DIY Carnival Games

DIY carnival games that are easy and fun to play at home. Balloon darts, ring toss, milk bottle toss, spray away and bean bag toss are all fun carnival games

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. Having a designated area for it worked great.

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!

Bean Bag Toss

The Bean Bag Toss was made from a piece of plywood that we painted and some plastic buckets we glued to the board.

To play, you stood behind and then tossed bean bags into the buckets.

Milk Bottle Throw

For the Milk Bottle Throw, I spray painted a cardboard 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.

To play, you stood behind a line and threw bean bags at the wooden milk bottles trying to knock them over.

Ring Toss Carnival Games

We made the ring toss out of an 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.

To play, stand behind a line and toss rings trying to them around the bottles.

Squirt Gun Spray Away Game

We drilled holes into a piece of wood I painted and placed golf tees in the holes. Use a little hot glue to keep them fastened in there. Place ping pong balls on the golf tees. We had an assortment of water guns and two containers full of water on the table so that they could refill their water guns.

To Play use water guns to squirt the balls off the tees.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 I painted. We picked up the cardboard for free at Home Depot. Darts and balloons are from Oriental Trading.

To Play the guests stand behind a line and throw darts trying to pop the balloons.

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

Carnival Game Prizes

I purchased an assortment of prizes from Oriental Trading. Guests were allowed to pick as many prizes as they liked!

Carnival 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.
We had all kinds of fun props to use.

A cute chalkboard sign was there 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

Everyone should be lucky enough to know a balloon man. Our friend Cary from church spent the evening creating amazing balloon creations for the guests.

Everyone loved the games – young and old but they were especially great for keeping all the kids busy and entertained.

For more Wedding Carnival fun:

• The Wedding Carnival
• Carnival Food Ideas