One of my goals for the Wedding Carnival was to have people come and spend the evening with us. Not just stop in, sign a book, shake hands, grab a quick bite to eat and leave. I wanted them to enjoy a fun evening and celebration. In order to create this atmosphere we set aside part of the yard for Carnival Games.
What would a carnival be without games!! We used our play structure area for the games
Using red and white curtain panels I found at Goodwill I created a backdrop for the games so that we didn’t loose things that were being thrown into the trees!
There were five different games.
Bean Bag Toss
The Bean Bag Toss was made from a piece of plywood and some plastic buckets we glued to the board.
Milk Bottle Throw
For the Milk Bottle ThrowI just spray painted a box to contain the game so that the milk bottles didn’t going flying when hit. The red little stool was found at Goodwill and spray painted and the milk bottles and balls came from Oriental Trading as did the bean bags.
Ring Toss
We also had an old fashioned Ring Toss using a couple of old soda pop crates we had and some glass Coke bottles. My neighbor kids very happily drank the Coke so I would have empty bottles! The rings came from Oriental Trading.
Spray Away
There was also a squirt gun Spray Away game. You placed ping pong balls on the golf tees and then used a squirt gun to knock the balls off.
Balloon Darts
The last game was Balloon Darts. We just thumb tacked the balloons onto a thick piece of cardboard we picked up for free at Home Depot. Darts and balloons are from Oriental Trading.
The games were set up on card tables and I covered them with plastic tablecloths from the Dollar Store and the table skirts came from Oriental Trading.
Or course there were prizes too!
Photo Booth
In the game area we also had a photo booth set up. I had two cute girls that ran the game/photo booth area for me all night. They were great!!
We had all kinds of fun props to use.
As well as another chalkboard sign to let people know what to do.
There was also a fun poke your head through photo op I bought through Oriental Trading and then attached to some PVC pipe so it was free standing.
Balloon Man
We also had a balloon man at the carnival! He was kept busy the entire evening.
Good thing he had a pump that blew up the balloons for him!
Cary is a friend of ours from church. I saw some pictures on his wife’s Facebook page of some balloon animals he had made for his kids and asked if I could hire him! He was great!!
My darling niece Jacky who came all the way from Utah for the party!
Everyone loved the games – young and old but they were especially great for keeping all the kids busy and entertained.
Tomorrow I’ll be back to share with some photos of the best money we spent for the Wedding Carnival and maybe even a video of our flash mob!
For more Wedding Carnival fun:
Carnival Pictorial can be found here
The Wedding Carnival}The Food Part One
The Wedding Carnival}The Food Part Two
The Wedding Carnival}Decorations
The Wedding Carnival}Music, Dancing and a Flash Mob
The Wedding Carnival}The Bride and Groom
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Erin
September 11, 2012 at 11:24 amHow fun! It is going to be talked about for years to come, that’s for sure.
Wendy Webster
September 11, 2012 at 1:30 pmIs that my cousin Rachel Leete helping out? super cute1
Leigh Anne
September 11, 2012 at 9:27 pmIt is – she was a guest at the carnival!
polly dove
September 12, 2012 at 10:13 amLEIGH ANNE! I am dying at how cute this whole idea is and what a great job you did! Do you remember my name at all?! I’m Delanie’s friend from waaaaaay back. You and I met when you guys roomed at RainTree. She has always talked SO highly of you throughout these years and I have seen a few Christmas cards from you too! Your family is darling – your girls look so much like you. Does Delanie know you blog?! I can’t believe she wouldn’t have told me since I blog too …. not to the extent you do however! I am so impressed! You are amazing!!! So glad I “stumbled” across this today!!!! 🙂
Leigh Anne
September 12, 2012 at 8:51 pmPolly – I so remember you – how fun!!! Delanie and I have communicated via Facebook and I think she knows about my blog. We saw each other a few years ago at BYU when we both had kids graduating. So glad you found me! Will come over and check out your blog.
Amber
December 6, 2012 at 9:25 amThis is exactly what I imagine for my wedding in summer 2014! I’m so excited to have found this website. I’ve been pinning since my engagement and this is by far exactly what I’ve been looking for! I have a few money questions that I don’t know are appropriate for the comment blog… I just want to know your total dollar amount. I’m Canadian so a lot of the websites you posted for things are very expensive to ship to me… I’ll have to keep searching. Anything you would have done differently? How did your loved ones feel about working your booths all evening? I just love this blog so much!!! I feel so lucky that I found it!!!
Leigh Anne
December 6, 2012 at 9:34 amSo glad you like the Wedding Carnival – it was so fun! It really was everything I hoped it would be and I can’t think of one thing I would have done differently To answer a few of your questions. I don’t really have a total dollar amount. We did most of the work ourselves. If there are specific things you are wondering about let me know and I can try to answer those but as a total amount I haven’t really figured it out. For my carnival workers I asked my friends that really didn’t know my son so they were happy to help and be able to be there at the carnival and be involved. They all loved being there and working. I asked a few teenagers too to help man the game booths, the ice cream cart etc. I purposely did not ask family and those who were close to the groom to help at the carnival. I hired someone to do the balloon booth and the only food booth (other than the main food) that had to be manned full time was the cotton candy booth which was manned by a good family friend but they had so much fun they didn’t mind being at the booth for the evening. It was a couple and they took turns enjoying the carnival too. It really was a perfect party!
MARGIE
April 27, 2013 at 1:06 pmWHERE DID YOU GET THE VINTAGE SIGNS!? LOVE!!!
Leigh Anne
April 27, 2013 at 7:41 pmDo you mean the ones hanging on the garage? We printed them off on our computer. I think I shared the website that we did it through in the post.
Yumna Fatima
July 25, 2014 at 7:41 pmWhere did you get the tables from for the game?
amazing wedding btw 🙂
Leigh Anne
July 25, 2014 at 9:16 pmI am not quite sure which tables you are talking about? The games were all on card table sized tables.
Kristen
September 27, 2015 at 9:46 amLeigh Anne,
Your Carnival is inspiring! I was wondering, where did you get the cotton candy sign on top of the booth? Did you make it or did you order it? It’s adorable and I would love to try and replicate it for my Carnival. Thanks for all of your wonderful ideas!
Leigh Anne
September 28, 2015 at 3:12 pmI had a friend that made that for me. I think she bought the art work off of etsy and enlarged it.
Kristen
January 25, 2016 at 4:05 pmLove this! I wondering what size plywood did you use?
Leigh Anne
January 25, 2016 at 4:40 pmWhat item are you referring to for the plywood size?
Marcella Caldwell
April 7, 2016 at 11:38 amHi Leigh!!
LOVE YOUR WEDDING DESIGN!!!! Just wondering how you guys constructed the actual booth (the wood ones)?? Did you use a set of plans or could you share instructions??
Thanks!!
Marcella
Leigh Anne
May 9, 2016 at 7:01 pmMarcella, My husband just built them looking at a picture I gave him. Unfortunately we don’t have any instructions.