Our twin daughters were turning three this year and we were trying to think up an idea for their birthday besides the typical Princess party. We went to the circus when it came into town and the girls LOVED it! So a theme was born!  I had invitations printed that were in the shape of a circus tent (Cross-My-Heart) that said, Come one Come all-it's Morgan and Avery's 3rd Birthday Carnival! Step right up to the best show in town-there'll be balloons games prizes and even a Clown!" I hired a clown to come and paint the kids faces perform a little "magic" trick and then make balloon animals and such. I painted ply-wood sheets to match the theme-one was cut out in the shape of a ticket booth and it had (our last name) Carnival Fairgrounds Ticket Booth painted on a "sign" hanging on it the others was a Clown bean bag toss a clown holding a sign pointing to the Carnival Fairgrounds and last but not least I painted one that had a clown ring master and a lion with the faces cut out so the kids could take pictures with it. (I even had a ring master hat and several clown hats and wigs for the kids to put on for their picture.) We rented a popcorn machine a hot dog machine and a ring toss game. The rest of the games we made ourselves-one was a duck pond (I bought the ducks and numbered the bottoms 1-3 corresponding to the prize bins and we used the girls kiddie pool to place them in) the next was a knock down the can (my father built a box and I painted it red and we spray painted some cans blue and yellow for the kids to hit with the balls) and last was a ping pong toss (again my father built a box that I had small plastic fish bowls in and the object of the game was to toss a ping pong into the bowls-each bowl held some stickers for prizes). We also had a castle bouncer (Christmas present for the girls last year) that we had out for the kids to play in. Our mailbox had a balloon bouquet to let everyone know where we were and our driveway was lined with primary colored pennants and balloons (we also put the clown sign in our front yard pointing to the back yard so our guests would know to come to the back). As you walked to the back the entire fence was draped in red and white alternating plastic tablecloths (to give it the look of a circus tent). I ordered a "Carnival" sign from Pottery Barn and hung it between two poles heading into our gate. We had the "Ticket Booth" cut out at the entrance and several people had their picture taken with it as well. As you walked into the Carnival we had actual carnival and circus music (ordered from Amazon) playing on the CD player near the popcorn machine. All of the tables were arranged with white tablecloths and either red with white polka dot material white with red polka dot material or red and white striped material. Our table centerpieces were popcorn containers with popcorn coming out the top and red blue white yellow and green balloons coming out of the popcorn bags. I also had yellow bowls with peanuts in them for everyone to snack on. Speaking of food we had popcorn hotdogs cotton candy (Rainbowcottoncandy.com) lemonaid and chips (inside the house I had a few appetizers and other assorted snacks in case someone didn't like the typical carnival fare-spinach dip chocolate fondue mexican 7 layer dip with chips etc.) For prizes I ordered rings stickers pencils kick balls bouncy balls spinners candy etc. (Oriental Trading). For my goody bags I had jumbo clown glasses a clown nose clown stickers a large swirled sucker and a flashing ring all wrapped in a red cello bag with red and white ribbons tying it together. The cake was phenomenal-I had the local bakery replicate the tent on the invitation for the top layer of the cake and the bottom later was yellow and red stripes with polka dots on it-they also had four or five clowns sitting around the tent. Before the clown left she told me out of all the parties she had ever performed at our decorations was in the top five and our cake was absolutely number one on her list. The girls had a blast and NONE of the kids wanted to go home. The party started at 4:30 and our last guest didn't leave until about 7:30-8.  It was well worth all the time and energy that we put into our girls birthday when the next day they both woke up and told us how much fun they had at their birthday!"