It’s the most wonderful time of the year! For our family that means hosting our annual gingerbread house decorating party. You may need to Click page 2 to see how it all went down! (sorry for the page thing…WordPress updated and there are some weird formatting issues! Also sorry if you received this post more than once!)
It’s gingerbread time!
I’ve lost track of how many years I’ve hosted a gingerbread house party…4? 5? Regardless of the number of times our friends and family have come together to create one-of-a-kind gingerbread houses, it’s fun and fresh every year.
timing is everything
I think we can all agree that December is a busy month. Between kids winter concerts/recitals, holiday preparations, work parties, secret santa’s, class gatherings…everything just piles on in the month of December. The absolute key to a succesfull gingerbread party is timing! Set the date for early in December and get those invites out, preferably, atleast a month ahead of time. Peoples calendars book up fast during the holiday season and if you want a good size turnout you have to get to your guests first! LOL!
I aim for a December date between the 1st and the 10th…any later than that is tough. Your would-be guests will likely have a number of things going on that will cause them to decline your invite. This years event took place on the 9th. Turn out was great! Only two of the invited families were unable to come.
gather your supplies
What do you need to pull of a successful party? Here’s a detailed list…
- gingerbread houses (duh!) I provide one house per family or decorating team. Plan ahead! buy those houses on clearance (yay for 50% off!) right after Christmas. No one eats gingerbread houses so who cares if they are stale. 🙂
- candy, candy and more candy! Seriously you can’t have too much candy. Sure, the houses come with some candy, but if you just stick with what’s provided you are seriously limiting your guests creative flow.
- I love to provide items so that everyone can really personalize their house. This year that included coconut (perfect for snow), graham crackers (roof tiles, shutters, doors, you name it!) and pretzel sticks (log cabins, wood piles). Other items to consider…rock candy (self explanatory), fruit by the foot (how cool would this look as a roof?!) and gummy bears (imagine the possibilities!)
- brown kraft paper…perfect for covering your work spaces
- icing…preferably royal icing…that stuff is like crazy glue!
- room to create! For us (with 10 families/teams) that meant 6 groups at my long dining table and 2 each and two other tables. The more you can spread out the better. Just be sure to provide all of the materials and each of the tables…gotta be fair! 😉
- refreshments. You can go as simple as apple cider and water or as complex as providing a create-your-own cocktail bar. We went with apple cider and a hot cocoa bar
- food! Some years we’ve only had cookies and cocoa, others a full dessert bar. This year (because it was an early-ish Sunday party) I decided to provide a light meal and have guests bring something dessert-y. Nick fixed up a BIG pot of his chicken noodle soup. Pair that with bread and boom…done.
- music. I have a Christmas play list I keep on my iPad but you could just as easily pull up any of the many choices on Pandora or Spotify. While the classics can be fun, even by early December some people might be burned out on “Baby it’s Cold Outside” (and it’s surrounding controversy!) or “White Christmas”. I prefer to play an ecclectic mix of alternative artists, including… Trans-Sinerian Orchestra, Neil Halstead, Peter Bradley Adams, Jack Johnson (yes the Curious George song guy) and Michael Johns.
- Cozy atmosphere! The party date is my deadline for completing all of my Christmas decorating. All of the decor, the fire going, the lights, the tree…it all goes to creating a warm, inviting atmosphere.
- for more ideas check out my gingerbread party Pinterest board!
Competition or no competition?
My son would LOVE for our gingerbread houses to be judged…he wants a winner! Let me rephrase that…HE wants to be the winner. BUT I know exactly how devastated he would be if he wasn’t the winner…..so….no competition here. Just friendly creativity. (of course, after everyone leaves, he declares himself the winner anyway 😉 )
In closing…
I know that hosting a ton of people in your home can be stressful! You’re worried about whether you have enough space, enough food, is your house clean enough?? I encourage you, please, set all of that aside. It doesn’t matter how big your house is, I promise, it really doesn’t…. your guests won’t mind getting cozy with each other! LOL! It doesn’t matter if your house is a bit cluttered or didn’t wash your windows. Grab up all those extras in a laundry hamper and throw it in a closet to deal with later. Dim your lights and light some candles…ta-da! company ready. As for food…a tray of store bought cookies is plenty. Your guests are coming to see you, they aren’t expecting a 5 star gourmet meal. The most important thing to remember…gathering together, laughing, creating, that’s what a gingerbread party is all about. Happy Holidays! 🙂
Take a look at last years gingerbread party!!
