Ideas for Carnival Booths
This is a list I have collected for booth ideas.
Lollipop Tree
Pencil Palace
“Crazy Hat” Ball Toss
Balloon Burst
Dowel Ring Toss
Tip the Bunny
Gator Swamp Toss
Donut Walk
Double Trouble Dice
Seven / Eleven
Wheel of Prizes
Tic Tac Toe
Gator Golf
Basketball Challenge
Apple Crate
Duck Pond
Cake Walk
Penny Toss
Laundry Basket Toss
- Lucky duck: Fill a large bucket with water and floating rubber duckies. Beforehand, paint the bottom of one duck red. Players can take turns trying to find the winning duck. Then mix them up and play again.
- Beanbag toss: Paint a clown face onto a large cardboard box and cut out the mouth. Use a few bricks to prop up the end with the clown’s head and mark a throw line about five feet from the box. Give everyone three beanbags to toss into the clown’s mouth.
- Bowling: Fill six two-liter soda bottles with a few inches of water, replace the cap, and arrange them in a bowling-like triangle. Mark a line ten feet from the first pin and take turns throwing tennis balls at the pins. The object is to knock all the bottles over.
- Shooting range: Stand three shoe boxes up on a table and top them each with a ping-pong ball. Arm your grandkids with water guns and instruct them to knock the ball off with a stream from the gun.
- Darts: Older grandkids will enjoy this game of marksmanship. Use thumbtacks to secure the stems of balloons to a piece of plywood. Prop the board up (against a brick wall, if possible) and take turns throwing darts to pop as many balloons as you can.
- Ring toss: Cut out the centers of plastic-container lids (margarine and take-out containers work well) for your rings. Then bury a few inches of a paper towel roll into the ground so it’s standing straight up. Each person gets three turns to throw their rings onto the stake.
- Face Painting
Another list I had from a school carnival I put together
Lollipop Tree
Preparation:
Fill all three sides of the tree with lollipops.
Continue filling holes as game is played
Running the Game:
Player receives 1 pick per game.
Pick a lollipop and look at the end.
If end of stick is colored you win.
Use one side at a time and when one begins to get low switch out for full one.
Pencil Palace
Preparation:
You have two game boards. There are 20 pencils
with a color on the end. (10 for each board.
Fill all boards with Gator Pencils.
Continue filling as game is played.
Running the Game:
Each play costs 2 tickets.
Player receives one pick per game.
Pick a pencil and look at the end.
If end of pencil is colored you win.
Use one board at a time and when one gets half full to get low switch out for full one.
Prizes:
Win = 4 Redemption Tickets
Lose = nothing
“Crazy Hat” Ball Toss
Preparation:
Set Hat up on the stand in the middle of the table. Measure 10 feet from the hat to create toss line.
Running the Game:
Each play costs 2 tickets.
Player receives 3 balls to toss into the hat per game.
3 balls in hat wins 1st prize.
2 balls in hat wins 2nd prize.
1 ball in hat wins 3rd prize.
Prizes:
1st = 5 Redemption Tickets
2nd = 3 Redemption Tickets
3rd = 1 Redemption Ticket
Balloon Burst
Preparation:
Set dartboards up
Measure 10 feet from the boards to create toss line. Blow up dart balloons, tie off, and using a pushpin pin the balloons to the board on the marks provided. Replace balloons after ½ of the balloons on the board have been popped.
Running the Game:
Player receives 3 darts to toss.
Pop a balloon and you win.
Dowel Ring Toss
Preparation:
Place Dowels into stand.
Measure 8 feet from the game to create toss line. (6 feet for K-2)
Running the Game:
Each play costs 2 tickets.
Player receives 4 rings to toss.
3 wins 1st prize.
2 wins 2nd prize.
1 wins 3rd prize.
Prizes:
1st = 5 Redemption Tickets
2nd = 3 Redemption Tickets
3rd = 1 Redemption Ticket
Tip the Bunny
Preparation:
Mark throw line approximately 10 feet from table.
Running the Game:
Each play costs 2 tickets.
Player receives 3 beanbags to toss.
3 bunnies tipped wins 1st prize.
2 bunnies tipped wins 2nd prize.
1 bunnies tipped wins 3rd prize.
Prizes:
1st = 5 Redemption Tickets
2nd = 3 Redemption Tickets
3rd = 1 Redemption Ticket
Gator Swamp Toss
Preparation:
Running the Game:
Player receives 5 rings to toss.
Hook a gator with ring and win
Donut Walk
Preparation:
Running the Game:
Each play costs 2 tickets.
Each player starts on a mat. Music is turned on.
With your back to the group stop the music. Kids stop when the music stops. Draw a winner.
Prizes:
Win = Dounut & 2 tickets
Runner up = Dounut
Double Trouble Dice
Preparation:
None
Running the Game:
Each play costs 2 tickets.
Player receives 2 dice to toss.
Player tosses dice 2 times.
Any double wins.
Prizes:
Win = 4 Redemption Tickets
Lose = nothing
Seven / Eleven
Preparation:
Place the game board five feet from end on the table.
Use backboards to help stop balls from being chased.
Running the Game:
Each play costs 2 tickets.
Player receives 2 balls to toss. If a ball leaves the tub or does not go into a hole, that ball is replayed. Add the numbers of the two balls together 7 or 11 wins.
Prizes:
1st = 4 Redemption Tickets
Lose = nothing
Wheel of Prizes
Preparation:
Stand the wheel up in designated area.
Put prizes in colored baskets for display.
Running the Game:
Each play costs 2 tickets.
Player receives 1 spin of the wheel.
Everyone wins
Prizes:
Each color wins prize from the same color bin.
Tic Tac Toe
Preparation:
Set TTT box 6 feet from the toss line.
Running the Game:
Player receives 3 beanbags to toss.
3 in a row wins prize.
Gator Golf
Preparation:
None
Running the Game:
Player receives 3 balls to putt.
Hole in one wins prize.
Basketball Challenge
Preparation:
Place each of three mats at various locations to create toss lines for different age levels.
Running the Game:
Player receives 3 balls to toss.
Basket wins prize.
Apple Crate
Preparation:
Nothing
Running the Game:
Each play costs 2 tickets.
Player receives 1 pull from the apple crate.
A+ wins 1st prize
B+ wins 2nd prize
C+ wins 3rd prize
Anything else wins consolation.
Prizes:
1st = 5 Redemption Tickets
2nd = 3 Redemption Tickets
3rd = 1 Redemption Ticket
Consolation = “Dumb Dumb” Sucker
Duck Pond
Preparation:
Fill pool with water
Add ducks
Running the Game:
Pull a rubber duckie out of the pond. Look at the bottom. If it is a 1 you win if a 2 you get consolation.
Cake Walk
Preparation:
Running the Game:
Pick a # to stand on. When the music starts begin walking around. When it stops, you stop. When a number is drawn out of the bag and it matches the number you are standing on you win!
Penny Toss
Preparation:
Lay tablecloth down to collect fallen pennies.
Put tubes up spaced around about 18” apart.
Set plates on top of tubes.
Mark throwing line 3’-4’ away from tubes.
Running the Game:
Player receives 5 pennies to toss. If penny lands
on plate you win.
Laundry Basket Toss
Preparation:
Place each of three mats at various locations to create toss lines for different age levels.
Running the Game:
Player receives 4 bean bags to toss trying to get
All 4 in.
