Carnival ideas

Step right up for carnival fun! From classic games to delicious treats, create an unforgettable carnival experience with festive decorations and live entertainment.

Carnival planning tips

Every great Carnival starts with a spark of inspiration. Discover fresh ideas and expert advice to help you plan with confidence and creativity.

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Create a Carnival

Carnivals are a great American tradition that have been around for decades. From the colors to the lights, games, rides, entertainers, and prizes, nothing is more exciting than a carnival. Creating a carnival is simple and a blast for you and your guests to enjoy. A carnival is perfect for any occasion. Whether it’s a neighborhood party, birthday, holiday, or family party, a corporate event, a school or parish event, or whatever special occasion you have in mind, GigSalad can help you design a carnival that will get any aged person excited, participating, and having a great time!

Pick a Time and Place

Pick a date far enough in advance to make sure you are able to rent and book all your supplies, entertainment, and staff that you need. Depending on the size of your carnival, you need to ensure that you leave yourself enough time to plan an amazing carnival. Determine how many guests will be attending and how many games, rides, and other entertainment you want at your carnival and pick a place that is proportionately sized. Make sure the weather suits a carnival for the date and place you have chosen.

Set the Mood

First, in order to turn your venue into a carnival, you need to set the scene and mood. To start, put up one or more large tents in your space. Next, make sure you have multiple colorful signs that label different booths and attractions. Also, lights and decorations are a great way to set the scene. Balloons, streamers, and lights are visuals that get guests excited and anxious to attend your carnival. Finally, classic carnival and carousel music is a great way to get people caught up in the carnival atmosphere.

Let the Games Begin

The entertainment options are endless. Whatever scale you want your carnival to be, there are many entertainment ideas that will fit your budget. Games are a classic carnival attraction. Ring tosses, bean bag tosses, dunk tanks, cake walks, fishing ponds, goldfish tosses, and mini golf are only a few of the fun carnival game ideas you can choose from. Along with games, you can set the mood at your carnival with other types of entertainment too. Hiring a fortune teller, having pony rides, a petting zoo, face painter, balloon animals, or a juggler are different types of alternative entertainment that can captivate your guests. Also, carnival rides are always an exciting option for carnivals. Most companies who supply these rides will transport, set up, operate, and break down the rides. All you need to do is make sure you have a layout that fits all of the rides you want to accommodate. Finally, inflatables would be a great addition to your carnival. You can have inflatable rock climbing walls, slides, obstacle courses, or other fun inflatables be a guest favorite. Games, performers, animals, and inflatables can all be rented from various companies.

Get lots of Goodies

Now it’s time to gather a list of supplies you need for your carnival to be complete. First, classic carnival food including; hot dogs, popcorn, cotton candy, snow cones, and lemonade are a must. To add authenticity you can rent the food machines instead of buying the food from the store. Along with food, you also need tickets and carnival prizes for the games. Most carnival prizes are cheap and fun like rings, bouncy balls, stuffed animals, and key-chains, but you can get as upscale of prizes as you like.

Hiring the Help

After you have picked a time and place, set the mood, supplied your entertainment, and gathered your supplies, you are ready for your carnival to get rolling! There are different ways to fulfill these four steps. You can hire an entertainment company or event planner to take over one or more steps of your carnival planning process. Entertainment companies can be used to rent supplies, provide entertainers, cater, on-site staff, set-up and take-down process, and any and every other part of your carnival that you need them for. It is up to you how much hired help you want and how much you want to rent. No matter how you choose to facilitate your carnival you are sure to create a unique and fun filled day that leaves all your guests with smiles on their faces!

Featured booking options for Dallas, TX events:

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Pair of Pirates

4.94 (17)

  • Dallas, TX
  • Pirate Entertainment
  • $350 and up

Sandra S. said “We were thrilled to have the Pair of Pirates work with us during our world premiere launch of our production, TREASURE ISLAND Reimagined! Our children (ranging from 4 to 15) loved them and the big... ”
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Darron Carrington Music

5.0 (16)
8 Verified bookings

  • Dallas, TX
  • Saxophone Player
  • $1,200 and up

Brianna F. said “Darron recently played at my wedding in March and he was the absolute BEST! Such a pleasure to work with, from booking (almost a year out), to picking songs and vibes, to day of, he seriously made our... ”
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Mermaid Athena

5.0 (35)
Top Performer
51 Verified bookings

  • Lancaster, TX
  • Mermaid Entertainment
  • $150 and up

Diana N. G. said “Athena communicated extremely well and was so timely and organized. She was flexible in adding in bubbles to her show. She is an extremely talented face painting artist and was kind to us and the... ”
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Character Clubhouse

4.95 (30)
43 Verified bookings

  • Desoto, TX
  • Costumed Character
  • Contact for rates

Shereta S. said “Thank you for showing up and making my best girl’s day so special. Her parents and she was so excited to see Minnie! ”

Explore all of your options!

With over 500 categories of performers and services, you’re sure to find something amazing for your event.