Chili Cook Off Fundraiser

1st, 2nd, & 3rd place chili prizes

   Our/my first chili cook off fundraiser was Saturday the 10th.  Can I just tell you?......"It was so much fun!"  I had been wanting to try something a little different, something a little more fun than the usual Great Strides kickoff. 
   For planning this event, I got most of my ideas from Chica and Jo.  Whoever Chica and Jo are, they really know there stuff when it comes to hosting a chili cook off!  I only used a few of their ideas/resources and I thought my chili cook off was a success.  I had several guests comment on some of the printables from the Chica and Jo site. 
   We had right at 20 guests.  I charged $10 to enter chili and $5 to eat.  We had 8 chili's plus mine (I didn't enter the contest).  I rounded up 3 guests that didn't enter chili to be the judges.  We used voting ballots from Chica and Jo, gave each vote a number value, and then totaled it all. 
   I also had a "CF" related contest.  It was guess how many pills are in the bottle.  I also had a picture frame set out with a pic of Rachel and wrote a little about CF and Rachel. 
   I really loved the chili cook off.  I didn't have to spend so much on food, it was fun, it raised money & awareness for CF and did I mention it was fun!  Oh, and speaking of raising money...drum roll....for a small chili cook off of 20 guests.......we raised $240!  Many of the guests donated more than the $5 or $10.  Not too shabby if you ask me.  I think it sure beats the usual kickoff event.....the one that I have to fix all the food/drinks and we don't raise any money.   You better believe I'll be doing this again next year!

I dont' know where my head was, but I failed to get good pics.

I had a cute display inside on the island with cornbread, butter

chili fixin's, hot dogs wrapped up cute, hot dog condiments, and corn chips.

one of chili tables

one of the chili tables

guests hangin' outside

my gal pals hangin' out in the kitchen.....
where the dessert is - yea, we're the smart ones!

Rach and some friends

my same pals....I'm just in there this time
you can sort of see the food station/display

of course you know she's still gotta get that
chest therapy done....but in true Rachel fashion!