... and try your hand! What's a (night) circus without games? Granted, mine was
a party for twenty-somethings, so I wanted games that added to the atmosphere and were low maintenance (meaning they didn't need teams or a set number of players, and didn't require someone to 'work' the game, like re-stacking bottles to knock over). Basically, I wanted games that people could play while having conversations. I decided on two games of skill that were easy to assemble, slightly challenging (they were for playing, after all), and most importantly, cheap!
Game #1 - Ring Toss: Classic carnival game, and it doesn't really take much to reset for each player. And after I saw the pin below, I knew it was something I could pull together at minimal cost.
Pinterest Version:
My Version:
The whole setup cost barely anything - cost breakdown below:
- Crate - a lawn decoration that I borrowed from my mom (free!)
- Bottles - recycled empties of IBC Root Beer, courtesy of my dad (free!)
- Rings - curtain rings I found at a thrift store and painted my theme colors (99 cents)
- Paint - acrylic paint, on hand (free!)
- Decorations - metallic filler (leftover from balloon weights project, $1 from Dollar Tree) and wire garland (on sale for 50 cents at Michaels)
- Letters - made using my mom's Cricut machine (free!)
Total Cost = under $3! Assemblage pics below (click to enlarge):
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| Warning: Acrylic paint will chip (but it was fine for a night) |
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| Thrift store score! |
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| Getting the most out of the screw eyes! |
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| After the paint dried I removed the screw eyes with pliers |
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| Rings, DONE! |
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| I used sticky tack to adhere the letters, so I could pop them off after the party and return the crate |
I ended up using the stairs for ring toss (since the party was moved indoors), which worked out pretty well. And a few people actually managed to land some rings, which I wasn't sure was possible! You know how rigged carnival games are! :P
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| Sorry for the blurriness - atmospheric lighting! |
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| Game table with rings and prizes |
Game #2 - Paper Airplanes: I kind of made up this game, inspired by a few Pinterest images and
this episode of
The Office. The switch from backyard bash to indoor party probably impacted this element of the party the most, but it still came together at the end and was a hit.
Pinterest Inspiration Pics:
The image at above right was actually for a Harry Potter party - they were
Quidditch hoops! I figured I could reproduce the idea with embroidery hoops and wooden rods (staking them into the ground), which worked well in theory, but when the party was moved indoors, a quick adjustment happened, and the hoops became hanging targets instead of standing ones. And again, the game setup cost was minimal! Cost breakdown:
- Embroidery hoops - I bought three embroidery hoops of varying sizes and used the outer ones for this project (I used the inner ones for a carousel photo display) ($4.50 for all 3 hoops from Hobby Lobby, so cost for this project was $2.25)
Wooden rods Thread - my dad picked up the rods I was going to use, but didn't; instead I used thread that I had on hand (both free!)- Paper for airplanes - I initially wanted book pages, but I couldn't find a book with sturdy enough paper for airplanes - then I found an Onion compendium at a thrift store, which worked perfectly ($1.50)
Total Cost = $3.75
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| ... but I did a quick-change on the day-of! |
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| We originally used screws to attach the hoops to the rods... |
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| Slicing off the binding |
Click the photos to enlarge - I love the pic above, since I took it at
the end of the night and you can see some of the aftermath of the game -
someone's airplane is all the way into the bathroom by the sink! Like
the ring toss, this game actually had winners as well. Spinning hoops
hanging on thread? No problem, apparently. :P
And, if you haven't hit your limit on circus games, check out my
bonus post about a guessing game I created that involves
birth order, famous "magicians," and prizes! :)
