Thursday, March 3, 2011

Pinewood Derby 2011 Recap

Here are the lovely ladies that helped with our concession stand at the Pinewood Derby this year.  I was in charge of the stand, creating, staffing, and filling it with goodies.  I did a lot of the same things as last year, and a few new things as well.  I used my quilting frame on top of the table to set up the canopy again.  Last year I just draped it with sheets, but I wanted to take it one step further this time.  I made the red and white striped canopy from a queen sized sheet and 2yds of red fabric.  The canopy ended up just big enough to cover the quilting frame when set up for a king sized quilt.  The whole thing was a little short last year, so since my quilting frame is the kind with legs made from PVC pipe, I bought 2 foot extension pieces from Home Depot and made the whole thing a little taller.  Madison really appreciated this since she has grown two feet over the last year too :0)  Next year, assuming they want the concession stand again, I will cut the two front legs down a foot so there is a slope from the back to the front.  Also, I wanted to scallop the canopy but ran out of time.  I hope to have that done for next year as well.   


I tried to think up treats and snacks that could resemble car parts.    I tried to keep the home-made things to a minimum since I have been so short on time, and while we are being truthful, to save on cost :0)

Here are some of the things we had at the stand:
Popcorn-we had donated from a local theater
Traffic Lights-Stop and Go cupcakes
Grease Swabs- Marshmallow pops
Axel Rods- Pretzel Rods
Engine Heaters- Cinnamon Disks
Gaskets- Pringles
Oreos-Spare Tires
Steering Wheels- Those puffy Mexican chip thingies-bought at Food City
Traffic Cones-Bugles
Ball Bearings-Rootbeer Barrels
Running Boards-Sugar Wafers
Turbo Flames-Flamen' Hot Twist Chips 

I made the place cards with the same design as the pit passes.
We started our races at 6:30, but waited until 7:00 for the concession stand to open.  We had all the kids (big and small) line up behind the stand and handed everyone 3 tickets (bought at walmart).  The popcorn was free, everything else had a serving size based on how much of it we had.  We also added NACHOS!!!  I was really excited about that!  I was told if we had nachos, we had to have jalapenos, so of course, we delivered!

We had quite the crowd, but the girls really kept up :0)
We took a pile of food for the racers over to them so they would stay in their area and not come up MIA when it was their turn to race.   Speaking of the racers, here is the layout we used...

Parents on one side of the track.  We get the traffic cones from the local city streets department every year.
The flag banner on the cones works great to keep other little kids off the track during the race.  The pennant banner was made by a parent in another unit.  I made one out of fabric but didn't have the heart to take this one down when I saw it :0)

We put a projector up on the stage with our score keepers so the families can see the running totals.  Our pit crew consisted of three adults with lists of the races rounding up boys to keep things moving quickly.  
Mr. Sew*CakeMaker called out names, one den leader would shuffle to the cars, another would have them move to the holding site ready and waiting to move into position for the next race.  We would get them out of their seat and into the process something like 3 races before their turn.  You would be amazed how many rounds you can get through when you get organized like this!
Racers are located on the other side of the track in the "Pit", thus the need for the...
Pit Passes!  I made the staff passes too and laminated the whole lot on my new laminator.  I ended up buying that one from walmart, Scotch brand for $25.  The lamination was $3 for 20.  I figured it would be cheaper to buy the thing than to pay what Office ---- was charging :0)  Now I am ready for next year!

Down at the end of the track we have the judges in their own partitioned-off seats for their own safety :0)
You know the derby can get rather intense!

The cars are kept in the roped-off area, picked up at the beginning of a race, dropped back off at the end, to minimize mishaps and disappearances :0)

Eli didn't win as many races this year as last, but he sure had a blast.  I love that with all the stress over building the perfect car, I didn't see one single boy crying over a lost race!  
They were just having a great time and enjoying them moment.

This photo has nothing to do with the derby, other than the fact that Emmalee also thought it was the best party EVER!  I just can't get over how clear a picture I get with my new camera.  Scott got a new built a new computer with his portion of the tax return money.  I joke with him that it is like a new girlfriend for him.  Now that I have my camera, I call him Nikoli (Nikon), he gives me a hard time.  
Sometimes I share, other times...Not :0)  

As requested!!!  Files for download available HERE with Dropbox!

Also check out my Black version made in 2012 HERE!

Download any or all, then have printed up like a photo from your favorite photo center.  You can write on them with ball point pen or permanent sharpie, or use photo editing software to write and add pictures.  Please let me know if you have any questions!!!
vanessa.cam5@gmail.com

26 comments:

  1. Hi there! My name is Billie. I have been checking in on your blog for a few months now. Can I just say... you are an amazing woman!! I don't know how you accomplish all that you seem to do in a day. You are uber talented! Just wanted to let you know. Have a great day.

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  2. WOW!!! Looks great, where did you find the race flags, etc. I tried to find some for my son's birthday party but couldn't find them. I live in Phoenix too....I think you are quite the talented woman! I enjoy seeing all your ideas, thanks for sharing.

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  3. Vanessa, any other ideas for the concession table food...like for grapes? Also, how did you portion out the food using the tickets??/

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    Replies
    1. OK, so if you are the healthy type, I suppose you could make the grapes or other berries the ball bearings. I asked my family to brainstorm {our derby is in a couple weeks so we needed to anyway} Here are a couple car things we came up with...

      Steering wheels, windshield wipers, replacement headlights, Axle Rod, Spare Tires, Traffic cones, Lug Nuts, Car Jacks, Grease swabs, nuts and bolts, Brake lights, Gear shifts, nuts and bolts, gaskets, floor mats, running boards, turbo fuel, Tail Pipe, License Plates, Antennae, Brake pads, Rotors, Struts, Shocks

      I just take whatever I want to serve and plug them in to those supplies. You can be as far off in comparison as you want. The kids still eat it up. Here are a few that crossed my mind:

      Steering wheels-anything round, cookies, crackers, chips, cucumber slices, even pretzels {I bought those mexican pinwheel snacks from Food City}

      windshield wipers,Axle Rods,Car Jacks,Gear shifts, Antennae, Struts, Shocks, Tail Pipe-you can have your carrot sticks, celery sticks, pretzel rods, even string cheese, licorice, pixie sticks, candy canes, etc.

      replacement headlights, Spare Tires, Lug Nuts, nuts and bolts, brake lights, Rotors-anything round, like your grapes, pretzel nuggets, M&M's, jaw breakers, whoppers, etc.

      Traffic cones-I used bugles chips {only place I found them was at the dollar store}

      Grease swabs-Marshmallows on a stick dipped in chocolate

      gaskets, floor mats, running boards, license plates, brake pads-flat things, either square-ish or round depending on what it is. You could use cheese slices, chips again. Pringles come to mind for gaskets, but my hubby suggested lifesavers. The running boards could be sugar wafer cookies, etc.

      turbo fuel-used red hot candy discs.

      I had the girls hand out three tickets to each person sitting in our crowd that wanted them. The girls were instructed on how many of each item to hand out, like two fake Oreo cookies, one spoon full of this candy, one small handful of those chips, one pretzel rod, one grease swab, etc. We also had nachos and that was one ticket. We had movie popcorn the theater gave us for free. We just gave that to everyone, no ticket needed. The only reason we did the tickets was to make sure the kids only got their fair share until everyone who wanted food was able to get some. We also filled up trays of food for our racers so they didn't leave the racer area and slow things down. For the scouts, we didn't hand out tickets, just let them have at it and kept re-filling their drinks and snacks.

      It all just worked out. We had plenty of choices and enough of each thing that we didn't really run out of anything. We did go through the entire no.10 can of nacho cheese :0) I really didn't think we would do that!

      I am not sure if I answered all your questions so please let me know if there is something I need to make more clear. Thank you for your interest!

      Vanessa
      The Sew*er, The Caker, The CopyCat Maker

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  4. OOOOH please please tell me you'll share your pit pass file with me so I don't have to create something QUITE inferior as these are FANTASTIC!!!!

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    Replies
    1. There you go! I added the files to the bottom of the post. Let me know if you have any questions :0)

      Vanessa

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  5. I LOVE your pit pass. Do you mind sharing your pit pass file to pass on to our Cubmaster?

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    Replies
    1. 100% no problem! YOu can email me directly and I will send it to you, or click on the word "pitpass" at the bottom of my post to download.

      Good luck!!!!

      Vanessa
      The Sew*er, The Caker, The CopyCat Maker
      Vanessa.cam5@gmail.com

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  6. Vanessa - are you a cub scout leader or were you just asked to do stuff for the pinewood derby? I absolutely LOVE your pinewood derby idea and I hope to incorporate it in ours next year. Could you please email me: camille_c_lowe@yahoo.com I am a fairly new den leader in cub scouts and I have been finding such wonderful resources online (your blog included).

    - Camille

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    Replies
    1. Camille, I emailed you my info. Lets chat! I bet I can tell you some of the things we found out the hard way so your night is a total success!
      Vanessa

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  7. Thanks for the files Vanessa! These rock!!

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  8. Vanessa,

    Thanks for posting the downloads!!! I'm counting down until our derby next week and love that you made the pit passes without a date. I've been toying with the idea of keeping the passes from year to year and then awarding them their own when it is their last derby. This might save on money too. However, just in case I get ambitious, did I see that you did some different pit passes, frames and food tents for this year??? Did you post the downloads for those as well, and without a date? I love the frames. I sent the downloads to Iphoto and to Word. In Word I had to resize them because they copied huge. Now I can adjust them to whatever size if I want to use them in my scrapbook too! I'm going to keep a notebook of what works and doesn't for our derby, to be passed down when I'm released. Thanks for sharing. You are the best!!

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  9. By the way, thanks for the food helps. We are using hot dogs in the crockpot and calling them pistons. That sounded good to me per my husband's suggestions. We have a lot of sweets planned so I like the idea of cucumber slices for steering wheels. I wish I could just pocket you and your creative brain. You help to make this calling more fun for me which means the boys are loving it.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You are TOO NICE ;0) I did make a new version for this year. Just shoot me an email of you would like the downloads. You can find the post here:

      http://sewcakemake.blogspot.com/2012/03/new-pinewood-derby-pit-passes.html

      I can email the files, but be aware that the tent cards are written on this year. There are like 30 :0)

      Good luck next week!
      Vanessa

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  10. You are sooo amazing!!! Thanks for sharing your amazing talent with me. I am wanting to use your pit pass and I have the Adobe Photoshop Elements 10 that I just bought but don't know how to insert the pictures so the background is the pit pass background. Can you help me?
    dnofieldservices@yahoo.com

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  11. Hi! I just found your blog, and I'm hoping to yoink your ideas for our up-coming Pinewood Derby! I had just one small question for you... How did you get the boys' pictures on the pit passes? I've only got Iphoto and Pages (just like Word but on a Mac), and either I'm clueless as to how to use them (the most likely possibility!) or I need a different program. I'd like to send them to walmart, like you suggested, to print them... If it's easier to reply via email, my address is JenBeckstrand@gmail.com. Super cute ideas! Thanks for sharing!

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    Replies
    1. I use Creative Memories program StoryBook Creator. It isn't too expensive {under $100}. You can download it here:

      http://www.creativememories.com/Content/Shop/FreeStorybookCreatorSoftware4.aspx

      There is a 30 day free trial so if you wanted to use it for this and then not get it, you totally could. I think you can use photoshop elements too. After that, I am sure there are free programs online, but I couldn't say what they are. Let me know if you decide to do the Storybook and have questions! I TOTALLY love it and would recommend it to anyone {it has taken me a while to learn how to use it to its deeper abilities, but I am sure I still don't know everything this awesome program can do}

      Vanessa
      p.s.or you can email the pics to me and I can get them on there for you. If you want to go that way then email me directly at vanessa.cam5@gmail.com

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    2. Wow, really?? THANK YOU!! I'll look into options, then if I completely lose my mind trying to figure everything out, I'll definitely email you! We've only got a handful of boys, so if it comes to that, hopefully it won't be too bad!

      Thank you SO much!!

      Jen

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  12. Vanessa my friend, how we miss you here in Arizona. I am so glad you are still busy being creative, so I can copy YOU! We're back again for this new derby set this year, because, of course last year was such a HIT. Hope you guys are doing great and not too cold.

    Come visit!

    Cari

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    Replies
    1. Cari, it is so fun to hear from you! I am glad you find all my crazy stuff useful :0) I will be making a new set this year too, so be sure to check back in a week or so. I am thinking of going more "drivers licensy" this year and can't wait to get started! Good luck on all your scouting adventures this year!!!

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  13. Where are the downloads posted?? These ideas are AWESOME and ours is in 2 weeks! eek...help!
    bryanandshauna@gmail.com

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    Replies
    1. Hello. So glad you found me before it was too late! Here is a link to the 2011 version:

      https://www.dropbox.com/sh/ogcc80d2fykhab7/LooVK6hf72

      And here is a link to my whole cub folder:

      https://www.dropbox.com/sh/gap56w3ly7hpt9c/8zp4CznUes

      In there you will find the 2012, 13, and 2014 versions of the derby as well. Also the blue and gold printables and Cub Scout law stuff.

      Let me know if you have any questions!

      --
      Vanessa

      The Sew*er, The Caker, The CopyCat Maker at

      http://sewcakemake.com

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  14. How did you attach your canopy to the table? We're going to make a canopy, but we don't want anyone accidentally knocking it off! Thank you!

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    Replies
    1. Well, I used my quilt frame ;0} Sounds crazy, but it totally worked. I just put it on the tables. You could duct tape it down if you wanted to, but we didn't have any issues with it falling down. The second year I pinned the back to the wall so it was taller in the back, then had the front on the quilt frame.

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  15. We have a combined group of about 30 scouts and are struggling with how to really make everything work smoothly and fast. You seem to be a clear minded thinker with great ideas. If you have a minute and might be able to help me out, I could email you more detailed issues.
    milkmilkmilk21@hotmail.com
    Camille Duckworth

    ReplyDelete
  16. A HUGE thank you for sharing these great downloads! This has been a great help to make our Pinewood Derby a great one.

    ReplyDelete

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