Gingerbread Judging Sheet Maker

How do I run a gingerbread house judging?

Do the typing before the guests arrive, because the sheets are what the party runs on:

1. Type every entry name the way it should read on the sheet, one row each. The rows are numbered, and the ballots use the same numbers.
2. Pick a judging rubric: a classic four (craftsmanship, creativity, theme, overall), a detailed five that adds structure, or the kids’ party set. Retype any category name to match your own contest rules.
3. Print one scorecard per judge, as many ballot sheets as you need guests, and the award pages for after the counting. Cut the ballot sheet into its eight slips before the party; scissors and five minutes is the whole job.

At the party, the judges score every house from 1 to 10 in every category while the guests each tick one ballot. Total the scorecard rows at the end, and read the guests’ choice from the bowl. The evening ends with two winners: the judges’ champion and the people’s favorite.

If you also want music while the houses are being built, the Christmas caroling songbook prints a carol booklet from the same kind of one-evening plan.

What gets printed?

Two A4 pages as one file, plus the awards while the checkbox is ticked:

• The judge’s scorecard carries the contest name, the date, a judge line to write a name on, and one numbered row per entry. Each row has a score box for every category plus a total box, the tie rule in small print, and three notes lines for anything worth remembering (a collapsing roof, a daring candy roof, a judge who had to leave early). The sheet prints inside a green frame with a gingerbread man over the red title.
• The guest ballot sheet is eight identical slips in the same frame. Each slip lists every numbered entry with a circle to tick, so a slip works even after the scores on the scorecard have drifted. Cut along the box lines; one slip per guest.
• The awards are certificates in the same frame: first, second and third place with a line to write the winning house on, and one entrant certificate for every entry with its name printed. The place lines count your field (“a field of 6 houses”), so they say what your contest actually was. Untick the box to print just the scorecard and the ballots.

All pages come from the same entry list, so the numbers on the scorecard always match the numbers on the ballots and the names on the certificates.

How should judges score each house?

One pass per house, same order for every judge, scores written before the next house is discussed. A 10 should stay rare: craftsmanship asks whether the walls stand straight and the icing looks deliberate, creativity asks whether the design surprises, and theme asks whether the whole house tells one story. Because every category is scored 1 to 10, a tied total is broken by the last category, and that rule prints on the sheet so nobody argues from memory.

Printing tips

Print at 100 percent (actual size), on plain paper, one scorecard per judge. The ballot sheet prints eight slips per page, so twelve guests need two printed pages. Keep spare pens on the table; a judging sheet filled out in pencil has a way of being revisited.

For the rest of the season’s printables (wish lists, bag toppers for the reindeer’s treats, gift tags with a photo inside), the Christmas page lays out the whole bench. Children who are judging for the first time do well with the kids’ party rubric and a wish list of their own waiting at home.