As we approach the final weekend of the 1st Annual DIY Ginerbread Challenge, we wanted to remind you all to get your entries in by 11:59 PM EST on Sunday December 18th. We'll be drawing a winner and announcing them on Monday's post. There's a $50 prize to Red Barn Mercantile up for grabs, and with only 11 entries so far, your odds of winning are pretty good. Don't forget to also take advantage of 15% off when you use the coupon code OLDTOWNHOME online at RedBarnMercantile.com or you mention our blog or "Wendy & Alex" when you shop in store.

But before we get to announcing the winner on Monday, we wanted to take a moment to look at several of the entries we've received already. Over the past week we've received a couple of really great houses...and some great non-houses too! Take a look at these wonderful examples of candy and baking construction.

First up is Ronnie's contribution from Drexel Hill, PA. He said it took him a week to make his masterpiece, but wow did it ever turn out great! Complete with ice skating gingerbread people, this house looks good enough to eat or live in -- you choose. I love the roof line, arched door, complementary windows, and pretty much everything about it! 

Next up is Kristi and her two daughters from Alexandria, Virginia who assembled this lovely house. I'd say it's an excellent use of frosting, especially the wreath with bow above the front door. Well done ladies.

Our first non-house entry is the 17th century sunken Swedish ship, the Vasa. Complete with some bone candy to represent some of the crew that went down with the ship, this is an atypical gingerbread house that really turned out wonderfully. Wendy and I were bummed that we didn't make a stop at this ship while we were in Sweden in October, but now we can sort of feel like we got to see it. :-)

The next entry is actually from our neighborhood gingerbread competition from last week. We'll have more info on it next week, but Katie and Colin really did a great job on this log cabin gingerbread house with rosemary thatched roof. It even had a custom pretzel chimney, how great is that?

And finally is10 year old Dillon's Greek-inspired structure complete with peppermint columns and rice crispy treat stairs. The use of materials is so creative and it even has interior lighting to really make it pop! I'm a big icing fan so I'm pretty sure this one takes the cake for best tasting.

What do you guys think of the highlighted entrants? Leave us your thoughts in the comments. 

Did you build a house this year? Perhaps you're going to be putting one together this weekend? Be sure to take a photo and enter to win our challenge.