3-Ring Circus Party Ideas To Create a Big Top Adventure!

Celebrate Circus Supplies
Circus Supplies In A Box
Big Top Deluxe Kit-N-Kaboodle Kit

Photo courtesy of: D'Arcy Norman

IN-PERSON CLOWN INVITES - Mom, Dad, a drama student, or a professional hire will go to each of your child's guests' homes dressed in full clown garb and personally invite each of your child's guests to the birthday party. The clown could do a simple juggling trick, tell some silly jokes, use puppets, do some slapstick, etc. to add to the fun "invite." Ultimately, the clown will hand each guest a personal invitation to the party.

CIRCUS POSTCARD INVITES - Here's some circus party ideas to help you turn postcards that have various circus pictures or circus animals on them into fun birthday invites. Put the party details on the back. Say something like:

Lions, And Tigers, And Bears, Oh My!
Join Me For Some Big Top Fun At My 5th Birthday! show Time & Date:
Location: Big Top At: (Address)
R.S.V.P. To Ringmaster: (Name & Phone#)
Wear Your Circus Best!

CIRCUS PARTY IDEAS FOR BALLOON INVITES - Blow up big colorful balloons and write all of your party details on them. Then deflate the balloons and mail them to your guests in a colorful envelope. Include a note instructing the recipient to blow up the balloon for party instructions.

CIRCUS PARTY IDEAS FOR ADMISSION TICKET INVITES - Cut red or yellow cardstock into rectangle-shape that will fit into the envelope you use. On one side write, "ADMIT ONE" in big black letters. On the reverse side write:

The Greatest Show On Earth
(Name's) Circus Birthday Party
Show Time & Date:
Location: Big Top at (Address)
R.S.V.P. To Ringmaster: (Name & Phone #)
Costume Required.

POPCORN BAG INVITES - Across the top of a popcorn bag write:

(Name's) Circus Birthday Party
Costume Required.

Then add below:

Come One, Come All,
For A Poppin' Good Time.
It's My (#) Birthday,
So You Must Come By.

Show Time & Date:
Location: Big Top at (Address)
R.S.V.P. To Ringmaster: (Name & Phone #)

CIRCUS PARTY IDEAS FOR ANIMAL CRACKER INVITES - Cut 8 1/2" x 11" colorful cardstock into four pieces using decorative scissors. Write the following on one side:

Under The Big Top You Will Find,
Lions, Tigers, And Bears, Oh! My.
What A Birthday Party It'll Be,
Come Over And Celebrate with Me!

On the reverse side write:

(Name's) Circus Birthday Party
Show Time & Date:
Big Top At: (Address)
Don't Clown Around, R.S.V.P. To Ringmaster: (Name & Phone #)
Costume Required.

Decorate with circus stickers and laminate the invites. Hole-punch the upper left corner, thread a ribbon through, and tie it to a box of animal crackers. Hand-deliver invitations.

BALLOON BOUQUET INVITES - Using various colored cardstock, create circles or ovals to represent the balloons. Glue several of them to a piece of white cardstock to form a bouquet. Then using various colored curling ribbons, glue pieces of ribbon to the bottom of each balloon or draw "ribbons" using markers. Place a clown sticker at the bottom of the balloon bouquet as if the clown is holding the bouquet. Put all of your party details on the various balloons or on the back of the cardstock.

EMBELLISH READY-MADE CIRCUS BIRTHDAY PARTY INVITES - Buy ready-made circus theme invites and embellish the picture with glitter, sequins, etc.


CIRCUS PARTY IDEAS FOR COSTUMES

Ask your guests to wear circus animal or clown costumes. In the alternative, you could ask guests to wear baggy clown clothes and transform them into clowns as they arrive to your party. You could add face paint, oversized ties, funny hats, and big clown noses.

If you're in the market to buy a Circus Themed Costume, here's a lot of fun options from which to select.

For some more clown costume ideas, check out our CLOWN COSTUME IDEAS photos and how-to tips. They are nothing less than fun and fabulous!

For some popcorn costumes, check out our POPCORN COSTUMES photos and how-to tips. Lots of creative people out there!


CIRCUS PARTY IDEAS FOR DECORATIONS

Create a circus atmosphere using primary colors with some of the following ideas:

• Liven up your walkway by placing colorful clusters of balloons on tall stakes, placed in the ground all along the walk.

• Either make a colorful multi-colored string of felt pennant flags or buy the plastic pennant flags, like you see at grand openings, and line your walkway and hang along the eves of your home.

• Hang a fun circus sign on your front door that says, "Welcome To (Name's> Big Top Birthday Adventure."

• Attach colorful balloons to your mailbox, hang from a tree, or tie to your car antenna to shout out to your guests the location of the party.

• Here's a fun Circus Tent that would make the perfect entrance to your circus party and also double as a great photo-op!

• Create circus tents in your yard that will host various activities. Use brightly colored sheets, a parachute, or huge colorful tents.

• Cover the entire ceiling with brightly colored streamers to make your Big Top arena. Twist and hang them from the center of the ceiling to all edges of the room.

• Place colorful clusters of balloons with brightly colored curling ribbons hanging from the clusters all around your party room.

• Place a fun carnival booth at your driveway entrance with a clown to hand out tickets for your guests to gain admittance. If you're in the market for a Fun Ticket Booth that can be personalized for the birthday child, then here's a great option.

• If the party is being held outside, you might consider buying or renting a canopy type of a tent.

• Great circus party ideas must include decorating the party room with lots of stuffed animals, if they are circus related, all the better. Be sure to bring your circus festivities to your animal friends by attaching balloons and placing party hats on the animals.

• Hang posters of clowns and circus animals on the walls. You can also hang these on any tent walls.

• Create some circus signs and hang them on the walls. They could say things like "Greatest Show On Earth" and "Ladies and Gentlemen, Children of All Ages..."

• Here's a fun Circus Tent that would make the perfect entrance to your circus party and also double as a great photo-op!

• Here's some great Circus Wall Decals that can be used on your party room walls and then transferred to your child's bedroom walls after the party is over. Here's another batch of Circus Decals for you to consider.

• Make a ticket booth from a refrigerator box and decorate it with lots of colorful streamers and balloons.

• Cover tables with brightly colored tablecloths and tie off corners with curling ribbons.

• Great circus party ideas always include fun circus centerpieces. Create a circus centerpiece using a ringmaster's hat. Weight it down with a Ziploc bag filled with dry beans. Place a piece of florist foam in the bottom of the hat as your base. Arrange balloons and large suckers on sticks as you would flowers. Tie multiple strands of curling ribbons to the sticks and insert into the foam. Add some party horns and blowers. Fill in the top of the container with crumpled, circus printed tissue.

• Hang brightly colored streamers in all your archways and doorways.

• If you're looking for a different kind of photo-op, here's a great Circus Photo Prop that will look like the kids have been shot out of a cannon and are flying through the air. If you'd like a traditional Clown Photo Stand In, here's a fun one to consider and it can be personalized for the birthday child.

• Use circus-theme partyware to bring the excitement of the circus to your table. Disposable tablecloths, plates, cups, napkins, and centerpieces will instantly jazz up your table. Add some party hats, and circus cutouts and you'll have instant circus fun!

• Carnival booths are great circus party ideas for holding your games and activities. Start by covering a card table with a colorful tablecloth. You can make the frame with scrap wood or PVC pipe taped together. Paint the frame and decorate it with colorful streamers and balloons. Hang a sign on each booth identifying the activity at that particular booth. For example, Bean Bag Toss, Face Painting, Catch A fish, Hot Dogs, etc.

MONEY-SAVING TIP

Before you purchase anything, be sure to check out the circus party ideas for party supplies that are being offered on eBay. Many times, you'll find great new items at a fraction of the retail price.


CIRCUS PARTY IDEAS FOR GAMES & ACTIVITIES

Here's an entire page with nothing but Circus Party Games and Activities, such as:

• Circus Party Ideas For Clowns
• What Circus Animal Am I
• Ball Toss
• Pin the Nose on Mr. Clown
• Ring Toss
• Water Gun Shooting Gallery
• Clown Relay
• Win a Fish
• Walk the Tight Rope
• "Egg" Toss
• Feed The Wild Animals
• Circus Party Ideas for Animal Tricks
• Tin Can Alley
• Inflatable Bounce House or Moonwalk
• Clown Pinata
• Circus Party Ideas for Ticket Redemption

• Corn on the cob
• Corn Dogs wrapped in foil
• Hotdogs served in red & white plastic hotdog holders.
• Nachos
• Pizza
  

• Animal crackers
• Candied or caramel apples
• Cotton candy (Consider renting a machine)
• Cracker Jacks
• Giant lollipop
• Lemonade
• Peanuts - Put into individual bag with "Peanuts" label.
• Popcorn in red & white bags (Consider renting a machine)
• Snow cones (Consider renting a machine)
• Soft pretzels

Photo courtesy of: Wilton

CIRCUS CUPCAKES - Make white cupcakes and frost them white. Place an animal cracker in the middle and cage it in using black icing.

CIRCUS PARTY IDEAS FOR A CIRCUS SHEET CAKE - Bake white sheet cake and frost it white. Decorate it with plastic circus toppers, animals, a train, etc.

POPCORN BOX BIRTHDAY CAKE - Make or buy a sheet cake and place it in the freezer. The night before the party, remove the cake from the freezer and decorate it. Place the cake in a vertical position and cut each size on the diagonal to create the popcorn box. Frost the cake white. Make a red box in the center of the cake using red gel. Write "Happy Birthday" in the box using black or red gel. Lay red licorice strings vertically along the cake to form the red stripes on the popcorn box.

Melt caramel candies. Pop a bag of popcorn. Place wax paper on a cookie sheet. Lay the popcorn on the wax paper. Spoon the caramel over the popcorn. Let cool. Place the popcorn on top of the frosting covering the upper one-third of the cake.

CIRCUS PARTY IDEAS FOR A CAROUSEL CAKE - Decorate animal crackers with tinted icing and let dry. Bake two round cakes, stack, and frost them with white frosting. To create the carousel, place peppermint sticks around the perimeter of the cake. Place the animal crackers next to the sticks. Place Jelly Bellys or jelly beans around the bottom edge of the cake. Decorate the sides with frosting piped out in red, green, and yellow stripes. Make a canopy by tracing a dinner plate onto a heavy piece of scrapbook paper. Cut out the circle and make a cut from 1 edge to the center. Overlap the edges and glue to make it into a cone-shape. Set the paper on top of the peppermint sticks.

CIRCUS PARTY IDEAS FOR CLOWN CAKE - Bake two round cakes. Cut the sides off one cake to make it into the shape of a clown hat. Lay it next to the round cake, which is the clown's head. Frost the round cake with white or cream colored frosting. Tint the remaining frosting blue and use it to frost the hat. Decorate the center of the hat with large nonpareils and put M&M's around the hat edges.

Create the eyes using round chocolate wafer cookies. Put a dab of frosting in the center of each wafter and a skittle on top of the frosting to create the eyeball. Place red skittles in a curve-shape to create the mouth. Put a red plastic ball on the cake for the nose. Place red string licorice around the sides for make the clown hair. Use colored marshmallows around the bottom of the cake to create the clown's collar.

Check out our visitor-submitted CIRCUS BIRTHDAY CAKE photos and how-to tips.

Check out our visitor-submitted CLOWN CAKES photos and how-to tips.

Check out our visitor-submitted POPCORN CAKES photos and how-to tips.


CIRCUS PARTY IDEAS FOR FAVORS

You can either handout favor bags or set-up a prize booth and let the kids cash in their winning tickets for prizes. Circus birthday party favors might include circus animal stickers, bubbles, whistles, stuffed animals, safari sunglasses or rings; party blowers, circus pencils, finger puppets; circus activity books, markers or crayons; jumbo nose or bowtie; animal crackers, teddy grahams, or goldfish crackers.


CIRCUS BIRTHDAY PARTY IDEAS FOR PARTY SUPPLIES

Here's some great Circus party supplies including ideas for partyware, invitations, favors, and lots of decor!

Here's some more fun Circus Supplies to help you celebrate in circus style.

If you're looking for an all-in-one package, here's a Big Top Deluxe Kit-N-Kaboodle Kit.





Return To Top Of Circus Party Ideas

Return To Home Page - Birthday Party Ideas