Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
The Family That Builds Gingerbread Houses Together …
It’s a holiday tradition, so this year, why not make a party of it?
Building gingerbread houses is the epitome of holiday family fun. This year, ratchet up the festivities by turning your annual build into a party. It’s a celebration filled with candy and other sweet treats, plus guests get the chance to create their own unique, take-home holiday keepsake. A gingerbread party appeals to kids and adults, so you can invite parents to accompany their children or plan one as a way to celebrate the holidays with neighbors and your children’s friends. This theme party is a great way to gather family and friends for the holidays, do a short activity for the kids, and even make it a contest for the creative and competitive guests in the crowd — complete with photos and bragging rights until next year. Best of all, busy parents and budget party planners can pull off the soiree with minimal time and expense, says Andressa Hara, owner of Twinkle Twinkle Little Party, an event planning and design company based in Boise, Idaho. It’s easy to throw together an impressive party with Christmas decorations you already have. “If you would like to throw a small party at home, get a little table, add milk and cookies and cupcakes and you’d be covered,” Hara says. Hara has hosted her own parties for the last few years, along with organizing them for clients. She says they’re a fun idea for kids. “It actually engages them and keeps them busy, and parents can talk,” Hara says. “I wanted a holiday party that would give the kids something to do rather than run around or just eat sweets.” (A gingerbread house building party dessert table that Hara designed was featured in the December 2013 issue Tattle Magazine.)
Building the Party Basics
Like any great party, it’s good to start with a theme, then build decorations and activities around it. Hara likes to base her décor on printable templates for things like takehome coloring books, cupcake toppers and wrapper, bottle labels and treat bag labels. “I usually start with my printables and come up with a color palette, an invitation,” she says. “I design a label. They can dress up their drinks, buy regular bottles and wrap them with the Christmas or gingerbread printable.” Along with traditional red-andgreen decorations, a Candy Land or Santa’s workshop theme fits with this type of party, says Samantha Antes, owner of Confetti Events, a Washington, D.C.-based party planning company that counts children’s parties among its specialities. “Lots of your decorations can be homemade and made to look like you are in an enchanted forest of candy,” Antes says. Antes suggests place big bowls or vases full of different candy around the room. “It looks amazing and it’s double purpose,” she says. “The kids can eat it or use it for their houses and for decorations.” For the actual building process, Antes recommends setting up four to eight stations for partygoers to move around and build their houses in stages. All the “helpers” can dress as Santa’s elves and create a workshop atmosphere. “Put your house together at one, make your roof and add decorations at another,” Antes says. “Play a game; give the kids a break. You can’t just have the focus be on one thing. It can go way too fast or it will take way too long and they will lose interest.” The hostess should plan time for snacks, a reading of “The Gingerbread Man” or other Christmas stories and a few ageappropriate games – or drinks for the adults. This type of party is best suited for ages 6 to 12 and up if they plan to build and decorate on their own. “For older kids, make it into a fun contest and they will really put their effort into it,” Antes says. “With younger kids, it’s just for fun, and older kids like to make it really detailed.” Unless you are a party pro or have a lot of free time, Hara says it’s easier to skip baking the gingerbread pieces from scratch and buy kits from a local store. What makes the party fun is to keep the rules loose and let attendees use some ingenuity and imagination to craft a colorful, candy-coated house they can display during the holiday season. It’s a good way to get people in the spirit and get them excited, Antes says. “A gingerbread house can be as holiday and Christmas-y as you make it,” she says. “No matter how much you celebrate Christmas, it’s a great way to get anyone in the holiday spirit, and they probably won’t go to more than one a year.”