Carnival Food For A Bunch Of Clowns

My friend's son wanted to celebrate his 7th birthday with a clown party and knowing that I love theme parties, coming up with menus for theme parties, and cooking the food for theme parties, she asked me to cater. What do you serve to a bunch of kiddos at a clown party? Carnival food of course. It was a blast planning and executing this menu! We had:

 

Mini Corn Dogs - I bought little smokies instead of cutting up hotdogs because yummmm! I used toothpicks as the corn dog stick to save both money (Thank you Dollar Tree!) and time (no cutting necessary). A word to the wise, drain the smokies in a colander and dry them with paper towels because otherwise the batter will slide right off. Serve with mustard and ketchup.

 

Soft Pretzel Bites and Kicked Up Cheese Dip - I made bites instead of classic knot soft pretzels to save space and stretch the batch. These were great both with the cheese dip listed in the recipe and mustard! I omitted the cayenne from the cheese dip recipe because this was a kiddos party but I did add the whole amount (plus a little extra because I love it) of Frank's Red Hot. No one seemed to think it was too hot.

Cherry Tomatoes - These had a dual purpose. 1) They are one of the birthday boys FAVORITE things. 2) They look a little like clown noses :).

 

Mini Meatball Subs (Recipe below) - I made my family's favorite meatballs and absolutely drowned them in homemade tomato sauce, then served on little buns with provolone. Ok, this isn't really a carnival food but EVERYBODY loves meatballs and I hoped the hardiness of this particular snack might offset the sugar rush the kids were sure to be experiencing from the candy and punch.

 

Cotton Candy - Thank you again Dollar Tree!

 

Popcorn - I air-popped kernels in brown paper bags then spritzed with pan spray and sprinkled with popcorn salt. We love popcorn but the chemicals in the microwave stuff terrify me so this is a delicious and MUCH healthier option! Plus look at these cute bags I found.

Popcorn tastes better from a pretty bag.

 

Tie Dyed Punch - Two liters of Hawaiian punch + two liters of sprite + a carton of rainbow sherbet = a cool tie dyed effect. Yes I realize this is a lot of sugar but the cups were tiny!

 

Tie Dyed Cupcakes - I am not a baker so I got a boxed mix of white cake and once it was mixed up, I separated it into four separate bowls. I dyed them red, blue, green and yellow and then dolloped them into the cupcake papers one on top of the other for what ended up being a tie dyed effect. I topped them with red and blue icing, piped on with flower icing tips, multi-colored sprinkles, and clown cupcake toppers and circus peanuts.

Tie dyed cupcakes.

Tie dyed cupcakes



The birthday clown!

 

I think the birthday boy was pleased.

 

Sam had fun at the party too!

 

Look at these clowns.

 

Parachute fun!!!!

 

Carnival games with the other clowns!

 

Blue candy 1
Sam 0

 

AND finally, our busy day came to a close.

 

The sticky came off but the tattoo stuck around.

 

Partied out!

 

Mommy put her feet up with a patio
fire and an adult beverage.

 Meatballs

2 lbs ground beef

1/2 C parmesan cheese

1/2 C panko breadcrumbs

2 Tbsp Italian seasoning

1 tsp mustard powder

1 whole egg

1 egg white

1 Tbsp garlic powder

Salt and pepper to taste

 

Mix all ingredients together. Shape into 1 1/2 inch meatballs. Place in greased casserole dish and bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes. Drain grease from dish. Pour tomato sauce over and bake an additional 7-8 minutes.
 

 Tomato Sauce

15 ounce can tomato sauce

2 Tbsp Italian seasoning

1 Tbsp garlic powder

1/2 tsp ground oregano

2 Tbsp dried onion

 

Mix all ingredients and enjoy. You can literally do ANYTHING with this sauce. Pour it over pasta. Pour it over meatballs. Use it as pizza sauce. If you want meat sauce, drop in 1/2-3/4 C browned ground beef. I don't eat much meat anymore so I make meat sauce for the boys and put roasted or sautéed mushrooms in mine. It's a go-to-sauce for so much!