The Castle Keeper End-of-Year Party and Pie Auction for 2016

This year the preparation the day of the Castle Keepers party seemed rather harried but everything somehow got done and we had a good evening anyways! This is our 3rd end-of-the-year party and this year, after it was all over,  I made a note telling myself that my girls needed to make their pies the day before not the day of.  Trying to do it the day of the party is just too hectic when the party is being held at your own house!

All the CK girls make 2 pies. One for dessert after the meal, so people can sample the different pies that will be auctioned and the second pie is for the auction.

Audrey had finished her pies, chilled them and was to put some raspberries on top for decoration…but disaster struck. As she was holding her pie with one hand and messing with something else in the fridge, she dropped her raspberry pie on the floor… upside down. $15 of raspberries on the floor! It was too late to make another one even if we’d had the raspberries, so she only had the one pie which she sold at the auction.

Audrey gathered mint from the garden for mint tea.

The wind was a major problem this day. It is always hard to set up when there is wind and this day wasn’t any different. My hubby is designing a wind break for our pergola so that we can actually set up decorations without them blowing away. With so many other things he was trying to complete, he wasn’t able to get that done as well.

Finally it was time for the party.

As I mentioned in this post, we had a Greek meal of beef and chicken gyros, falafel salad, Greek salad, hummus and the tastiest appetizers that were made with small bits of tomato, olives and cheese with some oil drizzled on top.

We put all the CK girls at their own table.

This year we had 12 CK girls at the party and 4 of those were from out of state. It was so nice to have them join us!

The wind never did quit. Some even had their plates, along with their food, blow away!

This is my favorite photo of the evening. Our two auctioneers and one of the spotters.

I had the two auctioneers watch a few videos teaching  auctioneering tips. It really helped them and they did an excellent job.

The CK girls motto.

Pies waiting to be sampled.

We played the slide show giving a view of the meetings, monthly challenges and culinary challenges the girls did this past year in CK.

Here’s the slideshow if you haven’t seen it yet.

We have different award levels. These 9 girls completed every challenge (18 in all) and if they were local they had to attend every meeting with the exception of one but if they don’t live locally, we don’t count the meetings against them. (I hope that makes sense!)

All the CK girls are given a gift no matter their award level.

Then our pie auction began.

Here’s an example of how the wind was not cooperating with us that evening.

See that backdrop to the left of the auctioneer? It was like a living thing coming out to grab anyone who came near. lol

There were spotters that made sure the auctioneer knew there was a bid and would hold up their sign that said “bid”. It’s another way for the young boys to be involved. We call the boys Castle Defenders.

There’s that “living” backdrop again. 🙂

(spotters & auctioneers)

Audrey, getting ready to sell her pie.

We have some of the sweetest people come to our pie auction…

…and we appreciate each one that comes to support our girls.

It was an amazing night. We sold 12 pies and our club made over $2,100! Woo Hoo!

We are so excited and appreciative!