By Sally Treadwell

Forget football and washing dishes. After Thanksgiving dinner, start a new family tradition by whipping out a gingerbread house for the whole family to decorate; just set it where everyone can eyeball it and add a jellybean or licorice twist as they feel like it.

“Making a gingerbread house is way easier to do than you’d think,” says Christina Brand. And she’d know. Christina, a Grand Prize winner of the legendary National Gingerbread House competition that’s held at the Grove Park Inn in Asheville every year, appears frequently on HGTV and the Food Network with her gingerbread creations and has a new book, How to Build a Gingerbread House.

Christina recommends baking the gingerbread one day and letting it cool—”Use really flat cookie sheets and racks—the flatter it stays as it cools, the easier it will be to work with,” she says—and then putting the house together the next day. “Royal icing is absolutely key—it sets practically like cement.

Use powdered eggs whites to be safe if you have little kids; you know they won’t be able to resist a taste! Put together the walls first and hold them up with cans. Once they’re dry, add the roof.

“The whole point is to have fun, though, so if you don’t want to bake gingerbread, just use graham crackers.”

She’s also seen matzo bread used to make a Hanukah house. (These kind of houses are particularly good for children’s parties where each kid decorates and takes home their own house—you can even use royal icing to just glue crackers around small boxes for an extra-sturdy version.)

Then go to town. Christina likes to challenge kids to use stuff that’s already in the pantry. “I’m always amazed at how creative they are,” she says. Frosted Miniwheats make instantly snowy roofs; Neco wafers are good “tiles”, or use pretzel rods to make a log cabin. The fluffiest snow comes from flaked coconut, and Rollo candies can be used for flower pots. Her most unusual tip, though, is to use chewing gum for windows. “If you use yellowy gum it looks as if the lights are on—it’s really pretty,” she says.