Project planning is a tricky thing when it comes to gingerbread projects, especially when you’re attempting techniques that you haven’t done before. It still can be done, you just have to remember to be as flexible as possible when planning your project.
Project planning is vitally important to the success of your gingerbread creation. There is nothing worse than being two days from the contest deadline and knowing you have at least a week’s worth of work yet to do! We’ve all been there….I’ve definitely pulled more than my share of all-nighters. Making a flexible plan with a lot of breathing room that works around your lifestyle will make competing more enjoyable for you and your family.
Making a Plan
On a sheet of paper, list all of the tasks you need to accomplish in order complete your project and the amount of time you think each task will take. It’s helpful to note how many hours you have each day to devote to gingerbread. That way, you are not arbitrarily stating 1 week for baking. If you know that it takes 30 min per sheet of gingerbread to bake and you have 10 sheets of gingerbread that is 300 minutes of baking (5 hours – not including set up time). Let’s say during the week, you only have 3 hours a night to devote to gingerbread. With that, we can figure it will take us 2 nights to bake 10 sheets of gingerbread.
When calculating the amount of time for each task, I always pad it by a couple of days. For instance, if I think I can bake everything in 2 days, I give myself 4 days. Although I’ve been building gingerbread for 20 years, things can and do go wrong. Padding the time needed really helps me stay on track with my overall schedule. Worst case scenario, I complete my project earlier than expected (awe, bummer!). Your To Do list and schedule can be as detailed as you need it to be. My example list is pretty basic:
| To Do | Approx. Time |
|---|---|
| Baseboard Prep | 2 days |
| Draw out Plans | 3 days |
| Put up foam core model | 5 days |
| Mold making (if applicable) | 1 week |
| Roll and Bake Gingerbread | 4 days |
| Construct Gingerbread (Level 1) | 1 week |
| Decorate (Level 1) | 1 week |
| Construct Gingerbread (Level 2) | 1 week |
| Decorate (Level 2) | 1 week |
| Attach roof | 1 day |
| Shingle roof | 2 days |
| Landscape | 1 week |
| Extra items (people, etc) | 1 week |
(The levels listed under construction and decoration in my example are the levels (stories) of the house. I’ve created projects where I divide it up in sections–it’s what makes sense to you)
- Grab a calendar (I use a Plum paper planner). Mark all family, friends and work obligations on the calendar up until the deadline.
- Find your contest deadline on the calendar – that’s your starting point, you’ll work backwards from there.
- Move up 2 weeks before the contest deadline. Mark this date as YOUR deadline for the completion of your gingerbread project.
- Begin blocking off dates starting from the bottom of your To Do list (in our example it would be “Extra Items”) and mark off the amount of time to do that item (in the example it would be 1 week) from YOUR completion deadline (in the example below we marked off 9-15 Sep)
- Work your way up through the calendar until you fill in the first item in your To Do list. This will give you your start date (in our example our start date is 2 July)
You can see that I inserted an extra day in between tasks. This is to add a little bit of breathing room just in case an extra day is needed. Scheduling tasks in this way gives you a life outside of gingerbread while still getting your project done. Each week, take some time out to review and make adjustments to your schedule as needed. This will help you stay on track.
The time needed to create a project differs with each project. One year, it could only take me 3 days to bake, another year, it could take me a week. The times I listed in my example are just that: an example! They are definitely not set in stone. In addition, if you are learning a new technique, you need to schedule “trial and error” time as well. Some people actually experiment with new techniques after the contest is over and before the next one begins. I’ve never been able to find the time to do that!