Tips for the children's carnival

Children"s carnival cancelled - carnival at home!

The children"s carnival on Shrove Sunday at the Kirchenwirt has traditionally taken place after the fire brigade ball on Shrove Saturday for over 40 years. After the carnival procession with the Musikkapelle Puch at 2 pm, the children enter the festive hall decorated with garlands and colourful streamers. After lots of dancing, music & games on the dance floor, there was also always a great performance by the Salzburg Carnival Guild children and at the end there was a carnival doughnut for all the dressed-up children.

On this one Sunday a year, the children completely take over the dance floor and romp, sing and dance their hearts out. We have many big events like weddings, church festivals and balls in the house, but the children"s carnival is something special in the annual event calendar! There were also a few years when I was the clown in charge of animation at the children"s carnival and had fun joining in with all the kids" nonsense.

For a few years now, we have handed over the fun children"s programme Tanja Grallert and her team from Cleverly. They make the children"s hearts beat faster for a few hours at the children"s carnival in Puch. From face painting to fun dance games, costume fashion shows and magic shows, everything is included.

Unfortunately, the popular children"s carnival cannot take place at Hotel Gasthof Kirchenwirt this year due to the current Covid-19 regulations of the federal government. But Tanja von Cleverly, as an expert for children"s parties, has a few tips for you on how you can organise a children"s carnival at home with a few friends - and do it sustainably. Have fun trying out the ideas!

4 tips from Cleverly for a sustainable carnival!

Opinions differ on the subject of sustainability. At cleverly, we think sustainability starts with reducing non-essential waste and consumption. What do you think? Have you ever thought about it?

In this article, you"ll find tips and tricks for reducing waste and consumption and for more sustainable consumption, as well as a collection of tried-and-tested "picker-eater" party snacks. With the tips for a sustainable carnival party, it will certainly be easier for you to celebrate in a more environmentally conscious way. Have fun browsing!

1. make decorations yourself!

To avoid waste at a carnival party, you can, for example, make the decorations yourself. This is not only sustainable, but in the best case also entertains the children and involves them in the preparations! Here are 2 examples:

Confetti from a hole punch

Who doesn"t know it? Your child paints and does handicrafts in a chord, collecting lots of artwork and also leftovers. Collect the leftovers in a box throughout the year and try to use them again and again. And what could be easier than making confetti yourself? All you need is a hole punch and some sorted out (coloured) paper and off you go! Your child will be happy to do this "work" for you, because punching is one of the activities that many children love and do very persistently.

Make a garland

RING CHAIN: Use lots of coloured paper strips, about 5cm wide and 10-20cm long. Glue the strips together on the wide side to make a ring. Now take the next strip, thread it through the ring and glue it together in the same way as the first. Continue like this until your garland is long enough.

WIMPLE CHAIN: Cut out pointed triangles from coloured paper. Punch a hole in the centre of the short side at the top and thread a piece of string through it. Your homemade garland is ready.

Paper streamers

Draw a circle on a piece of coloured paper or old paper plate, cut it out and colour the paper. Now you can either pre-paint a spiral, or the child (depending on their age) can simply cut the circle into a spiral themselves. Start from the outside, the end of the spiral is in the middle of the circle. Et voila, the first paper streamer is ready!

2. games for the children"s party

It often doesn"t take much to play fun games with the children at carnival. You have most of the things lying around at home or you can make them yourself in a sustainable way. How about...

Knocking over a pot

A pot, an old long spoon (which can also be broken), a cloth as a blindfold and something sweet - you"re ready to go. Blindfold the child, give him the spoon in his hand and turn him slightly in a circle to lose his orientation. Now the pot has to be hidden in the room and the child can kneel and knock its way around the room looking for the pot. Everyone else is happy to help with "warm" when the spoon is close to the pot and with "cold" when it is further away again. When the pot has been knocked, the child is allowed to keep the sweet.

Throw cans

Collect your empty food cans! Without an edible label and perhaps even painted or covered with colourful paper, the cans are perfect for knocking over! Add a ball or a cloth bag filled with rice and you"re ready to go.

Bouncy game

Take some sheets of paper or an old newspaper and draw or make prints of your feet and hands. Put each hand and foot on a sheet. Then place 3 leaves next to each other in several rows. The child then has to hop from one row to the next without falling over.

3. cladding

There are many options when it comes to disguises:

Use willhaben and Facebook to search for second-hand costumes - these are often worn only once!

Before you head to the big online retailers, see if you can find a local dealer (our tips:: Catwalk Stories in Salzburg or Spiel- und Lederwaren Oedel in Hallein have a great selection of costumes).

Use Pinterest for inspiration on how to make your own costumes.

Last but not least: Mum and Dad"s wardrobe becomes a dress-up box! Guaranteed to make all the kids" eyes light up! And on a personal note: before you dispose of your children"s costumes, bring them by our office - our little party guests will be thrilled!

4. party snacks

For us, sustainability also includes health. Just like all the mums and dads out there, that"s what matters most to us. And what is more important for health than fresh air and exercise? Exactly, wholesome, healthy food made from fresh produce. And because doughnuts are simply part of every carnival celebration, the rest of the party snacks can be kept healthier. We"re not fans of "healthy doughnuts", but we"ll definitely have to go with the original. One or two mums will roll their eyes now - "my child doesn"t eat vegetables". We have found great recipes that make the vegetables literally jump into the child. Healthy is fun!

  Vegetable waffles

Ingredients: 600 g courgettes | 250 g carrots | 100 g spring onions | 2 teaspoons salt | 3 eggs | 2 pressed garlic cloves | 150 g grated cheese | 120 g spelt flour | 1 teaspoon baking powder

Step 1: Wash the courgettes, pat dry and grate very finely with a vegetable grater, mix with 1 tsp salt and leave to stand for approx. 30 minutes. Grate the peeled carrots very finely with a vegetable grater, mix with 1 teaspoon of salt and leave to stand for approx. 20 minutes. Then squeeze out the water from both vegetables with your hands. Cut the spring onions into very fine rings and set aside.

Step 2: Heat the waffle iron. Beat the eggs and pepper with a mixer for about 2 minutes, then mix the flour and baking powder and stir into the egg mixture. Add the spring onions, garlic cloves, cheese and grated vegetables and mix everything together with your hands.

Step 3: Bake each waffle in portions for about 4 minutes until golden brown. Serve with herb yoghurt, can be enjoyed cold or warm.

Herb yoghurt

Ingredients: 250 g yoghurt | some low-fat curd | salt, paprika powder | herbs such as parsley or chives | optional: pepper, garlic

Preparation: Mix the yoghurt with some curd so that it thickens. Now season to taste - use salt, paprika and herbs. Optionally, you can also press garlic or add pepper if your children like the taste and are not sensitive to the spiciness.

Vegetable sticks - vegetable crocodile

Ingredients: Cucumber | Tomatoes | Grapes | Carrots, peppers etc | Pieces of cheese of your choice

Preparation: Cut various vegetables into sticks and place in a glass. For the mouth of the crocodile, cut through the cucumber to the first third and carve pointed teeth with a knife. Fix 2 carrot slices with toothpicks as eyes. For the tongue, place a thin slice of a carrot or a red pepper in the mouth. On the back of the crocodile, you can stick any small pieces of vegetables, cocktail tomatoes or mozarealla balls with toothpicks. The healthy snack is ready!

We hope you can use some of the tips for your next carnival party!

We wish you a wonderful carnival and hope to meet you again soon at one of the children"s events in Puch. If you need childcare for your next party, just get in touch with us - we look forward to hearing from you and will be happy to make you a suitable offer.

Happy carnival time!

Well, how did you like Tanja"s party tips from Cleverly? Even though there won"t be any carnival parades, colourful gschnas and carnival parties in Salzburg this year, don"t completely forget the Celtic custom and make the most of it! Especially for children, the carnival season is a highlight every year. So have a carnival party at home with the kids or have a little parade through the neighbourhood.

 If you use Tanja"s tips and share it on social media, link us @visitpuch and @cleverlyfamilyevents on instagram or"Puch bei Hallein" and "Cleverly" on facebook.

Despite the circumstances, I wish you a wonderful carnival season with our carnival cry "JUTRUCHEI PUCHEI" and hope to see you again next year at the Kirchenwirt for the various carnival parties and balls. And not to forget the carnival tradition, we invite all guests who come dressed up on Shrove Tuesday to the Kirchenwirt for a glass of beer or a glass of Prosecco. Come and see us, we look forward to seeing you!

Click here for the Hotel Gasthof Kirchenwirt in Puch near Salzburg: