"Eggs"-treme Easter Sports

The challenge:

Drop a raw egg from the second-story deck onto the grass or pavement, without sustaining breakage.




The contestants:

My father
His egg was suspended from a helium-filled balloon in an adorable little crate that he fashioned by hand. Always the engineer, he filled his crate with expanding foam, leaving a perfectly-formed "nest" for his egg in the center. Nice work, Dad!

My mother
A creative mastermind. This little springtime baby was gently cradled in a flower-wreathed basket, and hung from a sunny beach ball. (Which, incidentally, was not filled with helium.) Lovely job, Mom!



My husband
Claiming to have modeled his creation after NASA's landing package for their Mars rovers, he surrounded his egg with balloons. Very effective approach. Impressive work, honey!



My mother-in-law
As a woman who loves the children in her life to the ends of the earth and beyond, it was only fitting that she chose to cushion her egg within an Elmo bath sponge. In my opinion, Elmo should have taken a dive off a two-story deck ages ago. Fabulous idea, Mom!



My father-in-law
Toilet paper, duct tape, and a Harley-Davidson ("Egg"-idson, in this case) parachute...what else could a guy possibly need?! An egg drop package that doubles as a wilderness survival kit! Nicely done!



Myself
I decided to drop my egg in royal style. There's no sense meeting your death in anything less than your best, after all. Long live the queen!



My oldest daughter
She hid herself in the basement while at work, to carefully conceal her design until the appointed drop time. My only rule was that the children had to enclose their eggs within sealed plastic baggies before packaging them. (I wasn't born yesterday!) This child chose to surround her egg with socks and bubble wrap, place it within this lovely Christmas tin, and seal it all with duct tape. Very resourceful!



My son
He knew exactly how he wanted to package his egg as soon as the challenge was issued. Daddy helped a little with the parachute construction (garbage bag + needlework hoop). Ingenious design!




My middle daughter
She decided to cushion her egg within her beloved pillow pet, Bella. Bella was then placed carefully within a Target bag to avoid losing her grip on her precious cargo while in flight. Well-planned, babe!



My youngest daughter
She took one look at her fluffy Santa slippers, and just knew that they would work perfectly. A jolly package!



My grandma
She chose to place her tender charge within a cloud of stuffing. Pretty and functional - nicely done!



My hubby's grandma
Bubble wrap. The time-tested standard for effective padding. I love how this egg also seemed to be diving for a cause. Very thoughtful!



My uncle
He wrapped his egg in netting from a "cuties" crate, and attached it to a parachute cut from a plastic shopping bag. Boy Scout worthy! (He wasn't completely convinced of the effectiveness of the parachute, so he brought along an egg wrapped in bubble-wrap as a back-up.)



My cousin
If it's good enough for UPS, it's good enough for him. His egg was carefully contained within a box full of styrofoam packaging peanuts. A solid plan, Ace!



The time for the competition finally arrived.

Bring. it. ON!!

The contestants took their places along the railing, and sent their charges plunging off the edge.

We quickly sustained our first casualty. The spring baby was violently jolted from her basket upon impact, and met her untimely demise on the pavement.



Tucker became the self-appointed clean-up crew.



When he wasn't licking up raw egg, Tucker entertained himself by playing fetch in the barely-above-freezing lake...for hours. Crazy mongrel. And I feel the need to add that traveling home inside a truck with a lake-soaked dog really stinks. Literally.



Many of our eggs made it safely to the ground, but the clear winner (based on design, function, and all-around risk-taking) was my uncle. His previously untested parachute opened with a perfect "phloof", and with gentle grace, floated his fragile egg down for a 10-point grass landing. We all stood in awe of his egg-dropping prowess, and he was promptly awarded the coveted golden egg.


Great fun was had by all! And next year, we've decided to raise the standard: everyone's egg must be visible. All of us that chose to bury our eggs within 3 feet of padding are going to have to re-think our strategy for next year! I'm thinking on how I could work out some sort of glider system...