Hosting the Family Bake-Off

I married into a very competitive family.  I had heard tales of family rifts, dating back 20 years, based on summer beach vacation monopoly games.  I took the stories with a grain of salt, assumed they were embellished for affect.  Nope!  These folks are serious about competing!

I first realized the extent of the competitive spirit when I incorporated a plastic egg hunt into one of our gatherings.  We had a group of 20-somethings, some with small children, practically throwing each other to the ground trying to snag the most plastic eggs.  These folks were very serious!

Our original trophy was a loaf of stale French Bread that I
sprayed with clear coat and gold spray paint  It was intended
to be a traveling trophy, moving from winner-to-winner over
the years.  Unfortunately, in my possession, the night before
our 2nd annual event.  So it has been replaced. 

Each year I have enjoyed hosting various-themed events, and I always incorporate some sort of point system into the day.  The events culminate in a family member being declared a winner, and a prize is awarded.  Around the 2010 mark we continued to talk about having a Chopped-style competition, which we have not managed to do yet.  But that lead me to begin the family tradition of an annual Bake-off.

Each event has a very specific theme, and rules that govern the types of ingredients that can be used.  Our family has a diverse background, and baking can mean so many things to so many people.  In order to ensure we are competing on a level playing field, a theme and ingredient category was necessary.

Scoring the entries has been a work-in-progress.  Our first bake-off featured a score sheet where judges would rate each entry in a series of categories, and then the ratings were averaged for a score. It was incredibly time-consuming and a bit confusing to some, so it was scrapped!

Our most recent event featured a simple voting method, giving ballots to the judges and letting them write in one selection.  It was not without controversy, but in a competitive family there is not much that is without controversy.

My goal is to secure outside sources to judge these events.  It has been difficult to do for two reasons:
1. Our event is usually held the Saturday after Thanksgiving, and people are typically booked that weekend.
2. Finding a completely impartial judge that would not be overwhelmed by the craziness that is our family has proven difficult.

I will be writing more about each of our past events, and sharing tidbits about the upcoming 2016 event.