vintage circus party ~ eats

A great party needs lots and lots of great food!  My first of 3 upcoming party posts covers all the fun treats that our guest enjoyed as we celebrated.  We kept things simple and made most of the food ourselves (thank goodness for Costco!).

We wanted this party to be casual and fun, fun, fun.
The #1 rule for Carson's party fare: no silverware!
I figured since he can't use utensils yet, no one should.
We went with lots of "circus" type finger foods that we hoped would be enjoyed by guests of all ages!

Enjoy the delicious pics...and stay tuned for recipes in the coming weeks.

 

 All of our family favorites were featured in the snack bar!

Sweet little labels showed our guests exactly who loves each treat!

 The snack bar included:
Pretzels {auntie's favorite}
Gummy Bears {daddy's favorite}
Red Licorice {grammy shelley's favorite}
Tootsie Pops {papa dick's favorite}
and
Animal Crackers {nina debbie's favorite}

There were also PLENTY of cupcakes!  We had Red Velvet {mommy's favorite} and Chocolate {grandpa dave's favorite} with a vanilla bean cream cheese frosting.  The cupcakes and frosting were all homemade!  For the red velvet recipe click here and for the chocolate click here.

 Of course, no circus is complete without fresh popped popcorn!  Thanks for serving it up, Papa!

We included a couple of healthy and colorful options, fruit skewers and applesauce {carson's favorite}.

Our big surprise was one of LA's famous bacon wrapped hot dog carts!  We changed it up it a little by using organic chicken and apple sausages, all natural bacon and grilled onions.  It seems they were quite a hit - we had enough for two dogs per guest and we only had a few left!

And of course no 1st Birthday is complete without a smash cake!  Our little guy is terribly picky so we went with a tried and true favorite, Schat's coffe cake.  I made the coffee cake into a mini layer cake by creating my own layers and adding cream cheese frosting.  I topped it off with a #1, a candle, and a tiny "CARSON" banner.  Looks like he enjoyed it, right?

THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU
to:
SDK photo for capturing the day
Luvalexa for designing the adorable party printables
Schat's Bakery for the delicious cake
Tacos el Morro for the hot dog cart
My sis-in-law, Alison, for dishes, linens and inspiration