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Entries in the 2024 Holiday Gingerbread-Smackdown contest

Everything needed for a holiday meet-cute; hot chocolate for spilling on a handsome stranger, ice rink for an excuse to hold hands, and a gazebo for kissing under the mistletoe. Complete with peppermint pretzel benches and a candy cane sleigh.

100% edible except the lights. All gingerbread, royal icing and fondant. Except for the “rocks,” which are rice krispy treats without the butter. Then covered in colored chocolate and shaved down.

Thomas Point Lighthouse is in the Chesapeake Bay, near Annapolis, MD.

My daughter and I designed this seasonal landscape with the Alpine pattern from GBD. The house's feature fondant "wood" shingles, sprinkled rooves, and see through sugar windows with elves, gifts and Christmas tress to peek at. See the gingerbread men skiing down the tree lined, lit-up slope and Santa warming up by the outdoor fire pit. Also with a candy cane wall, rock features and a waterfall. The mountain was created with rice crispy treats, and tons of royal icing. We hope you enjoy it!

Inspired by the poem, this Victorian house tells the story of Santa’s visit on Christmas Eve. All the furniture, the sleigh and even the reindeer are made of gingerbread.

This template reminds me of some of the old Vermont farmhouse still standing around my area. I used clear melted hard candies for the window and corn candies for the window candles, which look even better when lit from behind by the interior lights. The roof shingles are Wheat Thins crackers, and the trees are covered ice cream cones.

My inspiration was an imaginary castle in winter. Mine has 15 buildings on a 20 x 22 inch board. There are balconies made with gum paste lace painted gold with luster dust. There are round towers topped with blue fondant roofs, snow, and candy pearls. The walls are trimmed with gingerbread men, stockings, and trees painted gold and everything thing is trimmed with garland with berries.

My display is titled “Happy PAWlidays” and was inspired by my granddaughters’ Paw Patrol Lookout Tower play-se. Ryder, (our traditional) Bear and the pups are on a mission to deliver presents to all the shelter animals. The tower is 22” tall, 14” wide and made from dyed gingerbread, while the slide, and most of the trim, was molded using ginger clay. The windows, and the elevator shaft, are made with clear icing sheets, and the figures and vehicles are rice cereal treats covered with ginger clay.

Our local contest had a book Category so that was my inspiration. My Bible is made of gingerbread, side pieces are covered with royal icing and pounced with edible gold luster dust. The people and animals are 3-D cookies covered with fondant. The text is hand written with food gel on rice paper using a light box and coated with PME spray. The base is rice cereal treats covered in crushed gingerbread and parsley palm trees are rice paper.

This teeny tiny house is inspired by the concept of hygge; the coziness, peace and warmth of winter.

3 feet tall gingerbread Swiss chalet. Multiple gingerbread decorations- skis, sled, logs, axes, tree, and benches. Candles are fondant and garland and wreaths are royal icing.

This family is enjoying a nice snowy day outside their home, playing fetch with their furry friend! Gingerbread made from scratch!

Filled to the trim with sugary and natural goodness, <8 Tutti Frutti ‘24 highlights a personal fav joy-sparking theme of fruits and their bright and cherry <8 colors, with a nod to the merriest, Mary Engelbreit

Clock is gingerbread; poinsettia, holly leaves, berries, and mice are fondant. Inside - background fondant and royal icing. Table is gingerbread. teapot, cups and plate of cookies all fondant. Made with edible gingerbread. Candle and lights only thing not edible.

I decided to do a game this year and Candyland popped into my mind. It was a favorite of my grandchildren. It encompasses my love of color and fantasy. I used lots of candy, construction grade gingerbread, gum paste and fondant. I hope you enjoy my entry and consider it for your vote. 😊

We designed our houses for warmth and comfort of the holiday season living at the end of a cul-de-sac all the neighbors kids would come to play and have a fire and just be kids. This reminded us of that time.

Mostly gingerbread and icing. Simple with trees of ice cream cones covered in icing and coconut. Pews and pulpit, small pond of isomalt and gumpaste penguins. Church with pews and Pulpit, Penguin's playing around a pond. Inside of the church lights up.

Train of gingerbread. Wrapped candy that can be eaten and replaced. Penguins playing by the pond with deer through the woods. 37 in long and 19 in wide.

The theme was Candyland. The dragon is gingerbread with gingerbread clay over the main baked gingerbread form to sculpt the features and details. Wings are made from gelatin. The mountain is also baked gingerbread ring with gingerbread clay placed over it to sculpt the rock "candy" details and airbrushed. House is all baked gingerbread and royal icing. The rocks are gingerbread. The fairies are gum paste with gelatin wings. Isomalt was used for candy and other details.

Gingerbread structure. Characters are gum paste and gingerbread. Licorice strips shingles and royal icing. Moose is modelling chocolate (never again lol). Interior is completely finished. We always get carried away with interior. All edible with exception of lights and base. We made and donated this for Saskatoon festival of trees.

This Lighthouse was constructed with a hand created template, homemade gingerbread and royal icing with creativity. It is inspired by both mine and my Grandma's love for Lighthouses.
Includes candy waves and candy glass windows.

This is my first time entering a gingerbread house contest. This is the fourth annual gingerbread house that I have made for my grandchildren. The first three were for them, Frozen ,Minnie Mouse and a Fairy tree house. This year I wanted to do something reflecting one of my favorite hobbies, which is gardening. The grandkids call me, Mooma, so I titled this Mooma's plant shop.
I used gingerbread, royal icing, rice krispie treats, fondant, ice cream cones, gelatin sheets and candy pearls.

The clock tower and home always reminds me of a quaint, small town in New England.

My family and I used a wide assortment of candies and this is completely edible.

We donated it to a children's hospital where it is on display for all to see.

We knew that this house would be given to children of a family we sponsored this holiday season, so we used lots of candy that they could "snack" on when no one was looking! We hoped they would know that we cared and wished for them peace and love during the coming year.

I wanted a candy intensive little cottage that my grandkids can eat. Inadvertently left a can of beans inside!

This is my gingerbread creation with a Mario Kart theme. One of my sons got to chose the main character and he chose Luigi. The base of the main character Kart is a gingerbread cookie, constructed with royal icing and covered with homemade modeling chocolate. The tires are made from ginger cake. The Luigi head, body and arms were made with crispy rice treat and covered in home made modeling chocolate. The small ones are made with gingerbread cookie, crispy rice, modeling chocolate, and mini Reese cups.

I really wanted to make a gingerbread house with a curved roof so my husband (who is the gingerbread architect) created a template. We thought it would be more fun if we stacked different sizes on top of each other so we ended up with three stories! We used traditional gingerbread dough and lots of royal icing colored in bright colors. We added fondant characters, candies in a variety of shapes, colors, & sizes and a colorful ice cream cone tree!

Holden is a 7 year old 4H student! 4H focuses on the student doing as much as possible on their own. Holden baked, assembled and decorated this house. He added smiles all around his gingerbread house to spread cheer.

I enter a GB contest at a local historical society, and at last years award ceremony they announced there would be no theme for this year. My grandson, who knows my love of the Wizard of Oz, suggested it for my theme.

All structures, and characters are gingerbread decorated with royal icing. The flowers are made from fondant. The twister has a PVC pipe for structure, and is covered with ginger clay, and many layers of RI, and RI transfers. Printed pics are edible icing sheets.

This is a super fun tree house on top of a giant gingerbread candy cane. After baking, the candy cane was decorated with fondant stripes. The gingerbread tree house was decorated with colored royal icing and candies. Isomalt was used for the windows. And of course, lots of candy canes were included in the decor. Hence the name “Candy Cane Lane”!

With this creation I used fondant, assorted candy pieces, poured sugar, cracked frozen chocolate, shredded wheat and shredded coconut, chocolate rocks and boulders, ice cream cone to pipe the trees, Hershey's kisses for the base of the bushes and so so much more.

This is Christmas on a beach, I used clear icing for the water, cooked ginger bread and cut out shapes, I used sweetish fish, and a mint for ball, sugar cookies blended for the sand, fondant for the shells, flip flops, presents, bucket and sandcastle, and for the leaves on palm tree and tiki hut. Used coffee stick for the palm tree and for tiki hut, icing to paint, and used sprinkle and edible candy flower for all decor. Sign says merry Christmas, used rice crispy treats for tree/wreaths

“Merry Christmas” in different languages from around the world.
Globe, sleigh, trees and reindeer are made of gingerbread. Santa is fondant.

There's an epic holiday party at the Trivilian House today! The gazebo is filled with friends and isomalt nutcracker statues. The porch poinsettias are royal icing with rolo candy "pots".) In the back of the house is the poinsettia greenhouse where you can peek through the isomalt windows for this year's crop. You'll also find Petey the penguins ice Cherub isomalt "ice sculpture". House shingles are cinnamon toast crunch & the chimneys are nerds candy. Happy Holidays everyone!

Inspired by classic gingerbread designs. I love Victorian houses and scroll work so I designed this to incorporate it all. There are trees in the houses and snow on the ground. I used regular and construction gingerbread, royal icing, fondant, edible lace, Ramen, rice crispy treats, parsley, rosemary and thyme. The only items that are inedible are the lights.

A light gingerbread was used with standard royal icing and cookie/cake decorations. The roof tiles are made using gum. Bells in the tower are kisses.

I am an elementary school teacher and always enjoy looking at the amazing gingerbread houses people build. This year, I decided to design an interactive gingerbread entry that kids of all ages could enjoy.

I created 3 boxes made of gingerbread with a different game on each top.
1. tic-tac-toe
2. checkers
3. match the shape
The gingerbread sleighs hold the pieces needed to play the games. This entry is completely edible and was donated to an organization that works with families in need

This hacienda is ready for the holidays. It is made with 100% edible materials. The structure is gingerbread, glued with royal icing and gumpaste trim.

The inspiration for this one was in one of my long-out-of-print gingerbread house books. Made to display in my mother-in-law's assisted living facility as an homage to her and her deceased husband (their names are on the shops). Everything is edible. No inedible supports. Construction-grade gingerbread, homemade modeling chocolate and fondant figures, mass market sprinkles and candies, royal icing holds it together.

100% edible, nothing inedible except for the board & the battery powered candle under the tree. Corn husk rope at the well, Bucatini and linguine mill paddles, uncut ziti as the hub shaft, construction gingerbread & ginger clay, homemade modeling chocolate and fondant decorations. Isomalt lighted tree and windows.

This is the bedroom of Scrooge with the spirits of his partner, Marley, the Ghost of Christmas Past, the Ghost of Christmas Present and the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come. The piece is made from gingerbread, gum paste, fondant, sprinkles, edible marker, royal icing and jolly rancher candies.

My first ever church, Silent Night, was inspired by the passing of a family member and her love/passion to serve our Lord. This church almost didn’t make it to the finish line. With less then 36 hours to delivery for a fundraiser event in my hometown, it hit the floor and busted into pieces. With Gods Grace and determination I pieced it back together and finished it.
The stain glass windows are crushed Jolly ranchers, the stone are melting chocolate’s and the structure is gingerbread.

Holiday Train. Template from Gingerbread-By-Design train pattern. Candy used: gumballs, decorative sugar beads, sprinkles, licorice string and gummy, chocolate covered presents, airheads, multicolored pearl candy, candy cane, ice
cream cone, gum paste to make Santa and Santa's gift bags, red good and plenty candy, peppermint mints.

It was time for Elmer the elf to move his house to a warmer climate so he called on his elf friends to help. And more importantly Dasher the tortoise made it possible. The tiered house and the tortoise are made of gingerbread, though the core of the Dasher the tortoise is rice treats. All the elves were hand modeled using Smartflex, an edible modeling compound, as we’re all the greenery and other adornments. The “gravel” pathway is actually a wheat cereal from Russia. This is one of my favorites.

Penelope is a 12 year old 4H student and a die-hard Swiftie! She designed, baked and assembled her creation. Using colored candy glass to make the colored rooms in Taylor's famed house in the music video, she lit it from within. It also features a ginger-Taylor and one of her beloved cats.

Ruby is a 10 year old 4H student and a die-hard Swiftie! She designed, baked and assembled her creation. It took a lot of geometry to get the unique style of Taylor's cabin in the music video. It also features a ginger-Taylor and her boyfriend, a ginger-Travis Kelce!

90% gingerbread base and ground gingerbread to make moldable royal icing putty. Modeling chocolate ribbon and skirt with isomolt ice ornaments.

Noelle the dolphin swims the shore and finds stray Christmas ornaments. She jumps them as high as she can to send them back to Santa Claus. Maybe he will leave her a bigger fish in her stocking!

The dolphin is made with a core of gingerbread, and sculpted with gingerbread puffed cereal mix. Coated with pastillage and painted with food coloring. The waves are rice paper

I wanted to display different kinds of trees. There is a tree made of fondant, two made with melting chocolate - one white and one green, one with piped icing on a ice cream cone, and one made from rice crispy treats. Also used in the design are brownie bites, rice paper, pretzel rods, shredded wheat, and pretzel twists. The hut is homemade gingerbread covered in fondant. The cocoa mugs and wreaths are made from fondant. And the most important ingredients - patience and creativity.

This little cottage is made 100% with edible ingredients. The structure is gingerbread. The thatched roof is gum paste over a puffed oat and royal icing mix formed over the gingerbread roof. . The windows are gum paste with poured gelatin sheets for glass. All the tree's are gumpaste. If only I could make this life size and live in it.

I've always loved the look of a brick house, so I decided to create one in gingerbread. We used licorice, cereal, Peppermint dust, and all the red and black candy we could put our hands on. The bay windows are gelatin sheets and the cozy elf inside is fondant.

I made a replica of the main house from the Netflix show “The Bridgertons”. The house is made of gingerbread and put together with royal icing.

My display is based off the book, Waiting for Christmas, the Advent Story by Kathleen Bostmon. Tells the story of Gerhard and how he celebrated advent as a child. The bottom shows him staring at the sweets shop as everyone goes about their day. Next floor has his mom making cookies, and the third floor shows him making marks on the door as they used to do in Germany in the late 1800s to count down advent. The back side is a advent calendar with each drawer opening.

Every year we do a carriage ride thru our town. This is our family enjoying a ride.

Moana has definitely captured a lot of hearts with her adventurous spirit and beautiful journey.With the recent success of her second movie, I thought it would be fun to create a tribute to her in gingerbread.

The base of the house is gingerbread and is covered with shedded wheat. Palm trees and ocean waves are made using rice paper. The torches are sour strips, lifesaver gummies and gingerbread.

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