The Holidays are the perfect time of year to experiment with new activities and add a boost of festivity to your life. Gingerbread houses have been around for over 200 years, and families across Eagle County have started setting up their kitchen counters for a fun afternoon. It’s truly the best of both worlds and combines creativity with tasty treats.

No stranger to creativity,  Brush Creek Elementary School fifth grader and active artist Maddie Foster recently constructed her own gingerbread house complete with peppermint windows and gumdrop gutters. 

Making a gingerbread house is a hard activity to complete well, and the materials need to be prepped and ready if you are hoping to achieve a perfect gingerbread house.

Foster started her process with a kit to jumpstart her building and ensure the right proportions of the house. She laid out all of the candy pieces before constructing to see what she was working with and how she could utilize each part to its full potential.

“We separated the candy, then glued them to the pieces for decoration using icing. It’s a tradition we do every year that I really love doing,” Foster explained. 

Her favorite part was the roof because it had the most surface to get really creative. She went with a striped candy pattern and a peppermint center to give the house great complexity and intrigue.

Meredith Foster, Maddie’s mom, loved doing the gingerbread house with her daughter and enjoys keeping the tradition alive every year. She feels it is a great activity for parents and kids to do together and have fun with, and she also looks forward to their other family traditions including, “baking cookies every year, watching Christmas movies, setting up the Christmas village and tree.” 

The Gingerbread House Baking activity is a challenge that requires time and patience to do well. It’s a tradition the Fosters do every year and fills their house with joy and festivity. For those looking for a holiday activity this year, the Fosters highly recommend making a gingerbread house and would like to add, “The gumdrops were the best tasting part.”