The Carnival Party theme is a terrific idea for your child’s next birthday. To throw a Carnival theme party, you need to create a carnival with games for the kids to play and win small prizes. Depending on the age of the children, you will need to choose age appropriate games. Generally, 5-7 games are recommended for your Carnival party. You will find many game ideas here as well as invitations, party favors, birthday cake ideas and more to host an awesome Carnival party for your child.
Start of your party planning with one of these unique personalized Carnival theme invitations or clown party invitations. There are many designs available including ‘Admit One’ amusement park style invites, photo invitations, ticket style invitations and many other cool designs. Carolina Girl’s Closet created the wonderful invitation you see pictured below. Take It Personally by Christine creates one-of-a-kind Carnival invitations in a cartoon design based on the birthday child’s photo. These invitations are truly amazing!
Next, it is time to decide on the partyware. There are three fun party packs for this theme: The Carnival Party Pack, Circus Theme Party Pack and Three-Ring Circus Party Pack. The party packs comes with everything you need to throw the perfect party for your little one and 7 guests. Contents include full tableware for 8, a variety of Carnival Party decorations, and birthday candles. You can add on other party items to your party pack such as party favor kits, additional guests, carnival games, personalized birthday banner, outdoor Carnival Giant Decorating Kit, and more. Finish off your party decor with clown balloons, popcorn balloons, and circus tent balloons.
It is time for the cake! There are lots of clown and carnival cake decorations including:
Another fun cake idea would be to bake the birthday cake in one of these specialty clown cake pans. A cupcake cake can also be made using a Clown Cake Creations Set. Bake, ice and arrange your cupcakes and then add on the fun clown decorations.
For birthday party favors, you could purchase a premade favor kit. The Deluxe Carnival Kit comes with party tattoos, sticker book, circus duck, clown nose, mini elephant bean bag toy. The Three-Ring Circus Party Favor Box comes with a Three-Ring Circus sticker sheet, a Three-Ring Circus blowout, foam clown nose, cotton candy and 2 assorted tattoos all in a train car circus favor box.
If you prefer to create your own party favors , you can purchase an empty favor box, personalized gable box, circus bags or popcorn bag and fill with your own items. Some party favors include custom candy wrappers, scratch off games, stickers, mint box labels, custom crayon pack favors, chocolate lollipops and more.
Candy Warehouse also carries a large assortment of carnival candy favors including rainbow whirly pops. rainbow cherry candy sticks, cotton candy, and much more. Check out their large selection of candy party favors!
Now it is time to set up your Carnival! You can print out admission tickets or purchase a roll of them. You can even ’sell’ the tickets in this unique custom ticket booth or personalized ticket booth. Shindigz carries a Circus Tent/Ticket Booth Set that would work great for your Carnival. Then, set up the game stations and have small novelty prizes at each station to hand out to the kids. You can also give the kid’s carnival loot bags to hold all of their prizes!
Some carnival games include: Can Toss Game, Egg Relay Game, 3 In-A-Row Game, Bean Bag Toss, Duck Pond Game, Bowling Game, Water Balloon Toss Game, and Pin Drop Game. You can view all of these fun carnival games here. There is also a Clown Bean Bag Toss Game that is very cute!
S & S Worldwide carries some fun carnival games as well including Ring Toss Game, Knock em Down Cans Game, the Popcorn Game, Eggs and Spoons Game, and Carnival Roll ‘N’ Toss Game.
Carnival Party Games and Novelties also offers a huge selection of carnival games and accessories including Milk Bottle Clothespin Drop, Milk Bottle Toss, Duck Pond Game, Ring Toss, Ping Pong Ball Toss Game. You can also purchase one of their carnival game packs that feature 3, 6 or 7 of their most popular games.
Mt. Laurel Party Games sells custom made Clown Bean Bag Toss Games and Food Stand Bean Bag Toss Games. If you want to set up a fun Take-A-Pick station, Mt. Laurel carries many designs such as the Strong Man, Clowns, Bearded Circus Lady, Ring Master and more.
Other carnival activities include the Candy Grabber, Face Painting, Twisty Balloons, Bounce House, Circus Big Top Pinata and a Clown Pinata. And, for classic Carnival snacks you could set up a Popcorn Machine, Snow Cone Machine, Cotton Candy Machine as well as serve delicious funnel cakes!
Have your child wear a Clown birthday shirt and coordinating custom hair bow (for the girls!) on the day of the Big Carnival!
Related Links:
Circus Party Supplies
Jo Jo’s Circus Party Supplies
The girls created Frog Suncatchers at my daughter’s 
If you are planning a Hannah Montana theme birthday party for your daugther, these candy favors would make a great addition to your party favor bags. Some of these are hard to find and only available for a limited time, so get yours while you can!
Abby Cadabby, the three-year-old fairy-in-training who lives on Sesame Street, has become a huge hit with preschoolers. If you are planning an 
