Have you ever watched Cheaper by the Dozen? The Gilbreth Dozen with mom Lillian and Dad Frank, or even The Baker’s Dozen with mom Kate and dad Tom?

Well the first of those movies was based on a book written by Ernestine Gilbreth Carey and Frank B. Gilbreth Jr. It was written about their family and more importantly the role their father played in their lives before his passing.

I've always been rather fascinated with The Gilbreth’s even more so in recent years. So I decided to make a challenge based on that same family, I’ve put it up here before playing it myself but now since my new laptop has arrived I can surely say that this challenge IS as much FUN as I thought it would be.


Enter CAS and make a couple any age will do but preferably Young Adults, you can name them anything as well I just used Lilly a Frank for the sake of the Story. One sim should have the following traits:
Workaholic,
Family Oriented (and or Nurturing)
Perfectionist
(Then two other traits)

The other sim should have these traits:
Family Oriented
Nurturing (Optional but desired)
Neat
(Plus two more)


Place your couple on a modest size lot that isn’t too small, and won’t completely drain your money. You can design however you wish, but you must have enough money to add have a LEAST the following rooms.
*Master Bedroom
*Nursery - Must be connected to Master Bedroom-
*and a Bathroom please?

The other rooms needed to survive (I.e Kitchen, Living room, Laundry) can be in an open flow or traditional depending on your preference. If you are playing with a Laundry room, it is preferred that you use a clothesline for the first bit of this for more of a challenge but of course if you have enough money you can always have both machines.

Now this is a pretty free thinking Challenge but a few rules must be taken to heart:

First: You must have at least one parent working at all times, and never switch jobs they’re in it for the long hall! You may never hire a butler, to care for the kids or clean the house however once you acquire enough funds you may hire a maid. You can NOT use money cheats for personal gain, HOWEVER if one of the kids is two days away from becoming a child and you need a room for them because the Nursery is overcrowded You can take out a LOAN for 2,000 dollars using cheats but this is considered a LOAN and you must pay back the bank once you make that money back.

(Pretty much use your own judgment on when it is necessary to take the LOAN, but you will need to pay that back later)

The idea of this Challenge is to have and Raise twelve kids from babies to teenagers, with all of them on Honor roll. You can only have two children at most below school age at a time, you may only have two set of twins throughout the entire challenge. (So no fertility perks/cheats till you get to 8 kids)

All children must be a part of extracurricular activities and all teens must attain a part time job as well!
Lastly and more importantly have fun!

All Twelve kids (maybe Eleven) must reach adulthood with all the accomplishments they could get... Everything they want in life must be fulfilled!

Tips I’ve used:
Putting the washing machine in the kitchen might just save you some money.
Always spend money on Fire and Burglary alarms; you DON’T gamble when protecting your family.
Depending on how hard you want to play, you can put the lifetime you want, I play on a custom setting but once you set it, you can’t change it to buy your adult more time.
Maybe create The Gilbreths or Bakers of course this would require a lot of Apples and Watermelons! XP

NEW Tips found in Gameplay
Once your toddler is a two days away from becoming a kid you can start trying for the next baby. I found this makes a nice progression...
THANKS YOU, AND HAVE FUN!

Funny, I had just thought of doing this the other day. I love that book.

That is funny, lol! I mean last time I put this up I didn't really have it as structured but since then I've played it and tossed around a few new ways to do it. Still can't say what lifespan would be the best to play it at, but i'm getting there.

I'm gonna get pics of my sample family, pretty soon just need one more pic of one of the kids.

I've started this challenge recently and it's pretty fun! I love big families in my Sims. Check out what I'm doing over here: http://cheaperbythedouzaine.wordpress.com

@cervix: I sow it, It's pretty funny! I love Byron, he's so funny!

What lifespan do you play on thanks

I actually had no idea there was another Cheaper by the Dozens, I think I knew the Baker one was based on a book though, interesting. I might try to do this challenge one day, it sounds interesting but I am trying to stick to one challenge atm, and that's the legacy one.

lol, great!

yea the Remake was based of the movie, and that movie was based on the book. Simply put that the Redo is of a "different" family, but it's the same idea.

Maybe next challenge; still remember reading the book at the branch library 40+ years ago

So I decided to try out your challenge, and so far so good

I chose the normal lifespan, and I'm playing Moonlight Falls.


Meet the Parkers

Linette and Drew Parker.
She's a witch and he's a werewolf. She has 42 days remaining as a YA and he has 55 (I hope supernatural creatures are not a problem?).


Linette Parker
Traits: Family Oriented, Nurturing, Neat, Insane & Proper
LTW: Surrounded by Family
Occult: Witch
Days remaining: 42


Drew Parker
Traits: Family Oriented, Workaholic, Perfectionist, Grumpy & Frugal
LTW: Leader of the Pack
Occult: Werewolf
Days remaining: 55

And this is their home

It's a 30x30 lot


They have to start somewhere I guess...


Floor plan




The finished product

After building the place and furnishing it (sparsely I must add) they still have $2699 left. They started off with $18 500 if I remember right.

Valpre1983: Looks GREAT!! can't wait to see more!

this is really cool i started this today but my game has been a bit slow so i haven't started much but i think it's a really good challenge idea.

Oh, I've been posting updates on my Tumblr, here are all the posts so far tagged for the challenge.

But here's a quick rundown of the kids from oldest to youngest:





1. Hayden-werewolf
2. Lowell-witch
3. Jupiter-witch
4. Neptune-witch
5. Saturn-werewolf

Yes, I know, corny names for the girls. But I love them.

Hayden just became a teenage, Lowell will age up to teen today (sim day) and baby # 6 is on the way.

Hayden and Lowell were both scouts, and Jupiter has taken up ballet, but now that Hayden is a teen he got a job at the bookstore. (I don't think teens can have a part time job and still do after school activity? Unless I'm missing something.) And all three older kids were on the honor roll throughout elementary school.

I'll post more pics of the teenage boys soon soon.



Oh and this is their home after the renovations. Drew, the father, had enough lifetime happiness points, so I got him the genie lamp and he wished for fortune, so they did up the house and this was the result.

awesome23: Aww damn, Hope you'll able to finish it...

Valpre1983: Aww so cute! I wounder if your turnout with six witches and six werewolves....

NEW TIP: Once your toddler is a two days away from becoming a kid you can start trying for the next baby. I found this makes a nice progression...

The Parker's family portrait. (Chad is the only odd one out with his blond hair. I wonder where it comes from???)


All the kids are now teens, Linette and Drew are now adults, and Linette's having a midlife crisis. The household has reached the maximum number of occupants, so I have to wait until the older teens age up to start working on the half dozen.

Don'tCryForMe, thanks for the tip!

Woohoo!

I'm almost at the end, but I'll only celebrate when the last 6 are YAs!



This has been so awesome, thanks for making this challenge

P.S. all my challenge progress has been documented on my Tumblr . Feel free to check it out.

Edit: I just realized now it's an even number of boys and girls, but on the supernatural side of it, it's 5 werewolves and seven witches!

@Valpre1983: OMG that's so great! I'm still on eight maybe nine i don't recall at the moment (school is a pain!).I don't know Tumblr that well so i've been trying to read that as often as I can. YOU DID A GREAT JOB! I'm glad you enjoyed the challenge.

p.s: When I created this I thought it would always be an even number someway or another, but sadly it dosn't always come out that way as I know with my family (Nine Boys! so far!)

You should post pics of your family. I'd love to see them.

Another family photo with everyone.

I might, been busy with school for a bit... but we got closed tomorrow cause of the hurricane so i might do that tomorrow.

bumb...

I just started this challenge and my couple just had their first children - twins on the first go (without fertility treatment) O.o

I started this challenge also. It seems rather fun.

I did post a couple of blog chapters here just because I like to make up a story as I go along. My favorite image is the grim reaper in the swimming pool.

I had no idea death could swim?

Anyways, the Potter family awaits!

@: Jazz403 and kittyt2: Glad you are enjoying the challenge...

*twitchy fingers* oh this looks like fun but must not start any more challenges (have 2 going with blogs...)