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Amount of Time: 5 to 15 hours
Budget: $200 - $750
Age Group: 3 to 10 years old
Number of Guests: 10 to 30 kids
Indoor/Outdoor: Either is good. If inside, make sure you have a big space. A good party to throw at an outside venue like a community center.
Special Notes:
This is a great summer outdoors party and is a theme that will work well from toddlers to school-aged kids. Also, if you have to invite the whole class, this works really well with large groups of kids…after all it’s the circus! You definitely will want to get some help, however, if you have more than 15 kids attending.
This party can become expensive if you hire a clown and/or a moonbounce. Still, the clown can take up the majority of activities and entertainment and so the additional cost would then be the food and goody bags. If you conduct the games and activities on your own, it will significantly reduce the cost of this party. So, this will suit many different budgets. Reducing the number of guests will also reduce the costs of the party as well.
Check out Birthday in a Box to gather select thematic goods, like red clown noses.
Invitations:
Make a “Circus Ticket” which will guarantee the invited guest loads of fun under the Birthday Kid’s Big Tent! Alternatively, you can make a clown mask with paper plates. Inside of the mask, provide all of the party details. Mail these in very large envelopes.
Also check out create-and-print circus invitations.
Decorations:
Ask the guests to dress as clowns, with baggy clothes. Once at the party, you can have face painting, provide wigs, red noses, etc to finish off their clown attire. Make sure to take pictures and perhaps you could use these in the thank you notes.
Blow up lots of helium balloons in either an array of colors and/or using your kids’ favorite 2-3 colors. Include in the balloons, a few circus animals as well, i.e. a lion, elephant, etc.
Make your own “Big Top” entrance to the party by hanging a brightly colored sheet over the area that the kids will arrive.
Hang a trapeze over the party table, and put a stuffed animal on the trapeze, i.e. a monkey or elephant.
Make big circus posters all over the party room to complement the theme.
If you are holding the party outdoors, make different game stations out of large appliance boxes that the kids can visit to play their games. Decorate them with balloons and streamers and a sign designating the game.
Provide kids with a popcorn box. You can fill it with popcorn for them to eat and enjoy and/or yo could give them an empty box for them to collect their prizes.
Play circus-type music.
Your party table can be coordinated to the circus theme or done in bright primary colors. Tying balloons to each of the chairs would also be festive. For a centerpiece, place little circus animal stuffed animals with balloons tied to them.
Crafts:
Have the kids make their own clown masks at the party using paper plates, string, and a variety of art supplies. You could also have them make clown collars to wear as well.
If the children do not come dressed as clowns, you can provide thrift-shop, baggy clothes for the kids to dress in.
Games/Activities:
You can play a whole host of easy games: bean bag toss, ring toss, horse shoes, hula hoop contest, water balloon toss, and relay races.
If you have game booths, play Penny Platters, tossing pennies onto places, water shooting gallery (use tin cans that you have covered with bright construction paper, and have the kids shoot at it with a water gun to knock it over), Lollipop Look (this is especially good for small children who can pick a lollipop and designate a small prize depending on what color is at the bottom of the stick).
This is the perfect party to hire an entertainer, preferably a clown. Make sure that he can do some face painting and/or balloon animals. Kids love both of these activities!
This is also a great party for a big bouncing inflatable for the kids to bounce in during the party. Order one with the circus theme.
Designate an area for the big circus and have the kids take turns being the ringmaster and have the kids do all sorts of stunts with hula hoops, cartwheels, step through tire obstacles, and jumping over sticks and rocks, etc.
Play “Pin the Nose on the Clown.”
Beak a clown piñata!
Menu:
Serve corndogs, potato salad, fruit slices with dip, popcorn, peanuts (be careful of allergies, of course), animal crackers, and cotton candy.
You can also serve little sandwiches, cheeses, and fruits all cut out in circus animal shapes. The kids will love this. With older kids, you could make mini pizzas, and have the kids top it with a clown face.
A fun dessert, besides cake, is clown ice-cream cones. Place a scoop of ice cream on a sugar cone, turn it upside down and place in a cupcake holder. Decorate with candies, and then freeze them before serving.
Cake:
Here is a darling Clown Cake from Kraft foods
Goody Bags:
Kids can take home their popcorn boxes of prizes.
Let the kids keep their wigs, red noses, etc. from their clown attire.
Provide little stuffed circus animals to the kids with a small box of animal crackers.
Popcorn balls would be a fun take-home treat in bright colors!
If you want to do a traditional goody bag, use a brown lunch bag and fill it with silly putty, Pez clown dispensers, Cracker Jacks, Silly String, Bubble Gum, fuzzy pencils, circus animal erasers, etc. Make sure to decorate the brown lunch bag, can even make it look like a circus animal.
