I have hosted an annual Gingerbread House Building Party every December since we moved into our house in 2012. This year was our seventh annual party and the largest to date. In 2012 it was a small ladies only party with just seven people, this year we had to rearrange two entire rooms of our house to make space to host 18 people. I joke about needing to move to a bigger house so we can invite more people every year and this year we found out that 18 is definitely the maximum number of house builders we can jam into this current house. Check back later this year to see if we've moved to accommodate a larger gingerbread house party. 

Step one to hosting an excellent gingerbread house building party is swapping your living room and dining room furniture so you can add 3 folding tables and about half a million folding chairs. Cute decorations and party supplies are also a nice touch.

This was the spread, we had two 6' tables, our dining room table and another smaller IKEA craft table all end to end covered in classy AF plastic table cloths. Not pictured here are the folding chairs that my parents supplied. Thanks mom and dad for owning the long tables and 2 dozen folding chairs, you're the best.

Next, set ever place with a cake board. I mix round and square cake boards because round are way cheaper but square are easier to use, I also find mixing things whimsical. On top of the cake board I give each house builder two sleeves of plain graham crackers and a frosting bag of royal icing.

I sprinkle candy all over the table and fill bowls with candy and people bring candy and there is so much candy you could give a dentist a cavity just from looking at the stuff. Also how cool are these candy rocks? They were from amazon and one of my friends that ended up being out of town bought them for me even though she couldn't be here.

I don't have pictures of this next step so enjoy some photos of people building their houses.

Feed and water the house builders. I usually make a couple of dips and maybe some sliders, put out an easy fruit and veggie tray and some cheese so your friends don't get hungry. And of course feed them some booze, it is the season of drinking. This year I made

Alton Brown's Aged Eggnog

and a copycat

Carrabba's Blackberry Sangria

, a few other people brought some drinks, and of course I had water and some non alcoholic apple cider for those not enjoying the adult beverages.

Look at that beautiful mess. People crafting away with graham crackers, royal icing, candy, and a dream.

Some people are more skilled than others, but we welcome all skill levels to our party.

 And here are the finished products. My favorite part is that everyone builds something different, and decorates differently, and each graham cracker creation is unique.

Also Chris is interested in being in EVERY photo. If you'd like to have him photobomb your family photos, leave a note in the comments and we can probably make that happen.

Thankfully, Christopher didn't add any electrical wiring to his gingerbread house this year, because the first time he made a house with moving parts it caught on fire. 

It's so much fun to have friends over to build crazy candy houses and snack and drink and hang around. Thank you for coming to build and play this year. And SUPER thank you to those ladies that have been here all seven years.

Have you ever hosted a gingerbread house building party? Leave you favorite gingerbread stories in the comments.