Halloween Carnival

We've done carnivals at the library in the past, but this was our first Halloween Carnival. Each game had both a toy/non-edible prize and candy, which the volunteers running the game could alternate between.

We had around 300 people come out for a total of 12 games. Some were purchased and some were made.

Zombie Head Bowling

These are male and female foam heads from Hobby Lobby, which were painted and zombie-fied. The small plastic bowling balls are from a toy bowling set which we already had.

Spider Web Toss

The idea for this game came from Carnival Savers. The web was purchased (and made such a great decoration, we left it up for other Halloween festivities at the library!). The goal was to get the spiders through the web and into one of the buckets.

Witch Pitch

Our take on the popular Halloween game, with a Macbeth shout out (since we're the library). It's a black foam board, with mini cauldrons hot glued on. Laying the board down flat would have worked better/been easier for the kids. I originally purchased eyeball ping pong balls to throw in, but they were too difficult to get into the tiny cauldrons, so I switched to candy corn.

Frank's Nose Pick

Another idea from Carnival Savers, this game was a big hit. Kids stuck their hand up Frankenstein's nose and dug a prize out of the slime.

The nose was sculpted out of a mound of spray foam insulation and secured onto the plywood. There was a shelf behind the nose that held a plastic tub full of slime and prizes. There was velcro on the tub and shelf to make sure it didn't get pushed off the shelf. We used this snotty slime recipe, tinted green, and hid Easter eggs which we decorated with a Sharpie to look Halloween-y. When those ran out, we just stuck plastic spider rings in the goo for the kids to pull out.

Ghost Throw

This game was purchased from Amazon. I hung it from the ceiling with fishing line and these awesome ceiling hook clips.

Prize Wheel

This prize wheel was also a DIY project, although they can easily be found to purchase. I made use of it at the Halloween carnival to get rid of leftover craft kits, prizes, and giveaways from throughout the year.

Pick a Boo

One more from Carnival Savers. Painted as Boos from Mario, kids chose a door (a "tongue") to reveal a trick (confetti, air horn, squirt gun, Silly String, or a scare) or a get a prize.

Can Throw

This one was purchased from Oriental Trading, and held up surprisingly well.

Skull Krusher

Another Oriental Trading purchase. I have big plans on covering the skulls with other pictures to use to repurpose (and make jokes).

Pumpkin Golf

This jack-o-lantern was carved from a craft pumpkin from Hobby Lobby. We already had the golf club and ball from our library Mini Golf event.

The green is just a piece of foam to help the ball along.

Witch's Ring Toss

Since I finally decided against a balloon pop game, I put this together as an easy replacement. We already had the pvc pipe and pool noodle base from last summer's Pool Noodle Olympics. I just popped witch hats on top, and the foam rings from our tic-tac-toe game worked perfectly.

Boo Toss Cornhole Game

As I did with Curiosity Day and the Poe Party, I used our poster printer to make our cornhole boards fit the theme. Ghosts for a Boo Toss.

And that makes 12! For decorations, I used the stencils I did for the window silhouettes. We had a few floating balloon streamer ghosts, and a Happy Halloween banner.

On the projector I had a Youtube playlist of Halloween music.

The streamers weighed him down, but I liked it. Ghost of a jellyfish.

My favorite silhouette was the Headless Horseman, but I don't think I got a picture of him.

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