Casa for Casa Gingerbread House Competition

This past weekend, I had an opportunity to participate in the Dane County "Casas for CASA" Gingerbread House Competition. Dane County CASA (short for Court Appointed Special Advocates) is a non-profit group who provides volunteer child advocates to kids in abuse and neglect situations that need representation in court. Not a small task! They held this gingerbread decorating competition not only to raise money, but to build awareness about their organization. Bunbury & Associates Realtors sponsored a gingerbread house, and I and a few co-workers got to go decorate on Saturday.

In preparation for build, I decided to try my hand at fondant figures. I have a secret desire to be a cake decorator, and this was my chance to go all "Ace of Cakes" style over this gingerbread house! I found a recipe online for the fondant, made it, dyed it, and created these little guys. I can't wait to try and make a cake now!

Here are a few pictures of the finished gingerbread house. I posted a bunch of photos on the Bunbury & Associates Realtors fan page on Facebook, so check it out!

Here is a close-up of the front of the house and the little Santa, Mrs.Claus, and Rudolph figurines.


The little windows are made out of Graham crackers, and had the little elves and reindeer peeking out on the sides


Snow Angels!


Here's the back of the house:


And of course, since our real estate company sponsored the house, it had to be for sale!


Here's a picture of me in front of the house (along with a really excited lady in the background), after we won the children's choice award! All of the kids entering the mall were given a peppermint candy during the building of the houses, and they got to vote for their favorites. Ours had the most peppermints! It's cool to be chosen a winner by the kids - that's what it's all about right?


If you want to learn more about CASA, visit their website, or check out their page on facebook from the event!

There was also a record breaking 26 foot gingerbread man! Wow!

It was an honor to be apart of the event. I didn't anticipate the whole while we were decorating that we would have a crowd of kids and adults just in awe of what we were doing. It definitely got me in the holiday spirit! If you are in and around the Hilldale Mall, be sure to stop by and check out all of the gingerbread houses on display through the end of December!