Gingerbread bridges - the bridge who could hold the most weight before breaking won
Gingerbread towers - the tallest one won
Gingerbread catapolts - farthest throw won
Gingerbread race cars - fastest won
ect.
There are always a bunch of rules typed out a month or so before but the number one rule is and always have been, everything you use has to be edible. EVERYTHING. No glue, tape or anything else. If there is any question you have to eat it on the spot.
This year we did an egg drop. We made contraptions or protection covering for our egg and then dropped them at varying heights. The one that could be dropped at 16 feet (our tallest rung on the ladder) and the lightest contraption won. This was a great competition because in years past we have had time issues where now that we have little kids it is hard to find time to design and engineer and build your gingerbread entry which you usually had to leave a day or more to fully dry or cure for full function. For this competition we made our egg protectors right then and there and for the first year no one used gingerbread. Most the grandkids could make these too and so it was fun for all.
Here we are putting them together. We all brought a bunch of ingredient and it was a free for all. I had several nieces and nephew defect to my team. This is not because I am the best at these competitions. Actually contrary to what some of you are thinking I bring very little competitions to the table. Even though I am somewhat handy and build thing and am somewhat mechanically minded, I don't compare at all to more then half of my siblings. Those are not my talents in this family. As a nurse I can't compare to the mechanical engineers and computer geniuses that litter my family. Family members have been known to draw up plans in Cad for these things. Luckily everyone having kids has muted the playing field a little.
Most the entries. Marshmallows were really handy to have. Just sticking a bunch of marshmallows all over your egg and using a bit of fruit by the foot or won ton wrappers could get you to the 16 foot level......of course it wasn't the lightest.
You can't help but love the designs.
One of my many entries. This one was in Soren's name. What I lack in engineering I made up in sheer quantity. Lets face it, the funnest part of the whole event is dropping eggs from 16 feet up in the air and I got to do this a lot. This is an orange who's center is scooped out and the egg is placed inside with a marshmallow cork and some fruit by the foot tape to keep it all together. It survived it's first fall in which the orange partially split ruining the integrity of design. This wasn't our best one but the best picture. Soren took it well.
Everyone loved watching the eggs drop........except we did have a few nephews who got upset when their eggs broke. Not my boys. They were like, "awesome, destruction!" I had to grab a few eggs from their hands to prevent an "egg fight". Known potentials
I didn't get a pic of the winning design. It was by my brother Shem and it was truly awesome. He made a mold out of cardboard that had a cone with an inverted umbrella on it. Then he covered it with soft rice paper and let it dry. He put the egg inside with no padding. The thing gently floated down and the cone protected when it hit the floor. It was awesome. Upon impaction it broke part of the umbrella part making it lighter. So he re-weighed it and sent it down again. It survived 3 falls and came in at just over 3 oz of weight. His other design was also cool, sucessful but a bit heavier. It was a part of a baguet with the bread scrapped out and the egg placed. Then attached 2 semi circles of rice paper around the bread top at angles. The contraption twirled as it fell. Really cool to watch. My brother Corom made this awesome trophy that we will pass down every 2 years when we have the competition. My Dad was the one who started all of this and he would have really loved this year.
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