Under the Big Top Party!

I’ll never forget my 5th birthday party. Mom turned the back yard into a 3-ring circus for my summer birthday party. When a customer asked me to come up with a printable party pack with the theme “Rainbow Circus” I jumped at the chance!

You can have a lot of fun with this theme. you could rent a cotton candy or popcorn machine to act as decorations AND offer a tasty snack or simply fill the printable popcorn boxes with popcorn and set them up on a snack table before the guests arrive. The sugar cone wrappers (meant for ice cream cones) would serve well wrapped around the cotton candy sticks too!

What ia  a party without a pretty colorful banner. You can string these up outside along a clothesline (or even a dog-run) with full size clothespins or attach them to a ribbon and tack them to the walls inside, it is such an easy and inexpensive way to add so much color to a party! You get 2 full size banners on one sheet of cardstock and you can customize them how you wish. Search “free circus fonts” and you will find a ton of cute festive fonts for free! {say that 5 times ast LOL!}

Games!

What’s a party without a few games? Here are a few you can play at a circus party:

1. Peanut hunt! Before the party scatter peanuts in the shell all over the lawn. Give each guest an empty bag and set them loose to find as many as they can in 5 minutes. Have a small goodie like a circus toy (they have these at the dollar store) as a prize.
2. Peanut Relay! Divide your guests up into 2 or 3 teams, there must be the same number of kids on each team. The first member of the team gets a small spoon with a peanut in it. The object is to carry the peanut in the spoon to the next member of your team as fast as you can without dropping it, that player will carry the peanut to the next player and so on until you reach the finish line or until each player has a turn.
3. Circus charades! This is played like normal charades but you imitate a circus animal, best for ages 2-6.
4. Building a Circus Memory Word Game! This word game is fun and you need no supplies at all. The first player (usually a parent) says “I’m building a circus and bringing a tent…”. the next player repeats the first line and adds an item “I’m building a circus and bringing a tent, AND an elephant” and so on and so forth. The fun is to see who can remember all of the items and keep the game going the longest. Everyone gets a prize!

 

Other activities! These fun ideas will make your Circus party a success!

• Clown around! Ask an artistic friend to be a face painter at the party. Non toxic tempera paints work great and you can use soft small artists brushes to apply. Be sure to keep it away from their eyes!
• Juggling workshop! Ask a friend who can juggle to dress as a clown and give a juggling lesson. Gather scarves and bean bags (you can easily make your own bean bags buy cutting 5″ squares of scrap fabric, sewing up 3 sides and filling them with rice before stitching up the last side) for this activity.
• Bean bag toss! Set up a carnival booth and stack a pyramid of empty soup cans (covered with pretty scrapbook paper) for guests to toss bean bags at. No one will get hurt if a bean bag goes astray.
• Hula hoops! I love to see the lovely hula hoop artists at the circus. Scatter around a bunch of hoops so the kids can pretend they are the star of the show!

I’m sure you can think of dozens of fun ways to host a Circus Themed party. You get al of the favors and decorations you will need in the new Rainbow Circus Party kit from Lindsay’s Stamp Stuff, here’s a look:

 

Thanks for stopping by and til next time happy crafting!