How to Create Gingerbread House Contests: A Survey Approach

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Hosting a gingerbread house contest is a festive and creative way to celebrate the holidays with family, friends, or coworkers. Originating from 19th-century Germany, these contests now blend artistry, baking, and friendly competition. This guide covers setting official rules, judging criteria, and creative ideas—from themed builds to tech-enhanced designs. With SurveyLegend’s picture-based survey tool, you can easily upload contestant photos, collect public votes, and display live results in real time. Whether held in-person or online, a well-organized gingerbread contest fosters community spirit and holiday joy—one sweet creation at a time!

The holidays are a time for family, friends, gift-giving, and… competitions? Oh yes! During the festive season, people often engage in various competitions, from Christmas light contests to ugly holiday sweater competitions. Another common holiday battle is gingerbread house contests. These contests are a fun way to celebrate the holiday season with family and friends, bringing everyone together in a joyful and festive spirit. If you’re holding an ugly holiday sweater contest, you’ll need an ugly holiday sweater contest survey to determine a winner. Here’s how to start!

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History of Gingerbread Houses

The practice of using gingerbread – which is just preserved ginger baked into crisps – to create edible houses originated in Germany in the 1800s. German bakers based their creations on Hansel and Gretel, the dark Brothers Grimm fairytale in which two children discover an edible home made of bread and sugar. Gingerbread houses became synonymous with Christmas because ginger snap cookies were also popular around this time of year.  

As time wore on, baking gingerbread houses became a way to express creativity, and a variety of other sweets were incorporated into the designs. Like any artform, bakers – both amateur and professional – began to get competitive with their gingerbread house designs, building them bigger (and sweeter!). Today, gingerbread house competitions are a holiday staple in many countries and in many households.

The popularity of gingerbread house competitions has grown so much that the Food Network even hosts a Holiday Gingerbread Showdown competition on television. The sizes of gingerbread houses are now even in the Guinness Book of World Records. According to Guinness’ website, the largest gingerbread house ever built, pictured below, was created in Bryan, Texas, USA, and had an internal volume of 1,110.1 m³ (39,201.8 ft³). The house was 18.28 m (60 ft) long, 12.8 m (42 ft) wide and 3.07 m (10.1 ft) tall at its highest point.  

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Gingerbread House Contest Ideas

Hosting a gingerbread house contest is a wonderful way to bring people together during the holiday season. To make your contest stand out and keep participants engaged, consider adding some creative twists and unique ideas to your event.

One fun idea is to have themed contests where participants build gingerbread houses based on a specific theme such as “Winter Wonderland,” “Classic Christmas,” or “Famous Landmarks.” This encourages creativity and gives everyone a fun challenge to work toward.

You can also organize contests for different age groups or skill levels to ensure everyone can participate comfortably. For example, have a kids’ category, an adult category, and a family team category. This way, the contest remains inclusive and enjoyable for all ages.

Another exciting idea is to incorporate technology into your contest. Invite participants to add LED lights, moving parts, or other tech elements to their gingerbread houses, making the creations more dynamic and visually impressive. This can be a separate category like “Best Use of Technology.”

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To increase engagement, consider having a live event where participants showcase their creations in person, allowing attendees to view the houses up close and vote on their favorites. Alternatively, a virtual contest can be hosted using photos and videos submitted online, making it accessible to a wider audience.

Including interactive elements such as a “People’s Choice Award,” where the public can vote via social media platforms like Facebook or Instagram, adds excitement and encourages sharing among friends and family, spreading the festive spirit even further.

Don’t forget to offer fun prizes and incentives for winners and participants alike. Prizes can range from gift cards and baking supplies to holiday-themed goodies or trophies. Even small prizes or certificates of participation can motivate contestants and add to the festive atmosphere.

Lastly, consider partnering with local businesses or community organizations to sponsor your contest. This can help with prizes, promotion, and even venue space if you’re hosting an in-person event.

By incorporating these ideas, your gingerbread house contest will be a memorable and delightful experience for everyone involved, capturing the joy and creativity of the holiday season.

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Creating Your Gingerbread House Contest

Gingerbread house contests are hosted at homes, company parties, community events, and more. Many gingerbread house contests are just for fun or bragging rights, while others can have significant prizes, meaning voting on the best gingerbread house can get heated! To make sure the competition is fair, you’ll want to be sure the judging criteria are clear to participants. Only accepted entries that meet all criteria will be eligible for judging or prizes. Eligibility for the contest is subject to local residents, families, or other specified groups as outlined in the contest rules.

For example, if the contest is large, you might want to consider different categories, such as:

• Largest gingerbread house
• Tastiest-looking gingerbread house
• Most innovative structure
• Best use of color
• Best use of ingredients
• Best use of technology (if contestants can add lights, etc.)

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Note: Be sure to follow all submission guidelines and requirements to ensure your entry is considered. You’ll also want to identify judging criteria. Sometimes, specific people are chosen to judge the gingerbread house decorating contest; other times, everyone at the event has a vote. The top entries will compete for the final prize or recognition. Remember to specify if there will be prizes. If prizes are substantial, like at a large community event, you’re likely to get a lot more participants. So, you might want to consider an entry fee for participating. Please note that there may be a limited number of spots available for the contest.

Creating Official Rules for Your Gingerbread House Contest

When it comes to hosting a gingerbread house decorating contest, setting clear official rules is the secret ingredient for a smooth and spirited competition. Well-defined rules help ensure that every participant—whether a first-time baker or a seasoned gingerbread architect—knows exactly what to expect, making the event more enjoyable for everyone involved.

Here’s how to craft official rules that will keep your gingerbread house contest running as sweetly as possible:

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1. Eligibility: Decide who can join the fun! Will your gingerbread house competition be open to all ages, just families, or perhaps only community members? Setting eligibility guidelines helps everyone know if they’re invited to participate.
2. Registration: Make it easy for contestants to sign up. Set a registration deadline (for example, by the end of November) and outline how to register—whether it’s through a simple online form, a Facebook event, or even an Instagram DM. If you’re charging a fee or need specific information, be sure to mention it upfront.
3. Categories: Spice up your contest by offering different categories. You might have individual and team entries, or separate groups for kids, adults, and families. This way, everyone—from solo bakers to creative teams—has a chance to shine.
4. Judging Criteria: Let participants know how their gingerbread houses will be evaluated. Will judges focus on creativity, use of candy, structural integrity, or overall holiday spirit? Share your judging criteria ahead of time so everyone can plan their gingerbread creations accordingly.
5. Voting: Decide how the voting will work. Will attendees vote in person at the display, or will you collect votes online through a poll or comments? You can even allow people to vote for their top favorites, making the competition more interactive and fun.

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6. Prizes: Announce what’s at stake! Whether it’s a cash prize, a gift card, or a sweet holiday-themed reward, let everyone know what the winners will receive. Don’t forget to mention how and when winners will be notified.
7. Display: Share the details about when and where the gingerbread houses will be on display. Will there be a community center showcase in December? Can attendees take photos and leave comments? Setting the scene helps build excitement.
8. Submission Requirements: Be clear about what’s expected for each entry. Specify the type and size of gingerbread house, any required ingredients, or if there’s a special theme for this year’s contest. This ensures all entries are eligible and meet your guidelines.
9. Deadline: Set a firm deadline for both submissions and voting, and communicate it clearly—perhaps with reminders on Facebook or Instagram. This keeps the contest on track and gives everyone a fair chance to participate.
10. Spirit of the Contest: Above all, remind everyone that the gingerbread house contest is about celebrating the holiday season, creativity, and community. Encourage good sportsmanship, respect, and plenty of festive fun!

Designing Your Gingerbread House Contest Survey

Like the look of the gingerbread house contest survey with images above? It’s created with SurveyLegend’s online survey tool. Images of various gingerbread homes were uploaded, and a confectionery background and font were added in the DESIGN stage.

It’s easy to create your own gingerbread survey with photos. Simply ask participants to take pictures of their gingerbread houses and submit them to you. Next, upload all of the participants’ images into your survey and share your survey link with others to collect votes. For more information or to submit entries, encourage participants to visit your official Facebook page. SurveyLegend will automatically tally up the votes in real time, which you can display live on your event page if you like to make the contest more fun and engaging. It won’t be long before you’ll have crowned a winner in your gingerbread house decorating contest!

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How to Create Your Gingerbread House Contest Survey with SurveyLegend

1. Log in to your account.
2. Add a new survey, and navigate to the CREATE step.
3. Use our picture-based question type (“Picture Selection”) by clicking on it.
4. Click on the picture selection question that was just added, and then click on the “upload” button.
5. Select all of your pictures at once from your computer, and then hit upload. Wait until the upload process is complete for all images.
6. If you like, change the layout and size of the gingerbread house photos using the settings on the left-hand side. You can also choose whichever voting type you prefer. People usually use the “Ranking” voting type and let people vote for their top 3 favorites.
7. Go to the DESIGN step to change the look and feel of your survey (for example, you can choose a dark theme or upload your own background).
8. Go to the CONFIGURE step and give your gingerbread house contest a good name so that you remember it. Also, make sure you have this setting ON: “Limit number of participations,” which will make sure people cannot vote multiple times to influence results.

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Note: Don’t forget to set and clearly communicate important dates for your contest, such as the submission deadline date, the voting period end date, and the winner announcement date. This helps participants know when to submit entries, when voting closes, and when winners will be notified.

9. Finally, continue to the SHARE step, copy your competition link, and send it to your audience using SMS, Email, Facebook, Slack, or whatever platform you like.
10. When the distribution of your gingerbread contest survey is done, go to Live Analytics and watch as the results come in.

If you’re holding a holiday party with a gingerbread house exhibition, you can also use video projection to broadcast the live analytics page to all attendees. They can watch, in real-time, as the votes roll in. This makes your gingerbread house competition a lot more fun!

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Ready to create your gingerbread house contest voting form? Our surveys render beautifully on any screen, are customizable to your design preferences, and can limit voters to one answer so overly competitive creators don’t continue to vote for themselves. They can also be anonymous, so there’s no feuding between friends! Start now with SurveyLegend and hold the best gingerbread house contest in town! Give participants the chance to win exciting prizes or recognition for their standout creations.

Have you ever made a gingerbread house? Was it for fun or part of a competition? We’d love to hear about your experience!

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