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Carnival Theme 1st Bday Party
we are having a carnival theme for my son's 1st birthday party this summer...but really, it's more like a "phew, mom and dad made it through the 1st year" party !! 
It's going to be in our backyard, estimating about a dozen kids and 30-40 adults. A lot more than I anticipated. We are planning on renting a tent (just in case it rains), ice cream sundae bar, dunk tank, carnival games (e.g. shoot empty cans off a platform with water guns, etc.) face painting, etc.
That being said, what should we do for food? I don't want either myself or my husband to cook or man the grill, so i'm all for catering. But what kind of food? Should I stick with a carnival theme, or don't worry about the theme when it comes to food? It'll be a lot of adults, so i don't want to just stick with finger food...it'll be prime lunch time too.
Re: Carnival Theme 1st Bday Party
How about fajitas? Grilled chicken/steak/pork. Lots of veggies, shredded cheese. People can serve themselves what they way.
Chips with salsa and guacamole? Grilled corn on the cob would be a nice touch. This is a little heavier than finger foods, but you don't need lots of utensils.
Drinks can be bottled water, juice boxes for the kids, maybe iced tea and coronas for adults.
HTH!
Do you not want to grill because of the work it would cause and it would take away from you tending to guests and son? Could you get someone else (maybe close friend or family member) to do it instead? To me, that seems like the most reasonable and sensible option and probably most liked by everyone. It'd also go well with your theme! You could just do burgers and dogs (which is kid and adult friendly), mac n' cheese, potato salad, etc....kind on the side of BBQ fare.
Otherwise, if you're all about catering and want to stick with the theme, I think it would be fun to go all out in carrying it through to everything, especially the food! You could do things like corn dogs, steak fries (in paper cups of course), cotton candy, popcorn, nachos and cheese, fresh squeezed lemonade, polish sausages, etc.
You could have a lot of fun with this one!
We did a carnival theme and we had corn dogs, nachos, popcorn and frito pies. the adults enjoyed the corn dogs as much as the kids.
We also bought bagged cotton candy for the kiddos. At Hobby Lobby you can find carnival theme paper goods.
Good Luck! Whatever you decide, I'm sure it will be a blast.
this. corndogs, hotdogs, etc.
you can also look in to buisnesses that do carnivals for like company picnics and such, with bouncy house, midway games, etc, they usually have snocone, popcorn and cotton candy machines.
I think hamburgers and hot dogs might be okay with the kids, but I would expand a bit more.
Grilled:
Corn on cob
Chicken (pieces or breast for sandwiches)
Sausage links or sausage and pepper sandwiches
Turkey legs or turkey wings
Pulled pork
For sides I would include some kind of green salad, potato or macaroni salad, vegetable platters, beans (if your crowd enjoys them).
You can still do popcorn, cotton candy and sweets that go with carnivals.