By Derrick Warren, News Staff

While students prepare for finals, Northeastern’s Dining Services is making room for its 12th annual Gingerbread House Construction Contest, and this year the competition that requires more than 1,000 pounds of candy and 600 pounds of frosting is expected to be one of the most elaborate Northeastern has ever seen.

The competition always takes place on the reading day, which is today. Marketing Director and Xhibition Kitchen Coordinator Debra Fantasia said the competition started when the Levine Market Place in Stetson East was under construction. The houses were a great way to add holiday cheer to the dining hall under renovation, and Dining Services found the competition such a success its first year that they decided to keep it as a way to help students relieve stress during finals, said Fantasia.

Constructing gingerbread houses may sound like fun, but planning for one of Dining Services’ most anticipated traditions involves a lot of preparation. Fantasia said her staff starts making orders for the gingerbread houses in the summer. This gives Dancing Deer, the all-natural baking company that provides the pre-built houses advance notice about the competition.

Summer is also a good time to market the competition to incoming freshman. This year Dining Services shared a short video with incoming freshman at summer orientation sessions to get them excited for one of the many programs it hosts throughout the semester. For students who want to learn more about the competition, the video can be found on YouTube.

Alondrea Rodgers, a freshman communications and theater major, who remembers the video from her orientation said, “I think it’s a good way to bring all the students together, and those who always wanted to do something artsy have a chance to participate in something that will get people excited for the holidays.”

Northeastern’s Dining Services also promotes the competition through its Facebook account, flyers around campus, posts to its Northeastern dining site and on digital screens throughout the dining halls.

This year the competition moves to Stetson West. The change comes after many students ran out of room to decorate their houses in the atrium of Stetson East. Now that the competition is moving to Stetson West, Fantasia said she the competition will be more cohesive and students will feel more connected.

On Dec. 6 students entered in the competition will have from 3 p.m. to 8 p.m. to construct their masterpieces. Last year students used their creative skills to build amazing houses like the Hogwarts gingerbread house and a gingerbread house made to resemble a lighthouse, which  included a tower completely made out of rice cakes.  Contestants are also allowed to bring additional material for their houses as long as they’re edible. Last year the winner of the competition modeled a gingerbread house from The House from “Up.”

After the houses are complete they move over to the Xhibition Kitchen adjacent to Stetson West. Once there Dining Services transforms the area into the “Gingerbread Village.” The entire Northeastern community will have the chance to see them on display on Dec. 7 and Dec. 10.

The winners of the Gingerbread House Construction Contest are selected by students and staff of Northeastern. During the “Gingerbread Village” there will be a sheet for everyone to vote for their favorite houses and the popular vote will decide the winner. Dining Services is also posting all the houses online to its Facebook account where everyone will have access to vote. The votes from Facebook will be combined with the popular vote to determine the overall winner.

Everyone in the competition receives a free T- shirt. However, the top three contestants receive cash prizes of $50, $75 and $100. Dining services has decided on two charities to donate money to this year; they will match the winner’s amount and donate the money to the charity of their choice. The completed gingerbread houses will then be taken to Rosie’s Place, a local shelter to bring holiday cheer to children.

Whether in the competition or not students always look forward to  seeing the completed  gingerbread houses. Even Fantasia herself who has been working with the competition for many years still loves getting ready for the competition as much as the contestants.

“My favorite part of the competition is seeing all the kids excited,” Fantasia said. “They are de-stressing for what will be a busy week.”