For my daughter's 7th birthday, we had a carnival. We started off the party atmosphere with a cute invitation made with red/ white paper that I found at a scrapbooking store. I folded the paper in half to make a pocket, then stapled the sides to make a pocket. I cut the top with scalloped scissors to make a popcorn bag. I then created a cute invitation with her picture dressed as a clown on the front and using software put balloons behind her and on the front it said, "Step right up and join the fun! Madison's party will be the best one!" On the inside it said, "Games, prizes, face paints, and more. Cotton candy, popcorn, and treats galore! The festivities can't start until you walk through the door, so we'll see you from two to four. We need to know if you're coming so we can plan, so give us a call as soon as you can!! I found a picture of a piece of popcorn online and copied it and pasted a bunch together and glued them onto the top of the invitation, and slid it into the popcorn bag. They fit perfectly into envelopes and drew red, blue, and yellow dots onto the envelopes. They turned out better than expected.   For the party, we had a picnic style feast. We grilled hamburgers, and hotdogs. I also made pasta salad, deviled eggs, fruit, 2 dips, baked beans, fruit salad, vegetable salad, and more. I had rented a tent for the party to be outside, but it rained and I called and rented another tent to have twice the room. I rented a helium tank and blew up around 60 balloons and placed them in the tent. We had red/white streamers. I had 4 tables decorated with red, yellow, and blue tablecloths. We also rented a popcorn machine and the smell filled the backyard. I was going to rent a cotton candy machine but it was cheaper to just get bags of it.   When the kids started to arrive, I had a ticket booth set up and handed them tickets for games, a goody bag with their name on it, and name tags. Then we were ready to start the games. I had set up 7 games in the backyard. I made signs with posterboard announcing each game and the amount of tickets needed. I had a family member work each game. We had a dart throw/ balloon pop that was actually one of the better games but I was nervous about the darts thrown and was very careful about it.  Knock em down- kids used a plastic ball to know down water bottles set on a table. Ring toss- pop bottles and rings. Ping Pong Toss- collected glass jars for weeks and threw ping pongs into them. Duck Pond- Ducks from Oriental Trading that I numbered and the number corresponded to the prize. Hungary Clown- I painted a large box with a clown face and cut a whole for the mouth. I made bean bags that the kids threw into the mouth. The kids really enjoyed this game, and for some reason our puppy really did too as she kept jumping into the box after the bean bags. I gave away clown noses for the prize. The favorite game was the fishing pond. I painted a large box to look like a fish tank (complete with Nemo) and cut a whole to fish through. I made fish from craft foam and attached paper clips. I tied a large magnet to a fishing pole and the kids loved it. My mom dressed up as a clown and walked around and did face painting. I taught myself how to do balloon animals the day before the party and the kids enjoyed that. Surprisingly, it wasn't that hard if you keep it simple. It was then time for the clown cake, which I used a mixture of ideas for. I used a large bowl for the body, a small bowl for the head, and 4 mini loaf pans for the arms and legs. He had an ice cream cone hat, coconut hair, and candy for decorations on his face (fireball nose, sprees for eyes, M&M's for polka dots). The party turned out really cute. I have pictures of everything if anyone wants one.