Dine Inside This Life-Sized Gingerbread House

In what may prove to be an inspired ploy by a pack of sugar-loving youths, the Westin Austin Downtown is collecting unwanted candy to help crowdsource the building process for their life-sized gingerbread dining room, which will be big enough to seat 12 (presumably also life-sized) people.

Last year’s gingerbread house sat six people, and this year the capacity is up to 12. (Courtesy of Westin Austin Downtown)

While the gingerbread dining room has been in the works for some time, the good folks at the Westin came up with the candy donation concept while in the final stages of planning and thinking up designs. Aside from the environmental benefits of finding a use for all that unwanted sugar, there’s something kind of poetic about all these sugary treats finding a new home instead of gathering dust until you eventually toss them out.

The gingerbread restaurant is an extension of the hotel’s restaurant, Stella San Jac, and will serve holiday menu items for lunch and dinner. Reservations are available now. The hotel will be also be donating a portion of proceeds to Back on My Feet, a local nonprofit that combats homelessness through the power of running, community support, and essential employment and housing resources.

Courtesy of Westin Austin Downtown

Maybe you’re diabetic or trying to avoid refined sugar. Maybe your palate has aged out of needing to consume a full pound of Snickers in one sitting. Or maybe you fell victim to a last-minute rush to stock up for Halloween, leading to some questionable candy purchases. And even if you’re a full-blooded candy lover, everybody has that one sugary treat they just don’t care for. Whether it’s those weird strawberry-wrapped hard candies beloved by senior citizens, those tasteless sugary rainbow dots, or even highly picturesque but totally inedible Necco wafers, we’re sure you can think of at least one confection you’re not particularly fond of.

Instead of hiding it away on the top of a kitchen cabinet, letting it languish at the bottom of your purse, or trying to foist it on your unsuspecting friends, donate old candy to the Westin where it can be part of something bigger, and more delicious, in its new home sweet home.

The crowd sourcing candy program is running up until the opening day of the Gingerbread dining house on November 19.