6th Annual Gingerbread House Building Party

Last weekend we hosted our 6th Annual Gingerbread House Building Party! It's known to be the best December event ever in some circles, not to brag or anything.

As usual, we built all kinds of different houses out of graham crackers and royal icing, and decorated them with candies, pretzels, cereal, coconut, and other fun stuff.

Christopher loves to test my patience with his creations, and a few years ago he tried to add a motor to his house so that the garage door would open and close and it ended up catching on fire. Because of the fire I decided to implement the only rule, NO ELECTRONICS!

 As you can see he figured I would forget about the one and only rule, and he broke out a motor again. Thankfully this time it didn't set his creation ablaze, but I still wasn't thrilled about it.

I love that everyone makes such unique houses. All different sizes, styles, and types of decorations.

This year we expanded the party to two tables and had five new participants. I love when my home is full of friends and family doing something fun and silly. December can be so busy and stressful, so I always hope that my party is a good time for people to drink and snack a little, enjoy each other's company, and create something cool.

This year I made a two story house and tried to make a steeply pitched roof, but it broke in half. So I tried to turn it into a shed roof. I used gummy life savers to make the wreathes on the doors and windows, pretzels and coconut to create my snowy walkway and lined the walkway with Twizzlers.

I added sugared fruit slices and green and white gumdrops to make bushes, and a Peeps snowman.

I have a tree made out of a sugar cone and green mike and ikes, topped with a red and white lifesaver and a white gobstopper.

My "shed" roof is covered in Necco wafers and dusted in coconut. It's not my best looking house, but it was just as fun to make as any other house!

Christopher built a windmill. The blades turn and everything. There is a snowman keeping watch out front next to a peppermint bush.

 The windmill has minimal decoration, just red hots on top and some cereal to make a roof, becasue he spent his time adding a motorized fan on the back. He couldn't follow the only rule. If he's not careful he's going to get himself uninvited. Which will be sad considering he lives at the party location.

Do you have any favorite holiday traditions? I love my Gingerbread House party and look forward to it every year, I've even considered moving so I can accommodate more people. Does that make me crazy?