Creative Room and Vancouver Special have teamed up for the first annual Gingerbread Competition and Charity auction, and they’re challenging 10 architects and design teams to let go of the gingerbread houses of yesteryear and pave the way for modern gingerbread houses of tomorrow!

I never got too into gingerbread house-making when I was young – too hard to eat.  The walls got stale and it wasn’t fair.  However, Smarties, the best ingredient on a gingerbread house in my opinion, barely lasted through one night as rooftop adornments.  After those were gone the house looked more like a ramshackle cabin than a luxurious candy palace, and that was the end of that tradition.

This is going to be a really cool event to check out – like going to see sand castle competitions in the summer, except these bad boys are made with pure sugar.  I’m fully prepared to be very impressed – and also aware that much like I can’t jump in the pretty sand piles at beach castle competitions, neither can I take a bite out of these gingerbread house submissions.  Think of the charity, Terri…

The houses are on display beginning November 19 until November 25 at Vancouver Special (3612 Main St), at which point the judging and Closing Gala will take place.  The public is free to bid, either in person or online, on any of the 10 gingerbread houses and all proceeds will go to Pivot Legal Society, a non-profit legal advocacy organization serving Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside.  Now that’s a cause I can sink my teeth into.