The Ultimate Guide To A Circus Theme Event
A powerful theme is one that can transport guests to another world and what better way of doing that than bringing the circus to them?
Everyone can remember their childhood excitement when the circus rolled into town and its iconic style allows you to really transform a venue into something unique. Combining the wonderment of a fairground with the magic of the circus gives you a theme that can cater to a wide range of guests and events.
To help you toss your hat in the ring, we’ve created this guide to styling your own circus theme event. We’ll share with you some of the best ideas for choosing a venue, finding the right decorations, installing the perfecting lighting, and making an unforgettable atmosphere.
If you’re looking to take your circus theme in a much dreamier direction, then check out our dream circus style.
Getting Started
With the growth of contemporary circuses aimed at adults, a circus theme event is something that can be made to fit many types of events depending on your approach.
A playful, traditional circus theme with bright colours and classic icons will work well for birthday parties, office events, end of year parties, reunions, and bar or bat mitzvahs.
For a more subtle approach, you can draw on circus’s vaudeville roots and create a darker style that creates an atmosphere of curiosity and will pair well with award ceremonies, large dinners, conferences, and product launches.
It’s a theme that works particularly with live music and entertainment, and there is a wide variety of acts and performers you can hire to take your event to the next level.
Using the right drapes and decorations you can turn almost any venue into a convincing circus tent interior. If you are looking to have live entertainment, then make sure to have viable stage space, plenty of clear floor space, or even outdoor space.
To heighten a sense of mystery and wonder you can look for venues with early 20th century designs such as art deco or consider a daring modernist style. Many museums, stadiums, and nightclubs also lend themselves well to a circus theme.
Decorations, Furniture, And Design
For general decorations, you should draw on the classic circus and fairground iconography including clowns, acrobats, unicyclists, lions, elephants, travelling wagons, carousels, and ringmasters. You can bring them in with props, posters, prints, and light panels.
To transform the feel of your venue, you want to make your interior feel like the inside of a tent or pavilion by using string curtains, a draped ceiling, bunting, flags, and candy stripe patterns. Around outdoor space or dessert tables, you can use fairground features such as coconut shies, traditional sweet jars, and twinkling lights or paper lanterns.
Tables can be converted to look like vintage popcorn and confectionary stalls, you can recreate classic animal cages contain props of exotic beasts, and you can make your decorations come to life with lit cube chairs, couches, and poseur tables.
Centrepieces, Lighting, And Colour Scheme
The most classic circus colours are red, white, and yellow but you can play on this with a monochrome look or green and white or yellow and white candy stripes. If you want to incorporate a mode vaudeville style, then you might want to include dark browns, velvet reds, and bottle greens.
Lighting at a circus theme event will usually be very playful and you can choose from a range of colours and make use of spotlights and dynamic lighting. Many circuses make use of festoon bulbs and large Broadway-style signs and lighting.
For a cost-effective way to control lighting at your venue, you should consider using Table Art’s custom centrepieces. They come with remote-controlled dynamic lighting that can be used to match the mood of your event and they work as a statement piece for every table.
With a circus theme, you might want to use a carousel, hot air balloon, or glowing bulb as your centrepiece. Check out some of our other creations for more inspiration.
The Circus Is In Town: Creating A Dreamy Circus Themed Event
A circus theme is a family-friendly theme that can work well for banquets, mingling, and live entertainment. Guests always enjoy the spectacle of a circus and it provides a good opportunity for branding and social media exposure.
If you want help creating the perfect circus theme event, then get in touch with Table Art today for a consultation. We’ve had lots of experience styling awe-inspiring fairground and circus theme events and we can take care of the transport and installation of custom centrepieces and furniture.
