Step right up and get ready to have a ball with carnival birthday party details headed your way! A carnival theme is great for a birthday of any age child, any gender or even as siblings as they bring in tons of fun! From food ideas to favors, games to printables, this party guide is sure to make your party over the top!
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Today marks the 4th and 6th birthday of my birthday twins! While we are enjoying a beach vacation away from home, just two weeks ago we celebrated with a carnival birthday party in our backyard.
We were blessed with GORGEOUS weather with lots of outdoor play for the kids and relaxation time for the adults. I decided on a carnival birthday party theme after being assigned one from Wholesale Party Supplies. I did make a few tweaks on different decoration looks, food options and activities for our real, at home party, so I’m sharing the mix of all the ideas in today’s post!
Invitations
I decided to play up the red, yellow and blue color palette and font styles seen in retro carnival play. I had these printed through Vistaprint as I still have a big love of physical snail mail invites! The pictures feature shots of the girls in front of the party I staged two months earlier, making sure to capture those shots where they show off their birth year in fingers.
The back included a reminder to pack their bathing suits as we were planning to pull out ALLLLLL the pools and backyard water play activities!
Dessert Table
The dessert table was my main focus, reusing the red striped tablecloth as the backdrop, and cardstock stand ups on both sides.
This foam tent is actually a lollipop stand with holes included to slide them in, but for their at home party, I used each layer to hold the cupcakes. Grab the free SVG cut file and PDF template to create these rubber duck cupcakes here. (I always opt for cupcakes vs cake so everyone doesn’t have to eat the cake my kids spit on blowing out the candles.)
Here’s a flashback to the party I styled, which featured the foam tent centerpiece with lollipops instead.
Besides the cupcakes, I offered something for those chocolate lovers (brownies), those nostalgic for a kid friendly treat (Rice Krispies Treats), health nuts (watermelon) and something that gave a pop of color (Jello cups). PS. My styled party also included twinkies on a paper straw that looked like corn dogs, a common carnival food!
The red buckets are filled with mini paint cans as weights, floral foam to hold the picks and shredded paper to cover it all up.
The balloon garland is my go to way to make a big impact without a lot of fuss! I use command hooks to hold up this balloon strip material and hand pump the balloons for a fun display that requires no helium! Learn how to make them in last year’s post!
Outside
We grabbed our seamlessly endless bucket of sidewalk chalk and put a little message at the end of the driveway, directing people to the backyard.
I created coordinating drinks signs on all the coolers so everyone could easily find what they were looking for without having to open all 5!
The backyard was filled with all our DIY games, water table, play house, store bought games, inflatable pools (including this one I picked up for only $23!) and a borrowed bounce house.
I had planned a slime activity that we didn’t even get to as everyone seems to be entertained all on their own for the 3 hours everyone was playing.
Favors
When it came time to leave, the girls passed out favor containers filled with carnival themed goodies. I attached these personalized carnival party favor tags as we mixed and matched some of the contents depending on age or gender.
These tags are also available as an instant download where you can write in the personalization details yourself after printing.
Overall, the girls kept saying how much fun they had and went straight to bed, exhausted at night.
Thank you to all the family and friends who came to celebrate my birthday girls!
Check out their past birthday parties, like last year’s, linked below:
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