So your child wants a circus themed birthday party?
Or maybe that’s the theme you picked for your daughter or son. For
whatever reason you are reading this, be assured that you are in the
right place. This article contains ideas for hosting the perfect circus
birthday party.

Invitations

Follow these steps to hand out birthday party invitations that you can be proud of:

1.
Buy a pre-made birthday announcement card from your local card shop
(many grocery stores have a card section as well) or print one off of
your computer. The invitation should include answers to the questions
Who? What? Where? and Why?.

2. Now buy a roll of tickets that say
something like “Admit One” on them. Tape one of these tickets to the
inside of the birthday announcement card.

3. When a child comes
to the birthday location on the day of the party, ask for his or her
ticket, just like what is done at a real circus.

Entertainment

Party Games:

Try
changing popular birthday games to fit the circus theme. Pin the tail
on the donkey could become pin the nose on the clown, musical chairs
could be played to circus music, and so on and so forth. Alternatively
you could set up carnival booths (made from cardboard boxes or using
your own idea), each booth having a different carnival game, which kids
could play to win prizes. Every child could win a prize, and that would
be their guest favor.

Have the kids at the birthday party do
“circus stunts”, which could be anything from diving through hula hoops
to attempting to juggle. Two other ideas for this are handstands and
walking on a rope that is laid across the ground (tightrope walking).

Other Entertainment:

•
Hire a professional clown, keeping in mind that many small children are
afraid of clowns. Can’t find a clown? Check out
http://www.ClownsForHire.com, a large database of professional clowns
that you can search by location.

• Buy some long and skinny
balloons for balloon twisting and try to teach party guests how to make
balloon animals (you get easily get some books on this subject).

Decoration

Decoration
sets the whole mood for the birthday party. So, when you’re decorating
your house for you child’s birthday party, keep in mind that it’s the
circus you are trying to imitate. This means that there should be
balloons, banners, and streamers everywhere. You could use masking tape
or rope to make a circus ring on your floor, and if you are really
ambitious, you could even set up a huge circus tent (made from tarps)
outside or even in your house. Lastly, don’t forget to play some circus
music.

Food

• Serve common carnival foods like corn dogs, popcorn, and cotton candy.

• As a healthier choice, let guests snack on “circus monkey treats”, or in other words, sliced bananas.

• You could bake a cake or buy one. If you choose to bake your own, a good recipe for the occasion can be found at:

www.kraftfoods.com/recipes/CakesPiesCheesecakes/CakesOther/BirthdayClownCake.html

• If not, it won't be very difficult for you to find a cake with a clown on it.

Guest Favors/Goodie Bags

Goodie
bags are a great way of thanking guests for coming to celebrating your
daughter or son’s birthday. In my opinion, no party is complete without
them. If you are planning on using the prizes from your carnival games,
you should give away things that you would win at a carnival. These are
things like stuffed animals, blow up hammers, and other dollar store
type items. However, if you’re not going to have carnival games at your
party, put whatever you want in the goodie bags; it really doesn’t
matter. Just don’t forget to give each child a balloon on his or her
way out.

Whether you use just one of these ideas or all of them,
I hope this article gave you some ideas to make your child’s birthday
the best birthday ever. Good luck!