Gingerbread House Party Menu & Wrap Up

It was another year of FURIOUS competition at gingerbread house party.  Every year I’m so impressed how people step it up in the face of such stiff competition!  We had four teams with about 40 competitors and kids total – it was a full house! 

(PS – Mandy Nevin – that is totally Georgia getting busted in the middle of this picture feeding the dog people food….)

This whole party is sugar overload so I try to get savory snacks to munch on:

• Zannie’s Black Eyed Pea Dip from Pioneer Woman along with tortilla chips
• Pigs in a Blanket (doesn’t this one take you back??)
• Dill Dip with veggies and Wheat Thins
• Cheddar Puffs from the Pioneer Woman were supposed to be on the table, but I forgot them in the freezer….Whoopsie!
• Pistachios
• Christmas Rum Punch
• Hot Chocolate
• Spiced Cider with Williams Sonoma Mulling Spices…..mmm so tasty.

Ok, ok there were a few sweet snacks too….I can’t have a Christmas party at my house with out my traditional Christmas time treats of Danish almond cookies and Gingersnaps

Oh and we can’t forget the fudge

Or the gift fudge that I give to each of the competitors as a thank you for coming

You know, it’s really just the basics

But forget the food, this party is about competition!

Everyone was totally into it, bringing loads of supplies and great plans for their houses!

Even the kids had a house to work on while the adults competed.

We ended up with a Penguin’s Playground complete with marshmallow polar bears and a slide into the pool for the penguins to splash around.

A Summer Retreat with banana tree outback, a fire pit on the beach, snowmen with spaghetti arms and little surfers out on the water.

A “green” gingerbread house complete with windmill and broccoli for bushes.  Oh and let’s not forget the asparagus trees planted in Reeces cup planters!

But the winner was another green design which included solar panels, an electric car, windmill out front, water retention pond and a second floor bed room with “bamboo” flooring.

I have no idea how folks are going to top this next year!

–Martta

 

Felt Gingerbread House Ornaments

No blog posts last week because I was busy with work travel so it’s blog-a-palooza this week as I document all the Christmas projects I’ve been working on!  I hope you enjoy

The annual prize at Gingerbread House Party (besides the honor, glory and having a picture of your house in the hall of champions) is an ornament. Usually I just pick up a gingerbread themed ornament at the store and call it a day. This year I decided I wanted to make the ornaments and I think they turned out adorable (you know, if I do say so myself)!

To make the magic happen, I picked up

• Felt
• Swirled brown fabric
• Beads
• Baby rick rack in red and white
• Fiber fill
• Ribbon
• Fray check

I cut the shape of the house from the swirled brown fabric and a snowy rooftop using templates I created. I then free hand cut a heart and front door to the house.  

The striped effect for the candy cane was achieved by twisting the rick rack together. It gets a bit contorted, but you can lay it flat to create the candy cane shape. I thoroughly doused each end of the candy cane with fray check and let it set before cutting out each candy cane segment. I stitched the snowy roof to the house, placed the heart on the door and sewed both to the house and then placed and sewed on the candy canes.

After doing a couple of these I found it was easier to simply pin the edge of the candy cane at the bottom of the house and then position the rest of the shape as I stitched. This turned out to be a far faster method than trying to pin down all that itty bitty twisted rick rack.

I laid the house front on to a piece of dark brown felt and cut out around the shape leaving ¼” on all sides. 

I cut a 5” piece of ribbon and tucked it into the top of the house and sewed around the house leaving an opening at side of the house for filling. 

Stuff the house with the desired amount of filling, pin the side in place and stitch it closed.

You’re almost done! The finishing touches on this little ornament are to sew on the peppermint candy button above the door and add a few randomly placed beads on the snowy roof of the house. Perfect, now it will glisten in the light of the Christmas tree.

Definitely a worthy prize for a group of hard working competitors!

–Martta

Linking Up Here:

Gingerbread House Party Score Card

Well you can’t have a gingerbread throw down without a winner right?  And how do you judge the winner?  This year we’ve got a three judge panel ready to examine all the entries.  We’ll be using this scoring card to make sure we assign and deduct points properly.  each judge will complete a score card for each team entry.  The entry with the highest number of points wins!

– Martta