SHE DID IT AGAIN! Remember the rainbow spa birthday party? Or the sweet shop birthday party? Now Amber, who blogs at Cake Pops and Squats, has created a birthday bake off competition for her 10-year-old’s big day. It was “Cupcake Wars” for 14 ten-year-olds in one kitchen, and if you’re wondering how she pulled it off, we’ve got all the details right here!
Name of birthday girl: Rian
Parents: Dutch and Amber
Age of birthday girl: 10
Where the party took place: Our house in San Diego, CA
Number of guests: 14
Theme and colors of the party: Rian’s Birthday Bake Off! Colors were turquoise and red
How did you decide on the theme? Rian loves the cooking channel and the show “Cupcake Wars” so she decided to do that for her birthday.
Where did you get your inspiration for this party? I scoured Pinterest and found some baking parties. Then I just did what I could in the amount of time I had. We had been trying to figure out what she wanted, she would have a hundred themes If I would let her. When she finally decided on a bake-off I had to wrap my head around her having a baking party at the house–and get everything ready within one week. She is not one for just inviting a couple girls. She wants everyone to come. But we did it.
Where did you get all the supplies? Rian is finally out of the pink stage and she decided she want turquoise so we decide on turquoise and red the Martha Stewart colors. I had a one of the bowls and a spatula, but then I went and got some new stuff to match.The tablecloth came from Walmart. I bought the aprons at Michael’s and tied turquoise and red ribbons on them.
What was on the menu? It was very simple: fruit, Oreos and popcorn. The girls made the cupcakes.
What food did you make yourself? Since the party was very last minute I had to make it easy. I air popped the popcorn, washed the fruit and put out the Oreos.
Did you make anything especially “healthy”? Fruit and the popcorn were the most healthy items!
Tell us about those cupcakes! Flavors? Topping options? The girls got to pick from 4 different cake mixes: chocolate, vanilla, white and lemon. One team picked the vanilla and the other pick white. They also had to include two secret ingredients somehow. The two secret ingredients were mini marshmallows and gummy bears. They had tons of sprinkles for topping to choose from. I had to be careful of toppings because I had one little girl that was allergic to nuts so we kept it simple. I chose the flavors because they were the least messy.
What were the rules? They had 1hour and 30 mins to bake and decorate cupcakes, design the cupcake stand and present to the judges. They were graded on appearance, taste, creativity, clean station, and presentation to judges. They were allowed to ask only 2 questions during the competition. I put in and took the cupcakes out of the oven, other than that they had to work together figure it out on their own.
Who won the bake-off? It actually turned out to be a tie.
Did you have gift bags? Yes, Each girl got a apron to take home, a wooden spoon and a cupcake lipgloss.
What was the biggest hit of the party? The competition part of it. Once they found out the teams they were all racing around trying to figure out who was going to do what job.
Any misses? I would have fewer girls, I think we needed 3 teams with that many girls. We did not have enough space for the a 3rd team though.
How long did it take to put everything together? One week.
What was the hardest part? Finding enough aprons. I think I went to Michael’s every day!
What was easy? The food
The most expensive? The aprons
What would you do differently next time? I would definitely have fewer children and I would have monitored the sprinkles more. I am still sweeping up sprinkles.
Did her little sister Elle participate? Yes, she was going to bake, but she was a little intimidated by all the big girls so she decided to be a judge.
What did Rian enjoy the most? She loved the whole thing. I think she felt really grown up being able to bake with all her friends.
Fill your child’s life with more good food & birthday party ideas:
Hi, I’m having a cupcake wars type party for my 11 year old daughter. I was wondering if you could pass along the “rules” that you provided the girls at your party. I see them sticking out of the bucket picture.
Thanks in Advance,
Maria
From Amber, the mom behind this awesome event, here are the rules they used at the original party above:
Team Rules
1. The Baking contest is a team effort – without assistance from adults.
2. You have 1 hour and 30 minutes to complete your cupcakes and present them to the judges.
3. You will be judged on the following: Taste, appearance, creativity, a clean work-station, and presentation to the judges.
4. Ms. Amber will be the only one to use the oven, when you are ready to bake your cupcakes find her.
5. If you want to use the hot glue gun you must find Ms. Amber and she will help you.
6. Each team is allowed one question – choose wisely.
“A Clean Workstation” Love the rules. I may borrow some… especially this one 😉
i would love to hear more about the decorations for the cupcakes and see some pics of the final product! also, did you also have a cake or sing happy bday with their cupcakes.
Also, what were the displays made of? can you share photos?
Where did you get the baking supplies? And the cute ribbons?
Hi Jordan! I believe the baking supplies were from Macy’s and the ribbon from a craft store like Michael’s or JoAnn’s fabrics.
love it
i love cupcake wars great idea
What did you use for invitations?
Hi Kristy — I asked Amber, who hosted the party, and she said they did Evites in a baking theme. Hope that helps!
Hello,
I love this idea and planning one for my daughter’s 10th birthday party. I wanted to know if the girls used an electric standing mixer
Hi Fumi! I don’t think they used a standing mixer, but just regular beaters. You could borrow a pair to make sure both teams have equal (and fair) equipment! Good luck and have fun.
I was just looking through pintrest and I saw this and I automatically fell in love and told my parents I am turning 13 this year and wanted a over the top birthday party so I just wanted to say thank you for giving that to me.
Melena, I am so happy you found us too! Happy birthday to you in advance and I hope you have the most fun of all!
Great idea! Can you tell me what you gave the girls to use for the cupcake stand?
I realize this is an older post.. but I LOVE this idea !! Would you mind telling me what kinds of supplies you had out for the “display” portion ? Did the girls have to make a cupcake stand of sorts for displaying the cupcakes on ? My daughter is obsessed with this show on Food Network, and we are struggling to come up with a unique party idea. Pretty sure this is going to be it once I show her !
Thanks for sharing 🙂
Hi there, we used cake rounds, toilet paper rolls, ribbon, gems to decorate them anything crafty. They had to come up with there own cupcake display. Hope that helps
Thanks for this wonderful , inspirational post. My daughter is turning 10 next week and we are doing the same. A few quick questions:
1. What did the girls do while they waited for the cupcakes to bake?
2. Although asked already, would love some elaboration (or pictures) – what did you give them to make the cupcake stand?
3. Aside from frosting, sprinkles and your “Secret ingredients” – did you give them anything else to decorate with?
Much much thanks – crossing my fingers I can pull this off!
Maia
I really want to bake for my birthday
I am having my 13th birthday party next Saturday, and I was inspired by YOU 😉 to do it as a cupcake war party. I have a few questions though.
How many cupcakes did each team make?
How did they decorate the cupcakes?
When the cupcakes went into the oven how did the girls know which cupcakes belonged to who?
Sorry about all the questions.. You seemed to have done it very well and I want to too!
Carole
Hi Carole!
Each team made about 24 cupcakes, which was the amount you get from a box mix.
They decorated with frosting plus decorative icing in a pastry bag and sprinkles, candies and so on.
I believe they put one pan in the oven for each team at once–so you need 2 cupcake pans. (Then baked the second pan for each team later.)
Each team used different flavor so it was clear which pan belonged to which team.
This was a party hosted by another family so I don’t have the details about what they did while the cupcakes were baking but will try to find out!
In the meantime hope your party is amazing!
Did the teams have a prize? If they did, what was it?
I don’t think there were prizes but would love to hear about yours if you choose to give them!
So clever! How many girls were on each team? I would love to have 3 teams for my daughter’s 11th birthday party and I have a fairly large kitchen but just curious how many girls would be too many? 🙂
Very excited for my daughters 9th birthday party in a couple weeks. I’m grateful for your ideas to help with her party! I was wondering though – how did you decide on teams? And how did each team pick their cake box?