Here is everything I did to plan, prep and host a Backyard Carnival (Falconer Festival with Gluten Free Fair Food) to mark the start of summer for my family and friends! It all came together with hours of putting together structures, even more hours spent painting and using my Cricut to create various signs and lots of fun (and gluten free!) fair food favorites recreated.
Within this blog post you can find everything you need from suggested timelines, supply/decor/game links, the menu with full recipes, my planning thought process and more!
Backyard Carnival (Falconer Festival with Gluten Free Fair Food)
Helpful Links
Watch the backyard carnival come to life in video form by clicking the links below:
- Recipe Testing
- Part 1 – the planning
- Part 2 – lots of prep work & DIYs
- Part 3 – final prep work & recipe prep
- Part 4 – the morning of & the carnival!
Supply/Decor Roundup:
- Click here for a roundup of just about everything I used!
Note: anything not linked was likely a HomeGoods find or thrifted!
The Theme
If you’re reading this, I’m currently working on writing out my full thought process! I wanted to get the recipes up for you as soon as I could. 🙂 Stay tuned for more!
Special Touches
Like the above, this section is currently being worked on with no detail left behind!
The Timeline
Hosting and parties of all kinds can seem intimidating or stressful, but I make sure to plan for them in a way that creates the most low stress hosting experience possible so I can actually enjoy the event alongside my guests. Here is a rough outline of how I would recommend preparing for this specific themed party! Please note, this one was pretty time consuming in order to create a huge transformation to transport my guests, so building things ahead of time, assembling games, DIYing signs, recipe making, etc. all done ahead of time will help you so much!
Month-Week Prior:
- Invite your guests (of course! The sooner the better!)
- Draft a menu and grocery list, inclusive of dietary needs and taste preferences of your guests
- Take inventory of decor, DIY materials, serve ware, equipment, games, etc. to ensure you’re covered based on the amount of guests, your menu and your festival activities
- Order any supplies, decor and/or ingredients that need to be purchased online
- Test out your recipes
- Complete any DIYs, which in this case would be making the signs, and put together any structures you may be including
Week Of:
- Put together games, finish any DIYs, organize all decor
- Decorate your space in all the ways that can be done in advance (you can do this sooner than the week of if you don’t have cats like me, haha!). If you’re hosting outside, keep up with your garden maintenance to save yourself more work later on! Since I was hosting outside, I ended up putting as much as I could together and kept all that I could in the garage for an easier set up the day of!
- Main grocery shop of everything that can be purchased in advance (the earlier in the week, the better!)
- Gather, organize and label all serve ware and table items so that everything is ready to be set out
- Steam or iron linens for the tables
Two Days Before:
- Bake the “hot dog” cakes and make the frosting for them to be assembled later on
- Bake the goldfish crackers
One Day Before:
- If needed, secondary grocery shop as soon as the store opens to get any final needs and so you have as much time as possible
- Make funnel cake batter
- Make “corn” dog batter and assemble cheese and hot dogs/veggie dogs on sticks
- Make lemonade
- Assemble goldfish cracker “prize” bowls
- Assemble/decorate “hot dog” cakes
- Any final decor DIYs/touchups
- Tend to your yard as needed so it’s ready to set up if hosting outside. Even if hosting outside, I always make sure to clean the inside of my house so it’s guest ready!
Morning Of:
- I personally did the full backyard clear out and set up the morning of!
- Fill the cooler with ice and drinks
- Right before guests arrive, start the popcorn machine and add ice to lemonade
During:
- Assign someone to be in charge of the tickets and hand out the correct amounts while guests play the games
- When your guests arrive, offer them drinks from the cooler and fresh lemonade and allow them to help themselves to the concession stand snacks (bags of chips, goldfish cracker “prize” bowls, “hot dog” cakes) and popcorn
- While they’re playing games, take a count of how many veggie “corn” dogs, fried cheese on a stick and “corn” dogs you’ll need to make
- Make the orders, starting with the veggie dogs first, followed by the fried cheese and finishing with the hot dogs
- After everyone eats, make funnel cakes and cotton candy
- Have the BEST time!!
Bonus Tips:
- Have food made in advance throughout the week that you can eat while prepping because you probably won’t want to be cooking when prepping multiple dishes for your party, plus it saves time!
- Run and empty your dishwasher before the party so you can load everything instead of hand washing and taking up counter space. The easier the cleanup the better!
- Clean your spaces the night before hosting then do last minute touch ups prior to guests arriving. Also, clean as you go to avoid a huge mess before guests arrive!
The Menu
Below is everything that I included on the menu. Everything was super easy to make and great for prepping ahead of time! Of course, most of the food will be completed during the actual event, however, it’s easy and fun to do, plus your guests will love watching it be made! And it also allows you to be around your guests while things fry/bake so you don’t have to miss out on a thing.
Of course, you can pick and choose what you’d like and leave the rest!
The Drinks:
In the Cooler
- water bottles, Coke & Diet Coke (in glass bottles for the vibe!)
I kept the drinks in this cooler
Fair Lemonade
The below recipe is for 1 drink! Multiply the recipe based on however many you wish to make! I made 12.
- Ingredients:
- 1 1/2 lemons, cut into quarters
- 2 tbsp granulated sugar
- 1 1/2 cups water
- ice
- Instructions:
- In the jar you plan to serve your lemonade out of, muddle together the lemon wedges and sugar, ensuring you get as much juice out of the lemons as possible
- Since I was serving the lemonade the following day, I added 1 cup of water to the lemon juice/sugar mixture and then added 1/2 cup of ice right before serving as I knew it would melt into the lemonade quickly. If you’re serving right away, I would mix in 1 1/2 cups of water, but if you’re serving later on outside, I would go with my method!
I used these deli containers, this muddler, this straw hole punch and these straws!
The Food:
Note: to be helpful, I am listing them here in the order I prepared them in!
“Hot Dog” Cakes
- Cake Ingredients (makes 8):
- 1/2 cup milk (I use vanilla unsweetened almond milk)
- 1/2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
- 1/4 cup unsalted butter, room temp (can use dairy free as needed)
- 1 1/2 cup coconut sugar
- 3 eggs, room temperature
- 3 tbsp vanilla extract
- 3 tbsp avocado oil
- 1 1/2 cup gluten free baking flour (I use Bob’s Red Mill 1:1 Gluten Free Flour)
- 1/2 tbsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- Buttercream Ingredients:
- 1/4 cup butter, room temperature
- 1 1/2 cup powdered sugar
- 1 1/2 tbsp milk
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- pinch salt
- yellow and red natural food coloring of choice
- Cake Instructions:
- Allow your butter and eggs to come to room temperature.
- Preheat your oven to 350℉ and spray this baking pan with avocado oil spray or cooking oil.
- Combine the milk and apple cider vinegar and set aside.
- In a bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer, combine the room temperature butter and sugar. Mix until combined.
- Add in the eggs, vanilla, avocado oil and milk/apple cider vinegar mixture and mix until fully incorporated.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt, then mix it into the wet ingredients until smooth and combined.
- Pour the batter into the cake pan and bake for 30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
- Once done, allow the cake to rest for 10 minutes in the pan, then remove it to completely cool.
- If the cake bakes a little rounded above the pan, I cut that part off and use it as “buns” for 4 of the cakes!
- Buttercream Insructions:
- Combine all ingredients (aside from the food coloring) together in a bowl or the bowl of your stand mixer and beat with a mixer until fluffy and smooth.
- Separate the frosting into 3 bowls and leave one white while making the other two yellow and red with food coloring to act as the ketchup and mustard.
- Once you’re absolutely sure the cakes are fully cooled, add the red and yellow buttercreams to two separate piping bags and pipe a ketchup and mustard squiggle on each.
- If you have cake “buns,” secure them to the sides using the white buttercream.
- If you have buttercream left over (it’s likely you will!), add them to small jars or condiment containers for your guests to grab more if they wish!
I used this baking pan for the perfect shape!
Goldfish Crackers
Note: I doubled the recipe for the festival!
- Ingredients:
- 4 tbsp cubed butter, cold
- 1 cup gluten free flour (I use Bob’s Red Mill 1:1 Gluten Free Flour)
- 1 tsp psyllium husk
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp garlic powder
- 1/2 tsp onion powder
- 3/4 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp smoked paprika
- 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese, cold
- 3 tbsp water, plus more as needed
- Instructions:
- Preheat your oven to 350℉.
- Add all ingredients aside from the water into a food processor and run until mostly combined.
- Slowly add in water as it runs until a ball of dough is formed.
- If the dough is soft to the touch, chill it in fridge until firm (10-15 minutes or so).
- Place your dough onto a piece of parchment paper, then top it with another piece of parchment paper.
- Roll out out the dough about 1/8 inch thin (doesn’t have to be perfect!).
- Place a piece of parchment paper on a large baking sheet.
- Cut out fish shapes (I use this fish cracker cutter) and poke in eyes using a toothpick. Gently press out the fish by pressing them out of the cracker cutter with your pinky. Repeat this process until all of the dough is used. If it becomes too soft, place it in the fridge to chill for 10-15 minutes or so.
- Space out the fish crackers on the baking sheet and bake for 15-20 minutes. The longer they’re in, the crunchier they’ll be.
- Allow to cool and enjoy!
If you’d like, I then put the crackers into these fish bowls and topped them with this fabric with this star tinsel wrapped around it to keep it secure!
Funnel Cakes
- Ingredients (makes 5, give or take):
- 1 cup milk, of choice
- 1 1/4 cup gluten free all purpose flour (I use Bob’s Red Mill 1:1 Gluten Free)
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla
- pinch salt
- ¼ tsp cinnamon
- 1 egg
- powdered sugar, to dust
- avocado oil, to fry (lots!)
- Instructions:
- Mix together ingredients until smooth, then pour into squeeze bottles with the tip cut to be shorter for a thicker stream of batter.
- In a large pot on the stove or in a deep fryer, heat avocado oil to 350℉.
- Squeeze batter into the hot oil for approximately 8 seconds in a circular motion.
- Cook for 2 minutes on each side or until golden. You’ll want it to be soft, not crunchy, so don’t wait for the funnel cake to get too firm.
- Remove from the oil and place on a paper towel lined baking sheet to dry/cool slightly.
- Dust with powdered sugar and enjoy!
I put the batter in these squeeze bottles and cut the tip to be shorter, then baked them using this deep fryer
“Corn” Dog Batter
Note: I’m intolerant to corn, so I created this recipe to be corn free while being similar to the real thing! This batter pairs great with veggie dogs, cheese and regular hot dogs.
- Ingredients (makes 10):
- 1 1/4 cup all purpose gluten free flour (+ 1/2 cup for dredging)
- 1 tbsp onion powder
- 1 tbsp garlic powder
- 2 tsp paprika
- salt, to taste
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1 egg
- 1 cup water
- 10 hot dogs, veggie dogs or pieces of cheese (cut to the width and length of a hot dog)
- Instructions:
- Prepare your hot dogs, veggie dogs and/or cheese by spearing them with a wooden skewer/stick.
- Combine all of the batter ingredients in a bowl and mix until fully combined.
- Set up the dredging and frying station with the batter mixture in a tall glass so that it’s easy to coat the full length and a separate tray or plate with the remaining 1/2 cup of flour.
- In a large pot on the stove or in a deep fryer, heat avocado oil to 350℉.
- One by one, coat the hot dogs/veggie dogs in flour (skip this step if making fried cheese!), then transfer it to the batter mixture and cover it completely. Do this step slowly and have patience in getting the batter to fully coat/stick!
- Carefully transfer the corn dog/cheese it to the hot oil. Cook for around 3 minutes or until golden! Be sure to watch the fried cheese on a stick as it can quickly explode from the coating if left in the oil for too long!
- Transfer to a paper towel lined baking sheet to dry.
- Repeat the coating and frying process until all of the batter mixture is used.
- Serve with choices of ketchup and mustard and enjoy!
I use this fryer and these sticks and served them in these baskets with the fun liners
Non-Recipe Snacks
- bags of chips, peanuts, festive candy, anything you’d like!
- I didn’t have the following, but you could also include candy apples and fried Oreos
- cotton candy using this machine, these sticks and this sugar
- popcorn using this machine, this oil and this butter salt
FOLLOW ALONG!
Be sure to follow me on Instagram and TikTok to see all of the behind the scenes of recipe creation as well as how to videos to watch them come to life! You can also head over to my Pinterest to save all of my recipes in one spot that you plan whip up in the future.
PS – If you make any of these recipes or are inspired to host a similar event, I would be so grateful if you left a review so I can hear what you think! I also am happy to answer any questions you may have on here, but if you want a quicker response, be sure to shoot me a message on Instagram. Thank you so much and talk soon!
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