That's how long I've been involved in Catholic women's study groups at the military chapel.
And most of those years, I've led those groups.
In addition to weekly Bible or faith studies, I've put together a number of really great programs. (and a few not so great, too- aint gonna lie!)
My favorite was our end of the year party last May. Cupcake Wars.
This is how it works.
We asked several of our key volunteers to bake and bring two dozen unfrosted cupcakes.
We asked our ladies to bring any cake decorating equipment they own such as cake decorating tips, spreaders, sprinkles, marzipan, candy and anything else they could think of.
I provided a variety of canned and bakery frosting in white, more sprinkles and candy toppings, food coloring, marshmallows, chocolate chips, pretzel sticks, toothpicks and much more.
The ladies knew we were having a cupcake decorating contest. They knew to wear a creative or fun apron. They knew it was a Cupcake War in the tradition of the TV series by the same name. They also knew the theme would be given to them on the day.
Since this was our end of year party and also our summer kick-off, we had passed out invitations during the masses over the weekend so we had a few of our "old-timers" and a few newcomers, too.
I had the women break up into six groups. Because of the number of women present, the groups consisted of two to three women each. And my second request was that as an old-timer, you had to pair up with one of our newcomers!
And then the theme was revealed! Since May is Mary's month and we were still in the Easter Season, our theme was the Glorious Mysteries of the Rosary. Five of the groups were to decorate their 10 cupcakes representing one each of the five mysteries: The Resurrection, The Ascension into Heaven, The Descent of the Holy Spirit, The Assumption of Mary into Heaven and The Coronation of Mary. The sixth team had the task of creating the Apostle's Creed bead, the three Hail Mary beads, the Hail, Holy Queen bead and the five Our Father beads.
The ladies went to work and were very, very creative. It was messy. There was frosting everywhere. And sprinkles everywhere. And cupcakes were consumed. And fingers might have been licked.
We also had a table set aside for our homeschool kids to decorate their own cupcakes. I was quite impressed that most of the kids didn't just frost and throw on sprinkles. There were some thoughtful decorations at that table as well.
When you assemble your cupcake rosary at the end of the program, you can choose to end with a group rosary.
Here is a picture of our completed Cupcake Rosary.
