Halloween's Carnival Themed Party

Halloween is my favorite holiday, hands down. Every year my family throws the biggest, most outrageous party, and this year was no different. We even upped the ante with a killer theme: "creepy carnival." With makeshift fair booths, games and prizes for the kiddies, a bounce house, carnival treats and freak show inspired costumes, this party blew the previous year's festivities out of the water. It was like Pinterest and American Horror Story devoured each other and then exploded all our our southern home.

Decorations and Activities
Using refrigerator and large appliance boxes, mannequins and a little paint we crafted faux fair booths to really pull the theme together. We had a fortune teller booth set up with Halloween-themed fortune cookies and miracle fish, a "kissing booth" for photos with plastic lip whistles, a creepy admissions booth, and a prize booth where our younger attendees could enter to win raffled goodies. We also hosted a number of festive games! And, seriously, what's Halloween without a hayride?

~~Trick or~~ Treats
This year we continued our tradition of creepy cooking contest, and the contestants really brought their A-game! Everything was equally delicious and grotesque-looking... In a good way. We even gave out "hand" made trophies to the winners! We prepared additional fair food like hot dogs, popcorn, peanuts, and cotton candy - and had them handed out by our very own carnival-style vendor. "Get your peanuts! Fresh roasted peanuts, here!"

Costumes
Gypsies, clowns, and freaks! Of course we made it mandatory to dress in carnival-inspired costumes, and handed out another batch of awesome hand-made trophies to this year's best dressed. It was amazing to see so many people embrace the theme and think outside of the box!