Birthday Carnival Parties
by Angela Jones

Description: Fun game and activity ideas for a birthday party with a carnival theme.

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Game One: Penny Pitch

Supplies needed - Pennies, old overall's with large front pocket, a large piece of plywood or a wall (you could even use foam board) where you can attach the overall's. To set up just attach the overalls to the large piece of wood (you can of course use just the top half of the overalls), lean the wood against a wall, tree, etc... be sure it's secure and will not fall over during play. To play just have everyone take turns trying to pitch the pennies into the pocket. You can decide how many pennies earn what kind of prize. I plan to give away a small prize for each game.

Game Two: Lollipop Pull

For this game you need a large bag of lollipops and a large cardboard box. Punch holes into the box that are small enough to secure the lollipops in place, mark each lollipop stick with one of three colors, red, blue, green and insert the lollipops into the holes in the box. To play just have the kids pull a lollipop from the board, and based on the color pulled they choose a prize, small prize for green, medium prize for blue, large prize for red. For a box with 100 lollipops I plan to do 10 red, 30 blue, and 60 green.

Game Three: Balloon Pop

Super easy if you don't mind blowing up alot of balloons! Have the kids bounce on the balloons with their hind ends until the balloon pops, first one to get their balloon to pop gets a prize, then keep playing until the next balloon pops, have the child choose a prize, and continue until the last balloon is popped!

Game Four: Tic Tac Toe Toss

For this game you need at least 3 balls, foam balls would probably be the best option if you are playing indoors, but any small ball type would work. You also need a cardboard box separted into sections like a tic tac toe board. Have the kids throw the balls into the box trying to make a tic tac toe win!

Game Five: Bean Bag Throw

For this game you need either plywood or foam board with holes cut into it large enough for the bean bag to go through and 3 bean bags. If you want you can paint or decorate the board with a face or other features around the holes for the kids to toss the bean bags through. Give each hole a point value such as 5, 10, 15, let the kids throw the bags through the holes and total their score. Perfect score of 45 equals large prize, all other scores earn a smaller prize.

Game Six: Bowling

For this game you need a set of bowling pins and bowling balls. Set up the pins and place a piece of tape on the floor for the starting position. For a strike on first roll award a larger prize, for knocking down a certain number of pins award smaller prizes.

Balloon Decorating Station

For this activity you will need large balloons and balloon face stickers or permanent markers. Since I'm not using hellium for the balloons I will also be using balloon sticks. Have the kids decorate their ballons and attach them to the sticks.

Jellybean Guess

For this activity you need jellybeans and a large jar. Count the number of jellybeans you put into the jar and as the kids arrive have them write their name and their guess on a sheet of paper, at the end of the party the kid who guesses the closes gets to take the jellybean jar home!

Large Birthday Card

Decorate a large piece of poster board for your birthday boy/girl and hang it with a marker so that everyone can sign the card as they come in. I've done this before and it was great, but I did learn to keep the signatures from being to spread out designate an area on the card to be signed as the "Sign Here" spot. That way when you are ready to put the card away you cut the signed area out of the card, date it and put it in a scrapbook or even a frame with a picture of themselves at the party!

Of course you may want to enlist the help of a few other adults to help with the games, another alternative is to play each game one at a time until you go through them all. This will depend on the number of children attending the party of course.

Keep the menu simple! This will help save time for the games. Hot dogs are a kid favorite and a sheet cake with a carnival theme will top it all off!

Article by: Angela Jones is the owner of http://www.middaysnack.com

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