Candy Carnival

For my daughter's third birthday we decided to do a Candy Carnival. I had the idea of having a carnival and decided to add the candy theme after my niece's Candy Land birthday party. I saved most of the decorations from September to February in my Garage. I am surprised they lasted that long. Helen made most of the decorations for the Candy Land decorations and helped me repurpose them for my daughter's birthday. So my advice to you is to repurpose as much as you can.

Food and Drinks Signs

We made "lollipop" signs for the food and drink station. I gave the guests a popcorn tin filled with a brocure with all of the games and stations they could visit and fake money that they could use to buy food. At the food station (my kitchen) they could by hot dogs, hot links, chips, nachos, soda, popcorn and cotton candy.

Swedish Fish Toss

There is a gummy candy called Swedish fish. We used that theme for a couple of games. In honor of one of my favorite carnival games we had a Fish Toss. If you notice there is a giant lollipop behind the table. It is simply two paper plates glued together with a dowel in between the two plates. Then the plates are wrapped in tissue paper for color and then wrapped again in cellophane. Tie a ribbon around the cellophane to hold the cellophane in place.

Swedish Fishing Pond

This one was my daughter's favorite! Cover a bucket with a blue table cloth for the "pond". Cut out fish from card stock (Of course we did this with the Cricut) and place a paper clip on them. Then take a wooden dowel and wrap yarn around the tip and hot glue in place. At the end of the yarn tie a washer (which you can get at the local hardware store) to the end. Then hot glue a magnet (I got a fairly strong one at the hardware store) to the washer. I hot glued the magnet so that it would not get lost.
Safety Tip: Do not allow children to take the magnet off the string and play with it. If swallowed magnets can cause serious damage to the intestinal tract.
Gum ball Toss

The object of this game is to toss the "gum ball" (ping pong ball) into the plastic cups. We cut out small circles and placed them on the bottom of the cups. Then we covered a piece of foam board with wrapping paper. Note spray glue adhesive to the foam board and quickly place and smooth the wrapping paper on the foam board. This takes two people. Then glue the plastic cups to the covered foam board. Place the foam board with the cups on a small table.

Chocolate Pond Toss

Use a brown table cloth to cover a few boxes of various heights. Then place lilly pads a bowl and a flower inside the bowl. Kids are to toss a frog inside the bowl.

Candy Monster Toss
We used the monster toss game my husband found online. We just told the kids to feed the candy monsters as much candy as possible. The bean bags were the candy.

Sweet Prizes

I picked up inexpensive prizes months before the party.

Other Games
Gum drop bowling. Decorate a hallway with gum ball cutouts and create a bowling alley with a plastic bowling set.

The Cake
Helen made a cake and cupcakes. The cake has different candies as the edging and I bought small swirl lollipops and that was used as the topping for the cupcakes.

Tangled

My daughter loves the movie Tangled. She watches it all the time, in fact she is watching now as I work on this blog entry. So of course when I asked her what theme she wanted for her birthday she replied RAPUNZEL! I got great ideas from the blog paging super mom. If you are doing a Tangled theme party you have to check that site out.

Centerpieces

On a trip to Disneyland Natalie took a picture with Rapunzel and Flynn Rider. She was a little nervous, but loved the picture. I placed them in glass vases with silk flowers. I also took pictures of her Rapunzel's dress with Pascual and placed those in the vases. This is quick and easy way to make a centerpiece.

Games

"Toss the apples to Max"

If you've seen the movie you know that Max loves apples. One of the games was toss the apples to Max. The kids toss plastic apples in the basket for Max. I used her stuffed Max doll. You could easily use a picture of Max and place a basket in front. You can find apples at your local discount or craft store.

"Bring them to the Tower"

On a wooden dowel I attached a picture of Rapunzel, and yellow yarn for hair. At the end of the hair I tied a knot and glued a magnet to it. The I printed out pictures of Rapunzel's friends, Flynn Rider, Pascual and Max. I put paper clips on each of the friends. The object is to pick up each of Rapunzel's friends.

Snuggly Duckling Toss

I placed floating ducklings in a tub of water with a fishbowl. You may need some type of weight in the fishbowl. The object of the game is to toss a ping pong ball in the fishbowl.


Pin the frying Pan on Flynn Rider

This is a take on Pin the Tail on the Donkey. You can get the frying pan cut outs at Paging Super Mom and have someone draw the poster. Disney also has activity pages with Flynn Rider. You just have to draw in a nose and go to a copy store to make a poster sized version of the activity page.

Decorations

For the Mantle I placed pendants on a garland of silk flowers and pendants on the mirror. The pictures were pictures of the birthday girl in various sized frames

In the living room I repeated the pendants and silk flowers.

I placed lanterns on the ceiling of the family room.

The fabulous cake, by Helen
Helen pulled out all the stops on this one. She created the tower and the landscape around it. I bought figurines from the Disney Store that she put on the cake. Helen also recreated Attila's cupcakes!

It was a great party and my daughter loved it! That is what it is all about.