Mae and I have a lot of fun planning her friend b-day parties (that take place every other year). She is amazingly artistic and crafty in all areas--including in the kitchen, so it's no surprise that for her 11th b-day she decided that she wanted to have a Cupcake Wars party. She is a little Pinterest queen, and in the weeks and probably months leading up to her big day, she spent time looking for and pinning all kinds of fun ideas.
She picked red and turquoise for her colors and found some cute decorations to go along with it!
Balloon garland--strung with a needle and thread.
Cupcake garland, made in the same fashion.
Skittles cup party favors--meant to go along with the cupcake theme.
And of course white and turquoise chevron straws--what did we ever do without all these cute things;).
She planned out and helped prepare Taco Cupcakes
(made with layers of meat, beans, cheese, and wonton wrappers--we also had toppings available: sour cream, tomatoes, olives, cilantro, etc.).
And she baked cupcake blondies.
Joseph added himself to the kitchen decor while we were busy setting up.
To save time and hassle later on, we got out all the kitchen supplies we thought the girls might end up needing.
Including basic baking ingredients.
We also prepared a table designated to the surprise ingredients the girls would have to include in their final products. Mae picked the ingredients to go along with the theme of good vs. evil Disney characters. Spam, dragon fruit, green Gatorade, hazelnuts, cool whip, and applesauce were all included, and the groups would have to pick at least three ingredients to include in their cupcakes.
SPOILER ALERT: Neither of the groups chose Spam--shocking, right?!
Then they were divided into two groups (that we had decided on ahead of time to try and keep things as even as possible) and got to work.
We set the timer (if I remember right, for 30 minutes) and group A got started in the kitchen.
While group B began working on their display in the garage.
(Mae and I had been collecting random supplies from around the house, and the recycling bin, to make sure they would have plenty to work with.)
When the timer beeped, the girls had to quickly switch stations.
Going with whatever they were able to get done in the set amount of time!
When the 2nd round was up, they had just a couple of minutes to quickly set up their displays.
The final products!
Each group took a minute or two to present their creations to the judges.
Explaining their choice of display and cupcake.
Kevin, James, and our good buddy Jeremy were kind enough to act in this role. I really do mean that this was an act of kindness (and not just guys getting to indulge in delicious cupcakes), because I'm the kind of momma who thinks exploration is super awesome and Mae likes to keep things interesting, so there were absolutely no recipes or instructions given to the girls on how to prepare their creations. Plus remember they had to use a few unusual ingredients. Let's just say our objective here was not taste--hence the pre-made blondies awaiting on the counter.
That said, they really did a great job and the final products where not terrible;).
Joseph of course couldn't stay out of the action; although, I don't think he was offering his services as a taste tester;).
Watching the judge's faces was quite entertaining!
And then it was time to eat (taco cupcakes and blondies) and the final results were presented!!
And when the excitement of the "competition" was all over, Mae got to open some very thoughtful presents ...
From a great group of wonderful girls!
And hang out with her friends for a while before it was time to say goodbye.
We are such proud parents, and feel very privileged to get to raise this amazing young woman.
Since the friend party was pretty fast-paced and just a bit insane, we also had a quiet family party on another day to celebrate Miss Mae.
We each gave her the special gifts we'd prepared.
And in her honor, we worked on sanitation packets for a service organization in Honduras that g-ma Loo's good friends started and run! (http://www.projecthondurasinternational.org/projecthondurasinternational/Home.html)
Can't get much better than that! And actually I do have to say that Mae really did a huge part of the party preparations all by herself, so this party was actually a lot easier than some in the past. Besides, she seriously deserved every moment of time and planning. She is an absolute gem to have in our home. No one is perfect, but Mae is helpful, thoughtful, resourceful, and just plain amazing. One of my favorite things about her is that, despite her beauty, she has no problem doing things that cause her to look totally goofy if it will make her or someone else laugh!!:-)
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