Come one, come all! This year's Halloween dinner finds us celebrating under the spooky big top with midway games, carnival inspired foods, and circus goers in costume. I've included a "Where to Find" and "Recipe" section below. Now take a seat and enjoy the show!
Circus goers received a popcorn box filled with gourmet popcorn, Halloween lollipop, salted peanuts, menu card, a fortune teller fish, and wrapped with their admission ticket to The Midnight Circus.
Halloween-themed fabric bunting on the windows, lit marquee lettering, an Edison light bulb strand, and triangle fabric bunting decked the dining room. Dark purple LED uplighting added a spooky night feel.
The table scape displayed a wooden/cloth mannequin head fashioned with a ringmaster's velvet top hat. Small pumpkin, bat, and skeleton marquee lit figures along with a "EEK" letters on the wall. Wall plates have vintage circus images that were applied with inkjet water slide decals.
A vintage circus sign was created with two 11x14 frames and fastened with small hinges. Next to the snake charmer poster is a small basket with a hissing cobra. I was happy to discover my everyday table salt and pepper wooden shakers resemble juggling pins. Little papier mache character boxes are from the Dept. 56 Glitterville line (thank you Wendy xo).
Hinged ticket sign was created from a vintage clown image and mounted on 1/4" birch. Paper tickets were added. The small clown head with black and orange lollipops was created by Scott Smith (thank you Rebecca xo).
My Halloween art collection had some circus-themed pieces that were added to the table. Along with the art that has been mentioned, there are also pieces by Christine Phelps, and Amelia Schafer. The Nightmare Before Christmas plush character, The Clown with the Tear-Away Face, made an appearance.
PLACE SETTINGS
The black and white spike plates and bowls are from last year's Opalhouse Jungalow line at Target. Orange cloth napkins were folded into pinwheels with fun paper straws as pinwheel handles. Glass bottles of soda have wooden rings on their necks as a nod to the popular midway game.
Check out the fabulous black cat circus punk from artist Melissa Belanger! Old dingy baseballs courtesy of the Beason boys' childhood days. Greg Guedel's hand carved Halloween characters sit in a glass with popcorn kernels (thank you Anne xo).
Place cards/favors are cellophane bags with Fred popcorn erasers, character pencils, Knock-Knock notepads, and candy.
The menu was a twist on traditional circus/carnival food. Cameron created a fun, delicious cocktail that set the mood for the evening.
Video of the color changing Midnight Circus Martini
Green grape "balloon animals" were going to be a last minute addition, but no luck finding nice quality grapes. This was a Pinterest find. I would not recommend serving these to small children because of the multiple toothpicks that are used to create them, but they sure are cute.
Contortionist Pretzel Bites with Cheese Sauce
Nacho Lucky Day Nachos
Orange and black Xochitl tortilla chips covered with beef Barbacoa, queso blanco, pickled red onions & jalapeños, fresh pico de Gallo, and Herdez guacamole salsa. Muy caliente!
Funnel Spider Webs with Olive Dumbbells Salad
Savory funnel cakes were dusted in grated Parmesan cheese and two olive dumbbells top each salad. The round cherry tomatoes look like clown noses, so I'll run with that.
Popcorn Chicken with Fire Breathing Sauce
This was the cheater dish using Costco's Just Bare chicken bites and topped with Momofuko's spicy chili crunch and fresh chives from my garden.
Candy Corn Dogs
My family prefers turkey dogs to traditional beef, so since we already had barbacoa on the nachos, I opted for the lighter dogs. Some curry ketchup was served on the side since my best friend Claudia is a born-and-raised German girl.
Eye Scream Cones
Who doesn't love a yummy ice cream cone, especially when it has a Halloween twist? Good quality vanilla ice cream had sweet corn extract added and topped with kettle corn. Homemade black waffle cones with lavender chocolate dipped edges covered in candy eyes and festive sprinkles. What would an eye scream cone be without a chewy eyeball?
After our meal, guests enjoyed some old-fashioned midway games to earn prizes and bragging rights. Photos of the games will be posted shortly. We also held our first costume contest.
The winners of the costume contest are:
Best Overall~ The Eye Scream Man
Funniest~ The Bearded Lady
Most Creative~ Funhouse Mirror Man
Thank you for your votes!
Pumpkins! From left to right: Cole, Alyssa, Cameron, Shayne, and Claudia's carvings.
Circus graphics found at Creative Market
INVITES
Black and white polka dot popcorn boxes from Amazon
Gusseted cellophane bags from Amazon
Gourmet popcorn from Amazon
Halloween swirl lollipop from Oriental Trading Company
Marshmallow circus peanut candy found at most markets or Amazon
Black & silver star ribbon found at Amazon
SET UP
Halloween-themed fabric bunting at Independence Bunting
Halloween triangle fabric bunting at Amazon
Edison indoor/outdoor string lights were purchased at Michaels in 2021 on clearance
Round paper lanterns at Oriental Trading Company
Black plastic marquee lights at Amazon
Inkjet water slide decals at Amazon
TABLESCAPE
Black and white striped table runner from Amazon
Vintage circus images purchased as digital downloads on Etsy
Velvet top hat from Amazon
Manikin head from Amazon
Jungalow plates & bowls purchased in 2021 from Target
Orange cloth napkins from Amazon
Pinwheel napkin folding tutorial on YouTube
Black and white star paper straws from Amazon
Wooden rings for soda bottles from Amazon
Halloween wax paper from Amazon
Black cat circus punk from artist Melissa Belanger
Circus punks from Etsy seller EelmonkeyArt
Lit carnival pumpkin from Walmart
Lit carnival bat from Walmart
Lit carnival skull from Walmart
Snake charmer basket from the $1 section at Target
PARTY FAVORS/PLACE CARDS
Genuine Fred popcorn erasers from Amazon
Knock-Knock notepads from Knock Knock
Halloween character pencils from HomeGoods
Bat graphic from Etsy
RECIPES/FOOD PRODUCTS
Purple cotton candy from Amazon
Black rock candy sticks from Amazon
Homemade soft pretzel recipe from Preppy Kitchen
Beef Barbacoa recipe from The Chunky Chef
Queso Blanco recipe from Julie Blanner
Savory funnel cake recipe at Spoon Fork Bacon
Black plastic cocktail sticks for olive dumbbells from Amazon
Electric corn dog maker from Amazon
Wooden corn dog sticks from Amazon
Corn dog recipe below
Popcorn chicken from Costco
Momofuku spicy chili crunch sauce from Amazon
Small black-and-white striped popcorn boxes from Amazon
Electric waffle cone maker from Amazon
Acrylic ice cream holder from Amazon
Black waffle cone recipe from Jeni's Splendid Ice Cream Shops
*Black food coloring was added to original recipe
Halloween black and silver star sprinkles from Home Goods
Edible gold stars from Amazon
Corn Dog Recipe
*Note: You need a corn dog maker/iron to be able to get the candy corn effect.
3/4 cup white cornmeal
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 Tbsp. sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 egg lightly beaten
2 Tbsp. honey
3/4 cup buttermilk
2 Tbsp. vegetable oil
12 turkey hot dogs
12 wooden corn dog sticks
Yellow and orange gel food coloring
In a large mixing bowl, combine the cornmeal, flour, sugar, salt, & baking powder. Add the egg, honey, buttermilk, & vegetable oil and stir until combined. Let sit for 10 minutes.
Divide the batter into thirds with slightly more batter for the orange and white bowls of batter (see photo of finished corn dogs above).
My corn dog maker makes smaller corn dogs, so I cut each hot dog in half. Heat up your corn dog maker according to manufacturer's instructions.
Using cooking spray, do one corn dog mold at a time. Use a small spoon to carefully place your yellow batter, then orange batter, then white batter in the bottom of the mold. Place your hot dog on the wooden stick in batter. Repeat batter sequence and close the lid of maker. Cooking times will vary depending on maker. You want the colors to stand out and not be too browned. If the cooked batter needs more time, you can place in the microwave for 30 seconds.
These can be labor intensive, so I pre-made all of the corn dogs two days before the party and froze them. Reheat at 400 degrees for 15 minutes.
I needed to double this recipe to get 16 mini dogs from a package of 8 smoked turkey hot dogs.
Thanks for stopping by and I hope you enjoyed the show! Happy Halloween!!!
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