The Circus

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 oil
2 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

Bruizer

Pump Street Bakery

Aaron Crisp

Jay and Taff Scrimshaw

And everyone else!


Photos courtesy of Helen McKenzie