There are so many great ways to create a fun and unforgettable vintage circus themed birthday party.

This party theme is perfect for a children’s birthday because it has so much potential – circus themed games, foods, sideshow alley, the ideas are endless!

Let explore some different ideas to get your popcorn popping!

Circus Party Food

As soon as you say the word circus, plenty of food comes to mind straight away, such as popcorn, hot dogs, pretzels, cotton candy & peanuts.

You can always get creative with your food, by opting to have a dessert buffet featuring your sweet favourites such as ice creams, donuts & popcorn cupcakes.

A separate stand for popcorn and cotton candy would be a fun idea, and another area for the savoury circus foods such as hot dogs, sloppy joes, pretzels, corn dogs & hot chips.

Sideshow Alley & Games

There are so many fun games you can set up for your circus sideshow alley. Popular ideas are:

Coin Toss – tossing coins into shallow cups or onto plates to win a prize.

Ring Toss – tossing rings onto cones.

Balloon Darts – better for older children perhaps.

Duck Pond – a wading pool with ducks with hooks on their heads and long poles for the children to try to ‘catch’ them.

Spin the Wheel – a wheel with prizes or numbers for the children to pick a prize.

Milk Bottles – bottles filled with sand which have to be knocked off a stool.

Guess How Many – fill a jar with candy such as m&m’s and ask children to guess how many are in the jar. Whoever guesses the correct number or gets the closest guess wins the jar as a prize.

Horseshoes – toss horseshoes around the stake.

Other features to your sideshow alley would be:

Photo Booth – complete with funny props, hats and glasses for your guests to pose with each other.

Balloon Animals – a clown creating fun balloon animals would be an absolute hit.

Face Painting – a clown or circus ringmaster painting the children’s faces as a lion, clown, monkey, butterfly, or anything!

Pony Rides – a wonderful feature for a fun filled day.

Sack Races/Three Legged Race – a classic fun party game.

Circus Party Decorations

Decorating your vintage circus party will consist of lots of red & white stripes, stars, old paper, vintage style posters or painted backdrops. Yellow, blue and aqua are also great colours to add to the mix.

You could feature some of the classic vintage circus sideshow characters such as the strong man, the bearded lady, seal balancing a ball, balancing elephant, bear on a bike, siamese twins, lion on a platform, cannon man & a clown car.

You could have table centerpieces or features to your party set up such as a miniature carnival carousel, cannon with stars flying out and a man flying across the room, clowns in various poses dancing around the edges of the table or along the walls.

Your Vintage Circus Party can be as elaborate or creative as you want it to be, the only limit, of course is your imagination!

Article originally published at Source by Amy L Sampson