PARTY TIME – Carnival Party featuring Thomas the Train

For my older son’s third birthday we decided on a carnival theme. He was in love with all things Thomas at that time, so we incorporated a bit of that into the party as well. This party was so much fun to plan!! We had typical carnival fare to eat – hot dogs, popcorn, cotton candy. Several carnival games to play – moon bounce, duck pond, lollipop tree, ring toss, and bean bag toss.

The Invite:

The Cake – made using Wilton’s Thomas the Tank character pan.

Popcorn Cupcakes! The popcorn was made with marshmallows! I created the labels on the computer, then printed out and wrapped around the cupcakes to look like popcorn boxes.

Hot Dog cupcakes! These were so cute! The buns are circus peanut candies, the hot dog is a caramel molded into shape, the mustard is yellow icing, and the relish is pieces of green gumdrops. I made cute little cupcake wrappers for these, too, but they are hard to see.

Goody Bags – For goody bags I used authentic popcorn boxes I bought on ebay. I punched holes in the sides and added a handle for easier carrying. We gave these to the kids empty, except for a large circus lollipop, and they carried them around to each game and put their prizes in. You can see them in this picture:

Cotton Candy – We rented a cotton candy machine from a local party supply store, and this was definitely the hit of the party! The kids AND the adults loved it!

Duck Pond Game – I bought little plastic floating ducks from Oriental Trading Company and a cheap inflatable plastic swimming pool for the pond. On the bottom of each duck was a number, and the kids picked a duck and received a prize that corresponded with the number on the bottom. Each child was a winner!

Lollipop Tree – I just used a piece of styrofoam set onto an easel and stuck the lollipops in that. The bottom of each lollipop stick was marked with a color. The kids picked a lollipop, and depending on the color on their stick, they picked a prize. We had a few “big” prizes, some “medium” prizes, and some “small” prizes. We wanted every child to win something.

The always popular moon bounce:

Pinata:

Oriental Trading Company is a great place to buy supplies for a carnival themed party! We got all our prizes from there and didn’t have to spend a fortune.