One thing that probably everyone who knows me knows is that I love a good party!

I’ll take any excuse to have a celebration with a few friends or a crowd. This is just one of the ways I have always tried to make childhood special for my kids, and it’s the reason that every holiday, even the little holidays like Valentine’s Day and St. Patrick’s Day, are fun for us!

But when there’s not a holiday around the corner, that doesn’t mean you can’t have a party! When my kids were obsessed with Nailed It and Sugar Rush, we decided to invite some buddies over to have our own competition!

I’ll explain how we did it, but you can put any twist or changes that you like!

For this party, preparation is key! You want to make sure you have an idea of how each round will go, as well as make sure you have the appropriate supplies in advance.

Setup

• Invite your friends and have them bring decorating supplies. This may include:
  • Sprinkles
  • Ready to decorate icing
  • Fondant
  • Cookie Cutters
  • Marshmallows
  • Candy Eyes
  • Toothpicks
  • Decorating pearls
  • Candy
• Have pre-made sugar cookie dough, baked pound cakes and rice crispy bars ready to go. (Some of our kids were too young to make a recipe at this time).
• You will need to make sure that you have enough supplies available (cookie sheets, bowls, utensils, etc), as well as enough surface space for each team to have their own workspace.
• Spread all of the decorating supplies out on a table. No one can touch any of supplies until the buzzer sounds.
• Divide into teams. The teams may need an adult helper for the first round if they are baking the sugar cookies, as we did. You could also purchase baked sugar cookies if you prefer.
• Now the fun begins!

First Round

The first round was the sugar cookie round. For this round, we gave each team sugar cookie dough and a cooking sheet. The kids had to choose the decorating supplies for themselves.

Before the round began, the teams had to draw the season that their cookie must represent. There was a time limit (which I can’t remember to be honest…it included the baking time), and once the buzzer sounded, the teams had to present their creations. One team drew Fall, one Summer, and one drew Winter.

Second Round

Round two was the dessert round. The teams could make any dessert they chose, but the desserts had to fit into a more specific theme than a season. This time, the teams each drew a word out of a hat to be the inspiration for their desserts. In this round, the teams could use anything on the table except for the pound cakes.

Third Round

For Round Three, I had put out six photos of cakes out for the teams to see. Each team was able to choose a cake to recreate to the best of their availability using the pound cake and all other decorating and baking materials. This was the most exciting round as the kids were able to try fondant for the first time.

The Judging

We adults would try each dessert and judge it based on flavor and appearance. After each round, a team would win. No teams were eliminated, so everyone was still able to compete each round.

We actually rotated the kids around each round since there were a variety of ages and one child came late and missed the first round, but you can keep the teams as is if that suits you best! We figured it would be less competitive and more fun by swapping.

Conclusion

This party went down as one of the most fun we have had! Everyone had a blast, including us parents! It was a great way for us to spend the evening with our kids making memories while still having some adult time at the same time.

I highly recommend you try this, even if on a smaller scale (you versus your kids or your kids versus each other). It made for hours of fun!