PLANO, Texas, Nov. 26, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- One family's invention idea could be another family's long-awaited solution to a problem they face every day. After all, there's no one you can relate to more than another family who understands the daily challenges that you must routinely overcome. That's what Frito-Lay Variety Packs, one of the flagship brands from PepsiCo's Frito-Lay division, sought out to do earlier this year with its Dreamvention contest—inspire families across America to dream big and submit an idea to solve an everyday problem. Thousands of creative and practical inventions were submitted by families nationwide, but only five families' inventions rose to the top. Today, those five finalists begin their competition to win America's votes and the grand prize of $250,000.

After being selected as finalists, the families had the opportunity to see their dream inventions come to life. Cobie Smulders, "Dreamvention" spokesperson and a mom of two herself, joined the families in seeing their ideas transformed into official prototypes by MAKO Designs + Invent, a full-service consumer product development firm. Their inventions, along with additional information on the families and their inspiration for their invention, are now available for you to vote on at MyDreamvention.com through January 6, 2019. In early 2019, one lucky winner will be chosen and will take home the $250,000 grand prize.

"We know that every family has their own creative idea that can solve real-life problems that many other families face in their daily lives, but they don't have an outlet to bring that idea to life," said Rhasheda Boyd, director of marketing, Frito-Lay North America. "We're so excited that five finalist families can now say they're one step closer to seeing their dreams come true by participating in the Dreamvention contest. There were so many creative and unique submissions, and we can't wait to see who America crowns as this year's winning Dreamvention."

About the Finalists + Their Dreamventions
In Dreamvention's second year, families were asked to dream up an invention that solves an everyday problem and submit their drawing or picture with a description to MyDreamvention.com. The five finalists and their creative Dreamventions are (in order of submitter's last name):

"Kid Safe Switch"

Dreamvention: Kid Safe Switch
Family: Jill Crandall White, Joseph White, Audrey White (age 7) and Mia White (age 5)
Hometown: Southington, Connecticut

Breakfast is the most important meal of the day in the White household, but having two young girls so close to the hot stove made mom Jill a little nervous. Together Jill, Audrey and Mia came up with the idea for Kid Safe Switch, a sensor that when attached to the stove or oven can sense when someone is too close and sound an alert. The invention allows everyone to have fun in the kitchen while mom stays worry free. By participating in Dreamvention, Mom and Dad feel like this has encouraged their girls to think in a new way, try new things and keep raising their hands in class.

"Sole Riders"

Dreamvention: Sole Riders
Family: Jennifer Copland, Evan Maxwell Frye (age 18) and Parker Frye (age 14)
Hometown: South Lyon, Michigan

Like most kids, 14-year-old Parker Frye was tired of walking the half mile to and from the bus stop every day in his rural Michigan town. To solve this problem, without taking up too much space in his backpack, he quickly came up with the Sole Riders, a specially designed shoe that comes with buckle-on attachments to speed up his daily walk. The whole family pitched in to create the design. Mom, Jennifer added ideas for attachments like a mop, to help keep the house clean, and Parker's big brother Evan helped with the design and graphics for the online Dreamvention submission.

"Glow the Way"

Dreamvention: Glow the Way
Family: Miatta Kamanda (age 18), Alice Kamanda, Michael Kamanda, Maada Kamanda (age 9)
Hometown: Fayetteville, Georgia

Finding your way around the house in the middle of the night isn't the easiest in the dark. Eighteen-year old Miatta Kamanda knew there must be a better way to finding your way in the dark than having to face the harshness of turning a light on. That's when Glow the Way was born, featuring a series of circular, LED-powered lights that turn on at night and can stick on floors or walls. Glow the Way lights up your path to the restroom or another bedroom. As a soon-to-be college student studying business, Miatta couldn't be more excited to see this life-long dream of hers potentially come true.

"Sleepy Heads"

Dreamvention: Sleepy Heads
Family: Mia Marinkovic and Evitt Smitt (age 10)
Hometown: Springfield, Illinois

You're searching through your room and all over the house for your glasses and inevitably, "crunch;" you end up stepping on them. Ten-year-old Evitt is familiar with this problem, and after breaking or losing several pairs of glasses, he and his mom came up with a solution. Sleepy Heads, designed to keep your glasses safe while you sleep, can be used freestanding or attached to a headboard. Evitt has always liked to problem solve and think of new and exciting ways to do things, which is why the mother-son duo is excited to see their invention potentially become a reality.

"Robotic Toy Bin"

Dreamvention: Robotic Toy Bin
Inventor: Jacqueline Wilson, Jeffrey Wilson, Charles Wilson (age 2) and Maximus Wilson (age 3 months)
Hometown: Troy, Alabama

Playing with your kids is all fun and games until it's clean up time. As a stay-at-home mom, Jacqueline was constantly walking around picking up toys and putting them back where they belong. Often while cleaning up, she thought about how great it would be if she had something to collect all the small toys for her. Jacqueline's background in engineering and passion for inventing led to the ideation of the Robotic Toy Bin: a gentle, vacuum-like tool that would automate the clean-up of small toys like building blocks, cars and balls.

How to Vote

Voting is open from now until January 6 at MyDreamvention.com or through digital display ads. People can vote once a day per platform per browser per device. Once registered, those who place a vote will also be eligible for a chance to win $1,000. The winner will be announced in early 2019.

For high-res images, broadcast-quality b-roll and other press materials about Dreamvention, please visit www.magicbulletmedia.com/MNR/DreamventionFamilies.

About Frito-Lay Variety Packs
Frito-Lay Variety Packs is one of many Frito-Lay North America brands – the $15 billion convenient foods division of PepsiCo, Inc. (Nasdaq: PEP), which is headquartered in Purchase, NY. Learn more about Frito-Lay at the corporate website, http://www.fritolay.com, the Snack Chat blog, http://www.snacks.com and on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/fritolay. Frito-Lay Variety Packs features pre-portioned single servings that can be taken with you wherever you go. Variety Packs include everyone's favorite Frito-Lay snacks, including: Cheetos cheese flavored snacks, Doritos tortilla chips, Fritos corn snacks, Funyuns onion flavored rings, Lay's potato chips, Rold Gold pretzels, Smartfood popcorn, and SunChips multigrain snacks.

About PepsiCo
PepsiCo products are enjoyed by consumers more than one billion times a day in more than 200 countries and territories around the world. PepsiCo generated more than $63 billion in net revenue in 2017, driven by a complementary food and beverage portfolio that includes Frito-Lay, Gatorade, Pepsi-Cola, Quaker and Tropicana. PepsiCo's product portfolio includes a wide range of enjoyable foods and beverages, including 22 brands that generate more than $1 billion each in estimated annual retail sales.

At the heart of PepsiCo is Performance with Purpose – our fundamental belief that the success of our company is inextricably linked to the sustainability of the world around us. We believe that continuously improving the products we sell, operating responsibly to protect our planet and empowering people around the world enable PepsiCo to run a successful global company that creates long-term value for society and our shareholders. For more information, visit www.pepsico.com.  

SOURCE Frito-Lay North America