Fresh and Happy Post: Summer Carnival Party

We are excited to have Laura Muir, from Fresh and Happy, guest post this week on the Gygi blog. She put together a crafty and creative summer carnival party that was too fun not to share. Get all of her ideas and designs right here.

Gygi Carnival Party 6

I am so thrilled to share my outdoor carnival party with you today! I have always been a sucker for a good carnival. I have memories of planning little carnival parties for my birthday when I was a little girl. I guess that always stuck with me! Thank goodness for Orson Gygi and all their adorable party merchandise and concessions. They sure do make throwing a carnival a cinch!

My daughter just turned 7 and we wanted to throw her a party to remember! She is such a social butterfly. She wanted to invite everyone in her class, neighborhood, and family. Can’t leave anyone out can we? We were having a hard time finding the right venue for such a large crowd, and decided that a back yard carnival was the safest, most fun option.

I decided to go with a more modern color scheme, rather than the primary colors that you so often see at a carnival party. It was so fresh and bright! Orson Gygi has so many lovely colorful options for just about everything. I loved cruising the isles and picking out all of the pink, turquoise, green and orange I could find.

I am going to give you a little tour of the delicious concessions we served at the carnival with the help of Orson Gygi!

Introducing the most important concession of all… The carnival cupcakes! No party seems complete without the dessert! I served up some of my moms famous chocolate cupcakes and topped them off with some heavenly buttercream frosting. I love how the turquoise cupcake liners really make the cupcakes pop!

Gygi Carnival Party 3

Make sure to stay tuned, because *spoiler alert* I am sharing this darling cupcake flag printable on my blog www.freshandhappy.com later this week!

Gygi Carnival Party 1

Do you remember dying for those delectable frosted circus animal cookies when you were a kid? I still think they are so yummy! Last time I threw a carnival party I filled a glass jar with them. This time around I was inspired by Sweetapolita’s jumbo frosted animal cookies from her new cookbook, and just had to include them in the festivities! They were so buttery and addicting! I could have eaten this entire tray. Thank goodness the kids went crazy over them and gobbled them right up!

Gygi Carnival Party 4

Orson Gygi has this HUGE wall filled with every cookie cutter shape imaginable. My son and I were going gaga over all the possibilities. I am now sworn to the promise of dinosaur and robot cookies for his next party…

Gygi Carnival Party 18

I found a variety of circus animals, a star, and an ice cream cone cookie cutter that were perfectly fitting for a batch of these glorious cookies. They turned out even more delicious than I had hoped! I’ll share the recipe later this week with Orson Gygi, so keep your eyes peeled!

Gygi Carnival Party 2

One cannot simply throw a carnival party without cotton candy (my favorite part). I am always looking for an excuse get my fingers all sticky with some cotton candy! I never grew out of that I guess. I would die to have a little pink cotton candy cart to pull out for family barbecues and get togethers!

Gygi Carnival Party 7

Orson Gygi had just about every color of sugar under the sun to choose from, but we ended up going with the classic pink and blue. Since my three year old son was along for the shopping trip we HAD to get orange too (he is a die hard fan of the color)! Guess what flavor was the favorite? The orange! I had never tried it before, but oh boy it was such a treat.

Gygi Carnival Party 14

You wouldn’t believe how much fun it is to whip up some fresh cotton candy and roll it up on a cone! When the party was over we, (the adult kids), took turns making the biggest cotton candy balls we could. It was delicious!

Gygi Carnival Party 11

I guess carnivals can’t be all about the sweets. I had my dear old dad grilling up some hot dogs and served them with these cute fruit and veggie cups.

Gygi Carnival Party 10

I found some brightly colored dessert cups at Orson Gygi that were just the right size for a healthy serving of the good stuff.

Gygi Carnival Party 13

I was surprised how welcomed a cup of fresh produce was to these sugar hopped kiddies! They were easy to grab and munch in between games and bounce house fun.

Gygi Carnival Party 9

Ok, back to the sweets I say! My husband spoiled us all with three trays of freshly made gelato. It really hit the spot on that warm sunny day outside. I used the same cups to serve up the gelato. Yum!

Gygi Carnival Party 8

I love pretty drinks. I just had to have some colorful straws to tie to my lemonade. It made it so easy for the kids to grab a cold one and skip off to the next activity.

Gygi Carnival Party 17

Are you overloaded by all the cuteness yet? No? More you say? Well, ok then! I am forced to tell you about my favorite part of the party table… I made these taffy party favor jars to send home with the kids. They were calling them “treasure jars”. They were so excited that they got to pick which animal they wanted.

Gygi Carnival Party 15

I filled these 1/2 quart mason jars (and a few smaller ones for the little babies) with Orson Gygi’s salt water taffy. I glued circus animal toys to the tops of the jars and spray painted them gold. They were finished off with some matching ribbon and voila, party favors galore! Seriously, the cutest craft I’ve done in a long time. It was surprisingly easy and turned out so great!

Gygi Carnival Party 5

When I was painting the lids gold my three year old was squealing, “You’re making it into treasure! I love treasure!” Who doesn’t, kid? Who doesn’t… Be sure to check out our blog post tomorrow for a step by step tutorial on how to make these babies!

I had such a fabulous time pulling together this party with the help of my friends at Orson Gygi. It has been such a privilege to share the fun with you! I hope you found some summer party inspiration for your gatherings this season. Thanks for partying with me friends!

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12 Comments

  • Reply
    Michael Munnerlyn
    May 12, 2015 at 8:55 am

    I had a great time attending this super fun party! All the products, concessions and decor made it a total blast!

  • Reply
    Becky
    May 12, 2015 at 9:25 am

    Darling! Everything looks perfect, makes me want to throw a party ASAP!

  • Reply
    Taylor
    May 12, 2015 at 9:26 am

    What an incredible party!!!!!!

  • Reply
    Diane Warnock
    May 12, 2015 at 9:31 am

    Unbelievable party. I loved all the ideas. I really liked the huge animal cookies. I also love the jars with the gold animals not he too. Great job!

  • Reply
    Carrie
    May 12, 2015 at 10:08 am

    I love your cute party ideas!! I know what my next party theme will be!!! 🙂

  • Reply
    Brooke
    May 12, 2015 at 10:18 am

    The mason jars are my favorite!

  • Reply
    Becky @ lovetobeinthekitchen
    May 12, 2015 at 10:23 am

    Wow! This party is awesome. So many beautiful colors and decorations. Your daughter is a lucky girl!

  • Reply
    Aliza B
    May 12, 2015 at 10:43 am

    I love all of these ideas for a fun carnival party! Those dessert cups are perfect for snacks.

  • Reply
    Meagan
    May 12, 2015 at 11:34 am

    Such a fun idea! You did an amazing job. I love all your ideas and it would be great for parties. I’ll have to try this out for my nieces and nephews. They would love it!

  • Reply
    Sydney @ Tastefully Frugal
    May 13, 2015 at 9:18 am

    Oh my gosh this is so cute!! Love the cotton candy!!

  • Reply
    Heather Cook
    May 15, 2015 at 9:18 pm

    The gold circus animals on top of mason jars are genius. I can think of so many uses for them. Any party that includes gelato has to be fabulous.

  • Reply
    DT
    May 20, 2015 at 12:14 am

    Wow! What a fabulous party! I love all the details and fun party paraphernalia. You really knocked yourself out.

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