PELHAM – Dozens of families participated in the age-old Christmas tradition of making gingerbread houses at the Pelham Public Library on Thursday, Dec. 6.

Children lined both sides of a long white table inside of the program room at the library, selecting the perfect candies to use as decoration for their gingerbread houses. The possibilities were endless with candy canes, gumdrops, Skittles, peppermint, M&Ms and plenty of other candies to choose from.

Some kids were all smiles as they stuck their candies onto their houses, while others concentrated intently on making sure each piece of candy was perfectly placed.

Parents paid $5 in advance for each gingerbread house decorated. The affordability is one of the reasons Pelham residents Sarah Cook and Johanna Maldonado decided to bring their 11-year-old daughters, who are friends, to the event.

“It’s an inexpensive thing to do and it’s close to home,” Cook said.

Maldonado added that the wide variety of candy allowed the kids to use their imaginations and be creative. Pelham resident April Hammel said the event marked her and her two sons’ first time attending the event and visiting the new library.

“We decided to come because building gingerbread houses at home is a lot harder than it seems,” she said with a laugh. “We’ve tried it before and we couldn’t get the structure to stay together. I like that the library does all of the hard parts and I don’t have to worry about cleaning up. That was definitely a factor.”

Hammel said she was impressed by the library and would come back again to see what else it has to offer.

In a week’s time, families had four different opportunities to participate in a gingerbread house making class. Library specialist Allison Moore said a total of 98 people signed up to participate in the classes. Moore said this is one of the library’s more popular Christmastime events, along with Snack Time with Santa.

This year marked the first time the event was held in the new library. With a bigger library, Moore was able to add an extra class, and the larger space allowed her to add a cleaning station and a decorated table with a scenic background where families could take photos with their creations.

“Overall, it’s just a better lay out,” she said. “People can group together easier without tripping over each other.”

The milk cartons used as the base of the gingerbread houses were donated by Barber’s Dairy. The company’s Birmingham office donated 1,800 milk cartons to the library, which is enough for years to come.