Jungle Carnival for a 5 year old: "Original" was a key comment from the parents, while "this is a great party" was the common remark from the children. Carnival parties require a lot of planning and help on the day of the party, but the total involvement of both the children and the parents make it worthwhile. The party for my five year old daughter was Carnival-style with a Jungle theme. I created the invitations using clip art of a silly jungle scene. The party was held in late June (perfect weather) in our backyard. I bought a 10' x 10' canopy at BJs and this worked perfectly as the pivot point of the party. We borrowed an arch and attached compressor inflated balloons around it which became the entrance to the canopy. We used helium inflated jungle-print balloons to distribute around the yard. The 'walls' for the entrance were created by dropping red, white and blue crepe streamers on each side of the arch and in the four corners. We bought a 100' pennant and divided it into 8 sections: this was tied at an angle from the canopy to the ground to create a triangle which separated the 'booths' in the carnival. There were six games on the left and right side of the canopy, and the food table/tattoo booth was on the far end. On arrival, each child received a necklace of 'tickets' that entitled the child to activities or food. I created the tickets using carnival tickets covered with labels made on the computer. Each label had the word of the activity/food as well as a picture (clip art). In addition, each child received a plastic goodie bag to collect their prizes (with their names attached so they could put them down while getting cake, etc.). We had six activities (age range: 3-7): milk bottles, elephant ring toss, tiger velcro dart game, animal bean bag toss, bowling, a tattoo booth and basketball. Food included popcorn(pre-popped and displayed on the food table in jungle animal bags), hot dogs and snow cones. What amazed me was how proud the children were when they finished using all their tickets (I am not even sure they wanted the hot dogs, but I think they felt success in using all the tickets because several came over to show me their empty necklace). For the cake, I used the 'buttercream transfer method' (found on the internet) to use butter cream frosting to transfer an image (created on the computer of a lion and elephant in front of a tent) to a cake. I built two benches and a table for 24 children out of 2x4's and 2x10's and painted it blue. After cake we did 'pin the tail on the lion' (my son drew the lion) and a Tiger pinata (for the pinata, we had a separate bag of candy to throw on the floor when the pinata broke to spread out the candy). Each child also received a canvas animal bag to store the candy. The prizes for each activity were bought at OrientalTrading.com, and included a kite, gorgeous jungle animal chalices, animal paddle ball, sunglasses, small bean bag wild animals  and visor - all with the jungle animal theme. This type of party requires a lot of preparation and help to man the booths on the day of the party, but each child is engaged the entire time in some activity and the goodie bags are earned by the children. I was impressed at how many of the children came up to my daughter to tell her how much they liked her party. The dollars invested depend on how many of the 'activities' you already have or can borrow, and how much you want to spend on the prizes. In terms of preparation, I made all the tickets and necklaces in advance, and placed the prizes in activity-labeled shopping bags so when we setup we could quickly place the prizes next to the activity. The balloon arch was made the day before, while the helium balloons were inflated the day of the party. I froze orange juice in the weeks leading up to the party, and used an ice shaver (purchased at Bed, Bath and Beyond) to create the snow cones.