids ended up with a lot of loot!
The food was amazing and very much like that you would find at a carnival. There was plenty of hot dogs for everyone served in festive hot dog holders, a crock pot full of calico style baked beans, little cups of fresh carrots and dip, nachos with cheese and salsa, frosted animal cookies, carnival striped bags with popcorn, individual bags of chips, and cello bags of cotton candy in various colors. My daughter made cute little signs labelling what each of the items was and had polka dot paper covered boxes to hold the bags of popcorn and cotton candy.
The cakes were amazing. One was a chocolate cake, frosted with chocolate and white icing with various carnival decorations and big bright striped candles. Another cake was a marble cake with a rainbow of colors, big plastic balloons, and candles that spelled out "Happy Birthday". And then there was the coolest cupcakes ever! My daughter made yellow cupcakes, frosted them with white canned frosting, then slid the cupcake already in it's paper into a second paper cup of white with red stripes and a little lable that read "Popcorn". Topping each cupcake was a bunch of miniature marshmallows which had been sliced halfway through horizontally,then vertically, fluffed up a bit and piled onto the cupcake. A small spray with yellow canned spray icing gave it the shimmer of butter on freshly popped popcorn. Ingenious and oh so cute!
There was a tub of juice boxes as well as soda served in big plastic red cups.
My grandson's other grandma made a huge, bright red, yellow, and white carnival tent entrance out of a huge refrigerator box and lots of colored paper on rolls. She cut out a door which the children entered through, hung little red print curtains on the door, and put up a sign welcoming all to my grandson's 6th birthday!
There was also a tattoo booth which the kids seemed to love. We started out being the tattoo artists, giving the children their choice of tattoos which was basically either spiderman, cars, or princesses...temporary tattoos applied with a damp sponge. The kids enjoyed being the tattoo artists too!
There was plenty of balls, basketballs, balloons, and the like and a big area where they could run around and play.
If it wasn't already enough, each child also got to take home a big plastic red and white stripe popcorn container full of yellow paper shreds with lots of cute treats inside. The very young toddlers got a box of animal crackers instead.
And to make it even more fun and exciting for all, family members dressed up in clown costumes, wigs, hats, ties, and more. What a special sixth birthday it was for my grandson!
Take a look at some of the cute party creations!









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