Host a Circus Party

You know I love a themed party, and I am excited to share some easy ideas on how to host a circus party.

Halloween is approaching, and a circus themed party would work great for this time of year, or a birthday party or a just-because celebration any time of year.

I geared my party for both kids and adults, so there are fun ideas for every age. Feel free to use these ideas as a jumping off point to tailor your party to any age.

One of my friends helped me brainstorm, plan, set up, and bring the entertainment to life, so please let this be a reminder that you don’t have to do everything yourself! Getting to plan with her was half the fun of hosting!

And themed events don’t have to be expensive—I’ll share tips in this post on how to create a festive circus atmosphere without spending much.

This post contains affiliate links.

Invitations

 

I whipped up invitations on Canva. There are a lot of circus designs for free! You can print them out to mail, or easily text or email to save on printing and mailing costs.

 

 

Encourage Dressing Up

 

Circuses are a great excuse for whimsical, colorful costumes, so you can invite guests to dress up inspired by a circus performer or anything circus-inspired.

Costumes can be as simple or elaborate as you like!

This can be a great excuse to break out previously worn Halloweens costumes.

You could include costume ideas in your invitations:

• Circus performers (for example, clowns, a ringmaster, acrobats, lion-tamer, etc.
• Outfits inspired by animals at the circus (like lions, bears, horses, camels, etc.)
• Bright colors and fun patterns.

You could also give out prizes and awards for costumes. You could invite guests to vote for the winners too.

I dressed up as a tightrope walker. My inspiration? The painting from Disney’s Haunted Mansion.

Alas, in the excitement I didn’t get a full picture of my costume by myself, and I won’t be posting any group shots on here in respect of my friends’ kids privacy. So you’ll just have to imagine that I wore a fit and flare dress with red flats, and I tied matching ribbon around my legs to look like my flats laced up.

I also completely forgot to get my parasol out, but that would have been a great addition to my costume, as well as a fun photo prop. (Y’all, I was TIRED the day of my party, but it was so much fun. I was more focused on enjoying time with my guests and making sure they were having fun too, so please excuse my lack of photo documentation.)

 

Magic Show

 

One of my friends performs at kids parties, and she offered to perform a magic show for us! It was so much fun watching her perform, and also so fun to see the kids’ reactions.

I also did my own little magic act. I’ve seen several people online make butterfly pea tea that changes color when you add lemonade. Here’s where to get the dried butterfly pea flowers.

Watch this video to see the color transformation and get the recipe for making the lemonade.

You could perform a magic act yourself, or invite kids and adults to all perform something talent show style too!

 

Face Painting

 

Face painting is a fun circus themed activity for all ages!

Did I mention that my awesome friend not only performs at parties, she also does face painting professionally?

You can keep face painting super simple—think cat noses and whiskers or colorful freckles. You can find stencils online for all kinds of fun shapes. They can be circus themed or whatever theme you like (there are lots of superhero and Disney options out there!)

I of course had to go with star decorations. I decided to go with placement on my arm vs. my face in case my very sensitive skin had any reaction, and I was pleasantly surprised to have no issue with this makeup. A huge win in my book!

My friend recommends this brand for face painting, especially the Paradise line. They also have colorful foundations, which I am bookmarking for future reference because I would love to do some really elaborate cosplays someday!

 

 

Games

 

Any type of lawn games would work well to create a circus gaming alley. My friend brought a ring toss game and a bean bag toss game.

Hosting inside? You could easily create your own ski ball type game by recruiting baskets or other organizers, and lining up balls or balloons for kids to toss in. Label different size bins with different points if you like.

 

 

Decorations

 

I decided to keep decorations pretty simple. Colorful paper tablecloths and matching colorful polka dot plates and cups set a cheerful scene. I hung up a vibrant polka dot scarf to use as a photo backdrop.

Using Canva again, I customized circus- pictures including a big top tent and a carousel, printed them out, folded the paper in half to make a little tent, and used these tents as our table centerpieces.

I picked a bouquet of yellow and white dahlias from my garden to match the color theme I had going—I also thought they kind of resembled a puffy bouquet of popcorn. For extra fun, you could put your bouquet’s vase in an actual popcorn bag or popcorn bucket.

 

Treats

 

I asked each of my friends to bring a treat to share. I provided popcorn and drinks. I decorated plain paper cups with stickers I created on good ol Canva.

I encouraged my guests to bring whatever they liked, and also offered some suggestions if they wanted to bring something circus-related like animal crackers, apples with caramel dip, peanuts, or a treat made with peanuts (since I knew no one in our group has peanut allergies.)

 

 

Favors

I used Canva to make each guest a circus ticket that I gave them when they arrived so that they could “get in” to the circus. My mom laminated the tickets to make them extra durable and I let the kids know they could take them home to use as bookmarks.

 

Some Additional Ideas

 

Set up a projector and watch a movie like The Greatest Showman.

Have competitions like seeing who would be the best juggler, tight rope walker, etc.

Set up hula hoops and stuffed animals for kids to “train” to jump through hoops, or line up other toys that will let kids’ imaginations run wild to play circus.

 

I would love to hear if you host a circus party, and please share your ideas of how you made the party your own in the comments!

 

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