In November 2021 we announced a new annual signature event called Homes for the Holidays: Gingerbread House Contest. You guessed correctly; we put on a community wide gingerbread house contest! Our hope for this event was to bring awareness to our mission at Community Homeworks as well as the need for critical home repair for low-income families in Kalamazoo County. All proceeds from this event went towards our critical home repair program to heat homes during the winter months.
Homes for the Holidays was over a month long and filled with a series of virtual events. First, we released two Gingerbread House Making 101 workshops. These workshops taught you the basics of building your gingerbread house and tips and tricks on decorating techniques. Second, we created an adult specific event called Gingerbread After Dark. The kids could not be the only ones have all the fun! For this event, adults could buy a kit that was filled with logo aprons, fun party props, hot cocoa, a gingerbread house kit, and so much more. Lastly, the ultimate gingerbread house contest took place. There were five categories, including: Iconic Structures, My Home, People’s Choice, Kids, and Judges’ Choice (2021 Gingerbread Masterpiece). Did we mention we had a panel of local celebrity judges?
As the contest ended, it took a few days for votes to roll in and for our judges to score the categories. On Thursday, December 23, 2021, our category winners were announced and posted on our Facebook and Instagram page. Each winner was awarded a custom trophy and all the bragging rights. Pictured below were our 2021 winners.
The team at Community Homeworks (the elves who made it possible) had a lot of fun hosting this inaugural gingerbread house contest. “I loved designing and showcasing this event to our community,” said Maci Wilson, Digital Marketing Intern. “It was a fun holiday activity to benefit a great cause and from the looks of it, everyone enjoyed participating. We saw record engagement on our social media channels and website during the voting and winner announcement.”
Another huge part of making the Homes for the Holidays event possible were our generous sponsors. Thank you to Old National Bank, Miller Johnson Attorneys, CTS, and George Franklin for sponsoring this event and being a supporter of Community Homeworks. We could not have done this event without you!
Homes for the Holidays 2021 was held entirely virtual due to COVID-19 precautions. Our goal is for this contest to become an in-person event in 2022 where we can join in on the holiday fun together. We look forward to seeing what Homes for the Holidays: Gingerbread House Contest holds in the future.
