Birthday Party

Allia turns 14 Monday, and we celebrated with a few of her friends last night.
We were originally planning to swim but with the weather being a bit cooler and one friend with a hurt hand, we opted for a Baking Challenge: Birthday Edition competition instead.
The girls made these name tags for their cups as an opening craft/icebreaker while waiting for everyone to arrive...

Then on to the bakeoff. They divided into 3 teams of 2, and the surprise secret ingredients were graham crackers and Orange Marmalade. I was so impressed by their creativity and the fact that not one team used any sort of recipe! They had one hour to complete their creation. Here was the spread when they were finished. Austin and I judged while they enjoyed some pizza!

 Team 1: Greek yogurt bowl with graham cracker bottom and a garnish of honey-graham marshmallows

Team 2: Orange filled graham cracker tart

Team 3 (named themselves "Sugar and Spice"): Marmalade marshmallow pie with graham cracker crust

The judging was tough, as they were all so creative and quite tasty too. There were several categories such as teamwork, creativity, etc. But Best Overall went to team 3. Austin thought it tasted like a dessert from a restaurant. Their secret? They made the pie filling with cream cheese. It blended really well with the tangy sweetness of the orange marmalade.

We also did a pencil holder craft, but I missed photos because I had to go put Cecilia to bed right after I got them started on it. Too bad because they all did a beautiful job! Here are Allia and Gloria with theirs (Allia let Gloria join the party for this part).

  It was such a nice way to celebrate our sweet Allia who loves to bake and craft! :)