5,000 Pounds of Candy Ensure Sweet Success For Tri Delta’s Cookies & Castles

Following a jam-packed schedule during the jolliest season of all, I decided to review the holiday mayhem *at a glance* and determine the best family-friendly activities. (What was worth it? What was lame?) I conducted a highly scientific study, and by that, I mean I simply asked my friends’ kids, “What was your favorite Christmas event in December?” (There was a lot to choose from!)

A runaway favorite? Tri Delta’s Cookies & Castles.

The Dallas Alumnae Chapter of Tri Delta hosts Cookies & Castles, which they describe as “a multigenerational Gingerbread Extravaganza.” The Gingerbread Extravaganza includes both a Ladies Luncheon and a Family Day with multiple seatings. 

Cookies & Castles follows Don Draper’s adage to “make it simple but significant.” The premise is simple: The Tri Delta gals (led this year by Cookies & Castles chairwomen Anna Lee Painter and Elizabeth Sacks) supply everything you could possibly need to decorate a gingerbread house; you leave the mess behind. “Everything you could possibly need” includes a fully-assembled (sturdy!) gingerbread house, icing packets, and a buffet of 5,000 pounds of candy.

Most importantly, Cookies & Castles raises essential funds for its primary beneficiary, the prosthetics department of Scottish Rite for Children, where both events take place every December. To date, Cookies & Castles has raised more than $1.4 million to ensure that Scottish Rite can fulfill its mission of providing world-renowned pediatric orthopedic care that “gives children back their childhood, regardless of the family’s ability to pay.”

As a Tri Delta myself, I always attend the Ladies Luncheon, which kicks off the festivities on a Friday. Isn’t it great that they offer this option for adult women to decorate a gingerbread house, sans children? Very little eating occurs at the “luncheon” because the gals (in their Cookies & Castles-supplied aprons) are ready to get down to business. Some even bring their own accessories to level up their house even further. Every year, I spy at least one hot glue gun for those who don’t have the patience for fickle frosting. It’s not *not* competitive.

The candy bar showcases a thoughtful menu of options that extend beyond the obvious. We’re talking window pane pretzels, Kellogg’s Frosted Mini-Wheats (that make the best lightly dusted roof shingles), and heaps of shredded coconut for snow. It’s particularly nice to have the exact quantity of everything you need readily available for your artistic license. Of course, guests can indulge their sweet tooth and taste-test their supplies as they work. Upon departure, you package up your gingerbread house in a cellophane bag, pop it in your Cookies & Castles tote, and hit the valet. Simple, but significant.

The real (merry) mayhem occurs the following day, on Saturday, with two seatings for Family Day. From the anecdotal data I collected, children absolutely love Cookies & Castles. And what’s not to love? Tables lined with gingerbread houses! Candy as far as the eye can see! Unlimited frosting! Photos with Santa! I imagine the hardest part is parents resisting the urge to art-direct their children’s aesthetic choices. (Maybe that’s how the Ladies Luncheon was born?!)

At Cookies & Castles, the Dallas Alumnae Chapter of Tri Delta creates holiday magic for all ages that delivers year after year. I’m already scheming my gingerbread house design plans for next year…