For my daughter's 7th birthday, I decided to have a back yard carnival.  I did it as cheap as possible but extremely time consuming.  I invited 60 children, my daughters entire 1st grade class and plus friends and family. I know some carpenters and had them bring all their scrap wood from different jobs.  I then made large saw horses for the boundaries for the games. I used extra paint I had stored in my basement and gave them all a quick painting.  The only thing I bought was nails for that. I needed a boundary, but the price of flags was extremely to high for as much as I needed. So my neighbor gave me some old plastic he had in his backyard and I made my own. I bought a couple cans of different colored spray paint and a spool of yarn. I painted the pastic and cut it into triangles.  (Luckily the plastic was a little clear and I painted one side, saving on spray paint) I then stapled the triangles to the yarn and roped off a circle in my yard.  So the kids couldn't get behind the game stands.  A friend of mine does concrete and he gave me a bunch of sharpened sticks to hold the flags up.  I then used 2 step ladders and made an entrance with lots of streamers and construction paper.   I took an old book case and put a 2x4 on each side putting a sign above for tickets. When the children arrived they recieved a bag and there tickets. I made the bags. I got brown paper medium sized bags at the store and used my left over yarn for handles. Then I spray painted each bag with different colors making it look tye die.  At the ticket counter they got a name tag for their shirt and bag. The tickets I had on yarn as a necklace. I bought poster board for signs and tickets. Each game was given a specific color.  The signs were hung at each game. I bought a fancy pair of scissors to cut the tickets out of the poster board. I also bought a stamper that read GOOD LUCK and stamped each ticket with left over paint I had in my basement, Poked a hole in the sides and strung them on yarn. Now for my games.  With so many kids I needed alot for games.  All the prizes were minimal.  Candy and toys from Oriental Trader. I did how ever spend the most money on balloons. I had guess your wieght and dart throwing. I took a piece of plywood and I cut a circle out and then painted a clown on it.  We made little shaving cream pies and had pie throwing.  We had throw the teddy bear in the basketball hoop. And softball toss at the cans. We also had the poo poo toss. Which was a huge hit.  I had an adult potty chair in my basement.  I of course cleaned it up real good and bought a fake peice of poo at the store.  the kids tossed the poo in the potty chair. I hung a couple rolls of toilet paper on the stand too.  I also had a hay ride in the back of a small truck. They loved that too. Luckily we live on a dead end street and it was very safe.  I also bought some hair spray color. Then we had face painting. I bought the paint at walmart in the craft department. With some stencils any one can do it.  Luckily a friend of mine had cotton candy machine and a sno cone machine. We then had hot dogs and cupcakes. I was unable to locate a popcorn machine and couldn't afford to rent one so I popped it the night before and bagged it all. Clowns.  Well my mother in law dressed up like a clown.  I also bought a clown alphit on ebay and dressed my brother in law up.  But the best of all was my uncle sam type guy. A friend of mine does drywall and let me borrow his stilts.  My other brother in law learned to walk in them.  My mother in law took a pair of blue sweatpants cut the bottom off and added some red and white striped material to add length. She then took an old plastic top hat and wrapped it with poster board and then the red and white material. It gave the illusion of him being even taller.  The kids loved it.  To top it all off I played various carnival music in the back ground that I had downloaded off the internet. It has been almost a year since this party and I still hear of it all the time.  The parents loved it just as much as the kids did. I thank all my friends and family for their help, too.  It was by far the best party I have ever had and I am told the same by all who attended.