Replicas of Beaver Stadium, the Theta Delta Chi fraternity house and a clock tower were all competing for the same prize last night--the prize for best gingerbread house at Thursday's reindeer games.
Last year, Bree Shaw decided she wanted to create an event to support her sorority, Sigma Kappa's philanthropy, the National Alzheimer's Organization -- and the result was a night of "reindeer games."
In conjunction with Theta Delta Chi, Sigma Kappa kicked off its reindeer games Thursday night where teams of five competed in a variety of holiday themed games.
Also as part of the event, on Wednesday night the fraternity and sorority duo also hosted children from the Youth Service Bureau to enjoy holiday festivities.
Philanthropy chairwoman Shaw (junior-film and video) said the event gave participants the chance to relax and take a break from studying -- offering them the opportunity to compete in a cookie-eating contest, gingerbread
house-building contest, holiday trivia and a holiday-themed relay race.
In order to participate each team had to pay $50, which will go to the National Alzheimer's Organization. Shaw said last year they raised $700, and she hopes they will raise even more this year.
Theta Delta Chi philanthropy chairman Mike Tombasco (sophomore-finance and economics) said he wanted to do something different from the other fraternities who had planned fall events and get the reindeer games as close to Christmas as possible.
Shaw said she loved watching participants building the gingerbread houses
"Everyone gets messy with their fingers in frosting," she said. "It's always a close race."
Kate Fendya (sophomore-biology) was most excited for the gingerbread house-building contest, so that's what she rushed to first.
She said she was convinced the "White House" Beaver Stadium gingerbread house her team worked on was the best. Among sticky fingers and falling down graham cracker walls, she said she had a great time building it.
"We didn't know how to keep the walls up, in the end we used gumdrops and icing," Fendya said.
In a separate corner of the room was the cookie-eating contest. While Wes Rutherford (freshman-finance) came out to have a good time, he didn't expect to end up eating 15 cookies as fast as he could.
"Fifteen cookies on a plate look a lot smaller before you start eating them," Rutherford said.
In a separate room was the relay race, which consisted of the teams unwrapping presents with only one arm -- legs could also be used -- lighting a Chanukah
menorah, picking candy canes up off the floor and completing crossword puzzles.
Many teams also participated in holiday trivia, which covered everything from song lyrics to Chanukah traditions.
For some participants, the games were a team building activity.
The holiday spirit made Alan Liao (senior-finance) feel like it was time for the holidays and not for finals. He added that
it got him in the mood for the holidays and really made him feel like home.
Tombasco said the event fostered togetherness among friends and the community.
"It was a great opportunity to see everyone have fun and see the Greek community come
together," said Tombasco.
