Every year our local band, of which my youngest is a member, holds an invitational, meaning a number of bands come for a competition. There are always plenty of opportunities to volunteer, from guides to concessions to hospitality. My favorite place to volunteer is with hospitality.
This area is in charge of providing food for the judges and other staff. It has always been a fun group of people to be around. We all come together to chop vegetables, make pasta and salads, and turkey. Many of the band parents donate the food and supplies.
I always like to take a dessert as part of my donation. It will be the same again this year. I wasn’t quite sure what to take. A cake. A pie. Another pavlova.
In the end, due to time and commitments, I decided to make brownie bites and cupcakes. The brownie bites are going to be just that, brownie bites. However, the cupcakes, the cupcakes are going to be a little fancier.
Earlier this week I did a trial run. I made some plain vanilla cupcakes. Then I filled them with some homemade blackberry jelly and topped them with chocolate icing. I made some mini ones to take to work. Thankfully they got some good reviews.
For the invitational, I’m making yellow cupcakes (the batter was delicious, with a blessing from a neighbor who was here and had a taste from the beater). They will be filled with one of my homemade jellies, but haven’t decided which yet, and topped with piped chocolate buttercream icing.
Helping in hospitality is a lot of work. But also a lot of fun. Who knows, I may still volunteer next year, even though I won’t have any band students. All for a good cause, right?
Personal Reflections of a Middle-Aged Man 