For my brother's 6th birthday party, we decided to do something extra special. Now a mom myself, I know how important it is to host a wonderful and memorable party. My brother was in kindergarden, so for once he had plenty of kids to invite. It was one of the first parties of the year, since his birthday is in October, so we really wanted to set the bar! His birthday is in the beginning of fall, and right around Halloween, so we went with the obvious theme: A Fall Halloween Carnival. We invited the entire class of 23 kids, and 19 showed up. We we glad of this, since the party ended up costing around $250.  INVITATIONS: These were made on our computer. We bought Halloween decorative paper from Michaels for $3.50, and used Chiller font in dark purple for the text. We wrote a cute poem at the top of the inviation, then had a section giving details about the time, location, rsvp, and who it was for. The bottom section was bulleted, and included all of the activities that we planned on having at the party. The invitations were easy to create, and instead of paying for shipping, they were placed in each child's backpack at school to bring home for their parents to see.   LOCATION: My parents back yard is huge, and also had a nice sized deck where we put the food and the adult area. It acted as a great setting for the party. The weather was not cold, not hot...perfect! PLANNING: About a month in advance, I contacted a local party supplier who rents out space jumps and other party must-haves. From them, we rented a fun jump in the shape of a carousel for $90. It fit our theme perfectly. We also rented a bean bag toss game for $25. Finally, we rented an old-fashioned popcorn maker for $30, as it is a basic carnival food. They also sell the popcorn kernals, oil and bags for $10 extra. The popcorn was a great hit. We popped it throughout the entire party, as the scent was very enticing. The adults enjoyed it as much as the kids did!  GAMES: About two weeks in advance, we started thinking of what other carnival games we would have at the party. 1.) SPACE JUMP 2.) BEAN BAG TOSS (rented from the party rental store, they had three balls to throw, if they made one they got a prize.) 3.) BASKETBALL TOSS (we used a plastic basketball goal, small basketball, and created a free throw line, they had three shots, and one shot meant they got a prize.) 4.) DUCK GAME (we used a galvenized tin bucket, bought rubber duckies that floated, drew a star on the bottom of 1/2 the ducks, and let them pick up three ducks. If one had a star, they won.) 5.) TREASURE HUNT (we filled a plastic turtle sandbox with purple play sand purchased from Wal-Mart for $5, hid small plastic toys purchased from School and Carnival Supplies for $5, and had two shovels. The kids got to search for two treasures, and got to keep both.) 6.) BOBBING FOR APPLES (we had a plastic storage container bought from Dollar General for $10 and filled it with water. We bought Red Delicous apples, and put them in the water to float. Since the apples were so big and the kids so small, we allowed them to bob with a ladel instead of their mouths. They got a prize if they "caught" an apple with the ladel.) 7.) FACE PAINTING (we bought face paint at Wal-Mart for $7 and created 10 designs before-hand that the children could choose from. The painting was their prize.) 8.) BALLOON ANIMALS (a friend of my mom's could create these, and volunteered to do so at the party. We bought two packs of long balloons from Wal-Mart for $1.50 each. We don't reccommend over 2 packs, which makes 40 balloons, as the balloon artist said her hands could only handle that many before they get sore, and the kids would want many more if they had the option. The balloon was the prize.)  FOOD: A week in advance, we bought all of the food. We stuck with the carnival theme for our food as well. We did the popcorn for snacks. For dinner, we grilled hot dogs and buns. For the theme's sake, we bought individual packets of mayo, mustard and ketchup for the dogs. We also had individual cans of soda and individual bags of chips. Each cost 1 ticket, but the condiments came with the dog, for no extra tickets. If a child wanted seconds, that was an extra ticket. We reccommend placing names with a Sharpie on the drinks, for the kids will take 1 sip, forget where they set it, and get another. It is a big waste of soda and money. We also went to Sam's and bought pre-packed cream cheese pin-wheels in the frozen section and cajun crab dip in the deli section, as well as salsa and chips. This was left inside for the adult's pleasure. All of the food cost under $40 when bought in bulk at Sam's.   TICKETS: When entering the carnival, each child was given a bag to hold their prizes. In each bag, there were 20 tickets,  bought at Wal-Mart for $5. The children loved the feeling of having to use tickets to get what they wanted. It made them feel responsible and grown-up. They wouldn't let their parents help. The bags that the tickets went in were Halloween trick-or-treat bags, to go along with our Halloween theme. They were bought for 42 cents a piece at Wal Mart. If a child was to run out of a ticket, we did have a ticket booth set up where they could get 5 more at a time for FREE. This was the only free thing at the carnival, as each food and each game was 1 ticket a piece. But the kids loved it that way!   ATTIRE: The children were given the option of dressing up in their Halloween costumes. Most of them did. The only warning of this is that the Fun Jump was quite active, and two of the little girls ripped their costumes. I'm sure the parents weren't thrilled with this, two weeks before Halloween.  PRIZES: We bought different prizes for each game. They were all carnival and halloween themed, like pumpking bouncing balls, clown clappers, and pumpkin eye patches. They were purchaed at School and Carnival Supplies, and cost around $20 for all of the prizes for all of the games. However, this covered goodie bag prizes as well. The goodie bags were the actual bags that the children were given at the beginning of the party with tickets in it. The goodies were all of the prizes that they recieved at the games.  COSTS: Between the party rentals, food and goodies, the cost reached around $250. However, over 1/2 of this amount was spent renting the fun jump and other games and items at the party rental store. The party would have been sufficent without the fun jump and rented games, and could have been fine with only home-made games like the other games were. This would bump the cost of the party down to under $100.  STRUCTURE: Each game had a sign, made out of neon posterboard and markets. It described the games, and noted that it cost 1 ticket. We used misc. furniture from around the house, such as end tables, to act as ticket booths for each game. We decorated to go with the theme. We also had a concession stand set up, from an 8 foot rented table, $7.   DECOR: Almost no money was spent on decor. Since the party was outside, and we had the games, they were decor enough. The carousel fun jump also was a huge part of the decor.   THE RESPONSE: The children and parents both raved about this party. It lasted from 2:30-4 in the afternoon, but the children would have stayed much longer if they could have. It didn't take much set-up or tear-down time, so that made us happy. Overall, it was a wonderful success, that I would reccommend for no children under the age of 5, but up to the age of 10 or 11. It can be lavish and expensive, or creative and cheap! It's all up to the imagination.