Cupcake Wars: Three easy steps to a sweet party
If you’ve never thrown a Cupcake Wars party, don’t be intimidated. It’s super easy and loads of fun for everyone involved. Plus, it doesn’t take a whole lot of planning. It’s as easy and 1-2-3! Check it out!
So we decided to do Cupcake Wars with our youth group from my church. We had a group of about 30 kids ages 12-13. It was important to keep it simple enough and yet challenging enough to engage everyone attending. We were pleasantly surprised at how much fun everybody had. Here’s what you’ll need to do:
Step #1: Decide a theme and buy toppings
The sky is the limit as far as themes go. But since we had our party in September, we thought we would do a holiday theme. We focused on three holidays: Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas. Each group would decorate their cupcakes according to the holiday that they were assigned. Here’s some other theme ideas:
The good thing is, regardless of the time of year, you can find whatever toppings you want or need on Amazon. Here’s a few supplies you’ll need to decorate your cupcakes:
- Frosting bulb kit
- Cupcake liners
- White serving platters
- Disposable tablecloths
- Colored sugar sprinkles
- Toothpicks
- Skewers
Basically we just bought a whole bunch of different candies and treats that we thought would go well on top of a cupcake. It was pretty easy.
Step #2: Set up your Cupcake Wars party
You’ll want to have a separate table for each group that will be decorating cupcakes. If you have a small group, you can do individual competitions instead of group ones. We had a table with all the decorations and a table for gathering and decorating. So we actually had six tables. But you can do it however you want.
If you’re able, you can decorate each table with items that relate to the theme for each group. We threw on a few Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas decorations and it turned out so cute.
Step #3: Let the wars begin
Divide all of the participants into three groups and have them stand by their table. Explain the rules to everyone before you begin. We told everyone that they would be judged on three criteria:
- Creativity
- Presentation
- Teamwork
These rules allow everyone to participate in order to complete the challenge with a decent finished project. Some of the groups worked better together than others. But, regardless, everyone had tons of fun. I also told everyone to be respectful of the toppings and not be wasteful.
We gave them about 30 minutes to make their creations. You can give them a five minute warning when it’s almost over. Overall, all of the cupcake displays turned out awesome. I was super impressed. The adults choose the winners together and the winning group got candy bars as prizes.
What other ideas do you have for fun parties with teenagers? Leave your comments below
Related link: Throw your own holiday Dessert Dash