Hello again from Enchanted Teas with Dahlia! This year I turned 25 which I think is a special birthday (quarter of a century!) so I wanted to do something fantastic to mark the occasion! I decided to host a circus themed tea party heavily inspired by my current obsession with The Greatest Showman film! This event was so much fun to put together and I’ve so been looking forward to sharing the details with you!
First off, I have to give credit to my mom for all of her help with this party! She came up with so many good ideas and helped bring my vision to life! She even transformed our dining room into a circus tent complete with floral pennants that we found while antiquing one day! You may remember that from one of my website’s previous featured videos...it is currently available on my YouTube channel if you want to watch it again or if your missed it the first time around, click here. I really think that these pennants help to tie in both the circus and tea party aspects of this event perfectly! The tent itself is actually plastic red and off-white table covers cut in halves. I am also very happy with the golden “happy birthday” and “25” balloons on the walls! They were somewhat last minute ideas that now I can’t imagine the setting without!
I wanted the table to have a whimsical feel, while still keeping it as elegant as possible! I got the center piece idea from an image I saw online where someone filled a popcorn bucket with white flowers. The one in the picture had a lot less greenery than mine which made it look more like real popcorn was inside, but I’m still happy with this arrangement. I randomly came across elephant salt and pepper shakers in the store and just had to grab them! Of course, I also had to put my magic wand set on the table as well! Most of the food was so colorful and visually pleasing that it ended up doubling as decor!
Brainstorming ideas for the meal was actually one of my favorite parts about planning this party! My mom and I thought about all of the foods that you would find at a circus and reinvented them to seem a little bit more fancy and appropriate for a tea party!
Corn Dogs
We made our own mini corn dog balls, garnished them with my mom’s homemade chutney sauce, and put them on classy-looking skewers.
Pizza
The pizza was inspired by the ones we remember from hosting Pampered Chef parties back in the day. It’s vegetables and a cream cheese spread over Pillsbury crescent rolls.
Soft Pretzels
This was an original idea my mom thought of where she rolled the dough into balloon shapes and tied a ribbon to each one! We displayed them on my jewelry tree decoration, lol!
Animal Crackers
These are simply funnfeti cupcakes with colored buttercream icing and animal crackers on top!
Popcorn
I followed this recipe to make this rich caramel popcorn fudge!
Cotton Candy
Here is where we got the idea for this creative take on cotton candy! It’s a yummy and colorful dessert made with a special cotton candy extract and topped with real cotton candy!
Candy Apples
This kind of tea I thought went well with the theme!
For the favors, I made each guest a small envelope out of plain white card stock paper folded in half, decorated them with red twine and embossed the front with my tea pot rubber stamp in a really pretty gold-ish/bronze-y color that happened to compliment a lot of my decorations very well. I slipped one tea bag inside for everyone to take home a taste of what they enjoyed at the party. Along with that, inside each gift bag was some gourmet candied popcorn, which I thought was kind of like a classy version of Cracker Jacks, another snack you might find at a circus!
Before having everyone sit at the table to indulge, I had some activities prepared, so I set out some other treats for my guests to munch on as they arrived. This ended up looking really cute displayed on the kitchen counter! It was originally going to be set up out by the pool, but we were having bad weather that day, so I decided to keep it all inside, which I think ultimately worked out for the best!
As you can see, I used our Mickey Mouse popcorn maker and jelly bean dispenser (I mean, of course, right? Perfect for a circus party!) There were also Lollipops, Marshmellow Circus Peanuts, Frosted Animal Crackers, Cotton Candy, and Cracker Jacks (real ones this time!), also fresh Lemonade!
Some of what I had planned for before the tea party itself actually began was for everyone to participate in a photo shoot in front of the adorable circus tent back drop that my mom made! Now for this we were able to still do it outside, but under a roof just in case the rain began. Thankfully it didn't for the few hours that the party took place and the lighting ended up looking really good in the pictures! I created some homemade props to use for the photos too such as some signs referencing moments from the movie among other things.
Everyone was such a good sport and didn’t hesitate to dress-up and strike a pose for the camera!
I also really loved how everyone got so into the theme of the event! My friend Taylor wore an adorable skirt with a circus print! And check out the necklace she gave me with circus charms and the lyrics from a song on The Greatest Showman soundtrack!
My friend Megan’s outfit was also so perfect and blew me away when I realized how accurately it represented the character Charity Barnum in the movie! It’s completely spot on and was such a creative idea! Take a look at this side by side comparison! Also note the precious tea pot purse! She even brought me some tea party goodies!
Maria also kept the tea theme in mind while preparing for the party... she made me this gorgeous tea party jewelry set as well as strawberry shortcakes for everyone to enjoy!
After taking full advantage of the photo booth, we went inside to play some games! To start, I had everyone complete a series of tasks including unscrambling a word, throwing beach balls through a hoop, and guessing which teacup was covering a circus peanut! Whoever finished with the shortest time was the winner! I also made a “fill in the blanks” puzzle using some of my favorite lines from the movie to see who could remember the most!
Here are the prizes I put together for each of the games!
Since I was the host of the party, I thought that it would make sense to dress as a ring leader! The best part was the top hat that my mom made for me out of black poster board, and lace fabric! She decorated it with ribbon, flowers, and feathers! I borrowed my grandma’s elephant brooch and my sister’s black boots. I had the gold chain necklace and black skirt in my closet which I thought were perfect and then I searched some thrift shops to find a button down red blouse. It came together really well I think!
Thank you so much to my friends who came to celebrate with me and for making my birthday so wonderful!
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