Gingerbread House Party

After last week's stressful ordeal with Mary Ashley's injury, this weekend's Gingerbread House Decorating Party with our friends Lizzy and Emma was even more of a treat! The girls and their mom, Stacey, joined us Friday afternoon for a delightful afternoon of icing, candy and giggles.

I decorated the gingerbread house above to take with me to a couple of speaking engagements earlier this month where I shared Christmas party ideas. A few candies fell off in transit to and from the first church I visited. On the day of my second engagement, Emma turned her back quickly when I entered the kitchen. "Emma, what are you eating?" I asked. Embarrassed, she covered her candy-filled mouth and replied sheepishly, "Some candy fell off that house." Apparently, it fell right into her mouth! A whirlwind of travel and Hurricane Emma did some serious damage to this gingerbread house, so before the party it needed a little maintenance before taking up residence on the table.

My tiered servers looked festive threaded with lime green and red ribbons. All the candies pictured came with the gingerbread house kits, and a couple of days past the party we still have extra candy. The top tier of the server holds shredded wheat cereal, which I like to use to make a snow-covered roof. This cereal was lightly sugared on both sides, but I prefer the shredded wheat that has sugar only on one side for the snowy effect.

This is not the best photo, but it gives you a glimpse of the table all set for my little elves to start decorating.

Part of the fun of a Gingerbread House Party is sampling all the candies, so I tried to balance out the sweets with party ham rolls, veggies, chips and dip. I misplaced my favorite party ham roll recipe between making my grocery list and preparing this simple appetizer, so tried a new recipe I didn't like quite as well. Right before the party I found my preferred recipe, so I set it aside to post here. It has gone missing again, though, so I'll need to call my mom to get it. Then I'll add it to this post so I will be sure to find it next time I need it!

Keep scrolling for more gingerbread fun and fabulous finds!