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Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Circus Posters! And other good stuff!

*** Find out how to win a FREE party at the bottom.
Decoration Ideas for your

Just print them out, enlarge them, hang them wherever to create the buzz!!!!

{CLICK HERE to download all three designs!}

Create your own circus posters. Find a circus coloring book or print off circus coloring pages here. Enlarge the pictures at your local office store. Paint in the pictures with colorful paint. Hang in your party area.
Here are a few online circus coloring pages:

Authentic Posters:
We found this book of 48 vintage posters online for less than $10. At 48¢/poster, that is quite a deal!

Traditional Circus sayings you can have printed out and about:
“Welcome to the Greatest Show On Earth”

“Step right this way…”

“Ladies and Gentlemen! Girls and Boys! Children of ALLLLL Ages!”
“If you will direct your attention to the center ring…”
“Come one! Come all!”

Admission Tickets: Have a ticket booth at the entrance to your party. As your guests arrive, hand each an admission ticket. You can purchase rolls of admission tickets or make your own. If Finley Fiscal is coming to your party, you will want that guest to hand out the tickets! 
Fill your party area with colored pennants. These are great for outside and in! You can make them easily with felt, or purchase them from a hardware store or internet.
We found these very cool ones on Etsy.

Creating the Big Top tent: 
• Use brightly-colored streamers to form a canopy over the center of the your room, simulating a circus tent. The streamers should cascade from a point in the middle (i.e. the center of the ceiling or a chandelier), down and out to the sides of the room. You can also hang red, blue, and yellow plastic table covers or sheets from the ceiling down over the walls of the party room to make it look like the inside of a circus tent.
•  Cover the walls with red, yellow and blue plastic tablecloths on the walls to make it appear as if the guests are inside a tent.
• Create a 3-ring circus by adding three rings (or simply a “center ring”) in the middle of your party area. You may want to outline it with colorful duct tape.

Hungry anyone? Create a concession stand by mounting a concession sign and a number of clothsespins on a board. Snap each of your concessions on one of the clothespins. 

Consider renting a vintage popcorn maker, a snow cone make or a cotton candy maker. Not only would a popcorn maker look cool, but it provides food and smells that add to the ambiance of your party. OR, you can package your cotton candy in bags and hang them as a decoration as well. You can send each guest home with a bag or use them as prizes.  

See also our food ideas for ways to dress-up and decorate your food!

Sometimes the best decorations can also be props:
Bring in the clowns: A child's car can double as a clown car. Try seeing how many people you can fit in it!
Trapezes: Create flying trapezes by stringing rope though empty paper towel tubes or pvc pipe (can spray paint them black or silver) and hanging them throughout the party space.

Strongman's Barbell or Dumbells: Make a fake barbell or dumbells by gluing a plastic ball to each end of a wooden dowel or pvc pipe. Spray paint the whole thing black. For the barbell, add "500 lbs." to each end with a white paint.

Don’t forget the animals!!!  
  • Have out ropes, bull whips, tubs placed upside down, hula hoops, over-sized balls, etc. arranged in and area for the animals.
  • You may consider making cages out of boxes and placing stuffed animals in them. 
  • If you have access to hay, you can accent the animal area by placing hay in or around it. 

Bull whip: To make a bull whip out of duct tape, follow this instructional video or this website.

The Midway is a MUST!

Well, not really, but if you want to go the extra mile, a midway would be a fun addition to set up to the party. You could run simple, yet traditional games. Pictured below: Duck Pond, Balloon Darts and Bottle Toss.
Now, you have heard what we have to share, so let's hear YOUR ideas!

***Here's Your Chance To WIN***
Become a follower of this blog (don't worry, there are no obligations, no email reminders, nothing) by clicking here  and then leave a comment below on some decoration ideas YOU would have for your circus party. We will pick the best recommendation for food ideas and award them a Murder Under The Big Top party! We will pick the winner Friday, September 23, 2011. ** Note, this is a new date.

We hope this helps with the planning of your Murder Under The Big Top party! Please leave comments below on if you like these ideas, how to enhance them, decoration ideas of your own, etc.

5 comments:

Jan said...

Ohhh! You're ideas are already so great it's hard to come up with anything else! Have you seen the gummy popcorn? It's pretty awesome! And you could do snowcones, but since it's an adult event, you could just make the margarita snowcones. I love the old school candy 'circus peanuts'. And a photo booth would be super fun too. My hubby knows how to make balloon animals so I'd have to get him busy doing that!

Tresbienx3 said...

You posted some great ideas! Thank you!

You could also serve - french fries in a cup, soft pretzels, lemonade, corn dogs, Barnum's Animal Crackers, nachos, and clown PEZ on a dessert table.

Decorations - You need a 'big top' that can either be made or rented. Balloons galore and strings of lights. At the circus, there is always a parade. You can't forget that one! You could also have a photograph station and have 'clown' type props for people to wear. There's so many ideas and probably not enough room.

I suggest that you utilize your teen's school - contact the teachers in charge of the art dept, theater and yearbook. For a small cost (or sometimes free because of volunteer hours required for graduation depending upon your event) you can get a yearbook photographer, extras (clowns, carnies, food servers) or a face painter.

Have fun with your circus themed event!

Shannon Walsh said...

You can't forget face painting... one of my favorite memories of going to the circus was looking like a clown when I left. Face painting is a must.
And what about the bearded lady... and guess the weight. All fun ideas!!

Elizabeth Waraksa said...

I LOVE all of the ideas - I must admit my party would need to be clown free (LOL - I have a slight fear of clowns)! BUT I think all of the ideas are FANTASTIC! I would make if family friendly - for at least the first part - maybe even giving the kids different 'acts' to perform as entertainment!
I would DEFINATLEY have some 'adult' snowcones (like the margarita idea)...
And for the main food - I am going with hot dog bar - with all the fixings available. Budget friendly, theme oriented, and mmm mmm good!

Tanner Fam said...

I have done 4 Night of Mystery parties and I think I'm most excited about the possibilities with Murder Under the Big Top. I think everyone has the idea on circus food. So, I am thinking of decor.
**For a great, cheap decorating idea: use lots of glow sticks. Most effective is to place them inside of balloons. It definitely provides a colorful circus atmosphere laid out all over the floor.

**Also, my guests always love going home with photographs, so incorporating that into a 'kissing booth' is a fun idea.


** Two words: dunk tank.

**And finally, for the 'true' circus experience...you have to have a creepy carny walking around. (Thinking I'll invite my dad to come dress up.)

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