We have held a Fun Fair/Backyard Carnival at our house for 4 years in a row - this year will be the fifth! It all started when my twin daughters came home from kindergarten begging to hold a fun fair" that afternoon. I thought it was a wonderful idea beacause I used to do that sort of thing growing up in Connecticut in the 60's. But we are an expatriate family living overseas now (Bangkok) so I let them down as gently as I could (we don't have any neighbours who would partipate in that sort of thing) and assumed that was the end of it. But for the next week the girls pestered me daily wanting to know when they could have a fair. Finally I thought "With a little help why not?"  I sent off letters to the girls'classmates parents explaining that we wanted to hold a fun fair where each family ran their own simple booth and the children would particpate in running their booths as well as playing at others. The response was an overwhelming "yes" and so the annual event was born. (note the children go to an international school so the common language is English)  We have not done this as a birthday party we've just done this as a fun family event but it could easily be adjusted to celebrate a child's birthday. Let me explain.  The party is a do-it-yourself fair on our backlawn (which fortunately is very large). Every year we invite the families of all our girls' classmates (approximately 40 families) and other friends and past attendees of the fun fair.  Each year that has resulted in approximately 24 booths and 100 plus participants - pretty equally split between parents and children. (sometimes 2 parents come with one child other times one parent comes with several children etc. ) You will need to adjust your invitation list based on your best judgement as to how many will actually attend/how much space you have. Personally I think 100 people is a great number. Big enough to be exciting with varied booths yet small enough for everyone to get a chance to meet each other over the course of the day. (since we invite children from different classes many of the families don't know each other - but the fair activities are a great ice breaker) The majority of the children will be the age of your children but since their siblings are also invited ages will range from infants to teenagers. And it works for all ages. The key to running this sort of party is early preparation. On the day it really runs itself (every family running their own booth) but it does take some serious coordination in the weeks prior to avoid booth duplication etc.  The most important key is a detailed invitation that answers as many questions the guest might have/you might need answered up front. Our invitation always clearly explains that this is a homegrown event and that every family attending must host a booth (in some cases two families joined together to run a booth.) We also stressed that getting the children involved in designing the game and running the booth made the event more meaningful and that the simpler the individual family booth idea the better. (Last year the most popular booth was the "Tower of Pennies" The children had the opportunity to stack as many pennies as they could and we kept a running tally of who had the tallest tower. At the end of the day the child with the tallest tower got to take home all the pennies. The kids loved this game and all it required was a blanket to sit on a cutting board for a level surface and a bag of 200 pennies. Game and prize were all in one. Easy! Another favourite required moving marbles from one bowl to another with a pair of chopsticks.) We supply all the basic foodstuff (plates cups silverware sodas juice water beer fruit fried chicken) plus paddling pool and sprinkler to play in but we ask that everyone bring a contribution towards the food table and another towards the drink table so there is always a huge variety of yummy things to eat and drink on the day. We also have a local ice cream vendor and we have him come around for an hour and let the kids get whatever they want for free - and we settle the bill with him later.  Other important preparation includes a map of all the fair activities that you can hand out staking out enough "plots" on the lawn to make sure everyone has enough space for their booth (penny stacking takes hardly any room but the more sporty games take a lot of space) Nametags are a must! No one likes to wear them but with so many people unfamiliar with each other they make life so much easier! Especially for the host and hostess! I send out the invitations by email so that I can include booth ideas and complete information along with the invitation. The invite includes a locked response slip (easily created with Microsoft Word) with shaded bars where the guests can insert the necessary information. Here is an excerpt from the letter I sent out to our guests:  ******What exactly is this Fun Fair? It's a real fair that is created and enjoyed by our children and families. Every family that wants to come needs to provide a simple booth or in some cases if one parent is traveling perhaps two families can join forces and do one booth together. It's really easy to do and we have lots of space for it on our front lawn. Sample booth ideas and directions to our house are noted on the back but two easy up front booth examples are bobbing for apples (requires a small tub and a large bag of apples) and Tin Can Alley (requires a tower of soda cans and three tennis balls to knock them down.) See what I mean? Easy!   Please use the response slip below or email me asap to let me know whether or not your family can attend and how many adults and how many children will be coming from your family. Some families need to know attendance numbers in advance to plan their supplies for the event.  I am attaching a list of ideas to get you thinking about your family booth. Please confirm to me what your booth will be as soon as possible so that we can avoid duplicates.  Parents have asked whether they need to provide prizes. That is entirely up to you. If you'd like to provide stickers or sweeties or something for a prize that's great. However the booths themselves are good fun so prizes are by no means necessary.  Please bring everything you need for your booth with you on the day (including sign floormat or table) plus a plate of something for the buffet and your drink of choice (though I will provide fruit drinks water and ice cream too.) Families should arrive and set up between 2:30 and 3:00 and then we can have the official opening of the Fun Fair at 3pm. You should plan for a family member to man your booth (taking turns so you can visit and enjoy other booths too) from 3:00 to 4:30 and then the event will just turn into casual fun with the buffet/picnic & parents relaxing.  Please fill out the response form below or email me even if you cannot attend. That way I know we've reached everyone. Thanks so much.   ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Children's Names:       Mother's Name:    Father's Name: We are coming:     YES     NO   Our email address is:    Our telephone contact is: mobile:       home:        How many children in your family will attend? How many adults in your family will attend?   We will run our own booth   YES   NO   We would prefer to share a booth YES  NO   We need help finding a family to share  YES   NO     We will share with:   Sample Booth Ideas Bean bag toss Skittles bobbing for apples hoopla (throw a ring around a bottle ) T-shirt painting Kid's croquet Lucky dip Horseshoes balloon release thai stilt walking (use upside down coconut shells) mask making paper bag puppet decorating obstacle course miniature golf course fishing game in a paddling pool domino or coin stacking (who's is tallest!) eat baked beans with a toothpick contest; -Dart Throw at balloons on a cork board; Jell-O Eating Contest Kids race to eat jello with no hands;   - gross me out win a prize (lollipop?) by willingness to put hands and feet into various bowls of gross stuff (cooked spaghetti in oil mud starch & water etc) - Treasure Dig Kids dig around in a kiddie pool filled with plastic foam and small toys - Pingpong Blow Teams compete to blow pingpong balls to the other end of a table using drinking straws.  - donut race (tie donuts from a string and eat without hands) - water sponge toss - kids toss a wet sponge at a person peeking through a plywood cutout - Muffin Pan Toss Kids toss 10 pennies into a muffin tin with numbered holes; pieces of felt in the bottom of the tin keep pennies from bouncing out. - Cookie Decorating Provide sugar cookies icing and sprinkles and let kids do it. - The Carpenter's Crew Each player is given a hammer and a board with three already started nails. On go the carpenter is given 30 seconds to hammer as many nails as possible - Candle squirt - Each player receives two filled squirt guns. Standing 3 feet away from three lit candles kids try to extinguish the candles before running out of water. - Knock It Off Kids use water guns to knock pingpong balls off tops of soft drink bottles. - Penny Splash Fill an aquarium with water. Sink three tall glasses so they sit upright on the bottom of the tank. Kids try to drop pennies into the glasses.  -- balloon shaving you put shaving cream on a balloon and give the child a ladies razor (with the blade recessed or use plastic so they can't cut themselves) and they have to shave the balloon without popping it.  ************* This is really a great party and it gives parents the chance to meet each other as well as the children to make friends outside of their classrooms. It needs to be held in a medium size enclosed area (gated property) so that the parents can relax without worrying about the safety of their children. Our house is ideal since we have a large open front lawn where everyone can be seen. Even the 3 year olds can run from booth to booth on their own while mom and dad can socialize and still keep one eye on their youngest. All the booths should be free and self-sufficient so the kids can wander about on their own and run back and help at their own booth from time to time without needing any help from their parents. This year a Taiwanese family on holiday in Bangkok noticed the balloons at the end of our street. They walked down the road to investigate and when they came to our gate we invited them to join us at the Fun Fair. A few days later we found a lovely note from them in our mailbox. It turns out that they are teachers in Taiwan and loved the community spirit of our homegrown fair so much that they planned to hold one at their home shortly thereafter. I think that is the best testament to what a great party idea a Fun Fair is. Enjoy it! "