Gingerbread houses help Santa give toys

Last year, employees of the Blockbuster Video store in the Fred Meyer parking lot made gingerbread houses decorated with candy sold in the store, and they never imagined the response they got from customers. This year, spurred on by that positive response, the employees again made the houses -- this time for charity.

Thirteen gingerbread houses, decorated with a wide assortment of candies, are up for bid in the store. All the money raised through the sales is being donated to Toys for Tots.

"Last year people kept asking us if they could buy them, but they weren't for sale," said manager Nicole Gdula. "So this year, we decided to put them up for bid and then donate the money. We've already been getting a lot of bids for them."

The gingerbread houses are decorated only with candy sold in the Blockbuster store.

"We've got candies that you can't get anywhere else in the Valley, and some you can't get anywhere else in the state, and that's one reason we started it last year," Gdula said.

Among the 13 houses is a Blockbuster replica store, an A-frame cabin complete with fence railings and a house that features an "icing Santa" sliding down the chimney, while a boy tries to climb the roof. The sweet concoctions feature the usual candies -- lots of gumdrops and Jelly Belly beans -- as well as some unusual creations.

"We took the whirleypops and crushed them up in a blender to get the 'rocks' for some of them," Gdula said. Gdula said many of the employees took the bare houses home and worked on them with their families -- and the children of the employees got into the decorating act as well.

The bidding ends on Dec. 22, to give people a chance to come pick up the gingerbread houses before Christmas.