I was asked by my good friend
Beth to host a dinner party for her birthday. She knew the date but the rest was a complete surprise. So due to her love of bees and me wanting to do a circus theme, it became the ‘Bumblebee Circus’
So our closest friends all got
their invites. I'd asked them to dress as circus characters to entertain the
bumblebee queen and Beth received a ticket in a similar style that asked her to dress as a bumblebee. I'm pretty lucky that the boyfriend's brother-in-law is a graphic designer, so in exchange for a large three course roast dinner he designed the invites for me.
Kick off was 1pm and all the
guests hid inside the bell tent. Her younger sister dressed as the glamorous
assistant and picked Beth up and walked her down to the field where she arrived down the red carpet. I greeted her at the end dressed as the
ringmaster. I then proceeded to introduce her to the guests as they emerged from the tent in character, cartwheels and roaring lions galore!
Canapés of bacon and thyme popcorn and champagne were then served by the popcorn lady.
As with other dinner parties I’ve
done, I wanted the theme to continue in every aspect of what we did, ate, and drank
from. Therefore once the bubbly had ran dry it was time to start winning
our food and drink. Each game was hosted by the glamorous assistant and the
first was to win your drink. Guests were asked to find black and yellow striped
trowels that poked up from the ground and were dotted around the area, they
then dug up a potato each and went inside the bell tent. A large pool of sand
was in the centre. My assistant handed them a spud gun and two cups were
hanging from the coloured drapes on the centre pole; one to choose punch and
one for beer. The game was surprisingly difficult for them!
Next was to win the starter of
linguine vongole. This was served in disposable noodle boxes. The guests had to
go back inside the tent and dig for bumblebee money in the sand. They then had
to stand in a hoop and throw the money into one of three noodle boxes; one for
cutlery, one for chopsticks and one with nothing. Needless to say everyone won cutlery apart from one friend who decided she’d rather tackle clams with
chopsticks!
Food went down really well and my
vegetarian friend had three helpings!
Main course was good old BBQ
food. Pork, chorizo and pepper kebabs marinated in fennel, chilli, sherry and
other yummy bits [see below], basil and parmesan burgers with a tomato and
chilli sauce served in Pump Street Bakery rolls [their bread is beautiful!
Check them out here if you’ve
never eaten their produce before]. I also put a simple salad of rocket, green
beans, sun dried tomatoes, extra virgin olive oil and lemon juice on the side.
This was served in a popcorn tray that guests wore round their necks.
To
win the food, they had to stand in a hoop and throw a ball at a line of jam
jars that contained a ticket. Each jar was replaced once it had fallen and due
to being painted in black and yellow stripes, it became more difficult for
guests to win their food.
Between eating the guests acted
out their characters which were hilariously good fun. We had a trapeze artist,
lion and lion tamer, horse rider, unicorn and gymnast to name a few.
Dessert was served by the ice
cream lady, she cycled an old bike across the field, complete with
umbrella to serve black and yellow ice lollies to the crowd.
They were mango and pineapple flavour and blackberry flavour.
Birthday cake was then delivered
by Beth’s mum and was a circus tent with bees surrounding it, lemon in flavour.
Petit fours were little parcels
of flying saucers hanging from the gazebo kitchen [I would have loved to have
made them but to put on a day like this by myself was rather a lot of work!]
As the lights started to fade, it
was time to smash the piñata and disappear off to the pub.
It was a long day
but awesome all the same. I'm now trying to compile footage into a video but my skills aren't as good as I remember!
Pork, chorizo and pepper kebab
marinade:
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil2 garlic cloves crushed
1 tsp chilli flakes
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground fennel
1 tsp smoked paprika
Juice of 1 lemon
2 tbsp freshly chopped parsley
2 tbsp dry sherry
Thank you to all the people who helped:
Mummy Roberts
Mummy Browes
Aime Newell
Jamie Christensen
Aaron Crisp
And everyone else!
Photos courtesy of Helen McKenzie
Photos courtesy of Helen McKenzie
