With the state election all over, there will now be 1000's of cardboard polling booths stacked in the corners of school, community and church halls all over the state of NSW. It was at the last election (federal) last year that I walked from our local community hall after casting my vote, with my head full of ideas for those cardboard polling booths. You see, last year I was starting to think about ideas for the Year 6 end of year dinner, and thinking of our circus theme, and my thoughts turned to circus ticket booths and side show alley stands....
So along with my dinner decorator partner (ie. a fabulous mum who shared my creative idea maddness when I discussed my idea with her), we managed to secure a few of the dismantled polling booths from the school.

We set to work to cover these booths with coloured paper, using huge amounts of spray adhesive and double-sided tape, and a hot glue gun.
The booths then had to be further decorated to create the finished products. Fabric skirts were sewn, painted cardboard signs were added, and lots of little bits and pieces where found to create these fun decorations for the circus-themed event. Surprisingly, rick rack became my very good friend in decorating and covering joins on the booths.
Loving lettering and fonts the way I do, I searched for circus-themed fonts to use on the booths. {I have listed the fonts later in this post with the website links of where you can find them.} Circus-themed fonts really helped with the decorating (especially when working on a tight budget).
So here they are, the finished and decorated polling booths turned into circus stands. These photos were taken after the dinner, they survived the event with only a few tears and rips.
Font used for BULLSEYE: Tropicana

Font used for HOOPLA: CarnivalMF Open Shadow
Font used for MYSTIC READINGS: Cast Iron
For the MYSTIC READINGS stand I used some old velour fabric which I'd bought ages ago (with plans to make something for my girls when they were younger, and would wear purple velour). I created the curtains and top, held in place with the hot glue gun. A sparkly light was added on the night to make it look "mystic"
Font used for SHOOTING DUCKS: Big Top
For the Shooting Ducks stand, layers of cardboard where created, so the ducks and target could be staggered. A toy gun was hung from the top of the stand.
Font used for SLAM DUNK: Masquerade
Font used for TICKETS booth: JFRingmaster
Font used for LOLLIES stand: CarnivalMF OpenShadow
FONTS list used on the booths and banners {with the links for download}:
To make the larger sized lettering banners, I created the wording on an A4 sized document and printed these off. Like this:

I then used a photocopying machine to enlarge the lettering. The photocopied letters were then cut out and stuck in place.
For some larger banners I enlarged one letter to the size on an A3 piece of paper.
Font used for FAREWELL YEAR 6 banner: JFRingmaster
The polling booths could be turned into other things like a puppet theatre or a "play" shop for the kids.
These booths were a fun additional to the school hall and to the circus-themed evening.

If you're quick, maybe there will still be some cardboard polling booths left in the corner of a hall near you...
Thanks for visiting.
Cheers
Fiona