Edible art

Photo by ALLIE GARZA

Chanel Rosenthal, 8, of Naples, is assisted in creating the base for her gingerbread house by Abby Dickson on Saturday, December 4, 2010.

BONITA SPRINGS — Sugar-frosted creativity could be seen at Roy’s Hawaiian Fusion on Sunday, as children came out to the restaurant to decorate gingerbread houses with friends and family.

Over four gallons of frosting was made by Roy’s chefs to create the glue that would keep the houses together. Nine families attended the event, creating 17 very different and unique gingerbread houses.

“This is our first year doing the gingerbread houses,” said Sandra Hon, managing partner at Roy’s. “It seems like everybody is having a good time.”

While children secretly stole pieces of candy for their own snack, parents and other family members helped the children construct the houses, creating a foundation of frosting which held the walls together.

For many children, construction wasn’t the highlight of the event, but rather, the decorating. Waiting on the homes to be completed by their parents, the patience of many children was tested.

“I didn’t like the construction part,” said David McDermott, 8, of Fort Myers. “Decorating was my favorite.”

Some houses had roofs with small tiles creating by the frosting. Others had Swedish fish adorning the walls.

“This is the first time a lot of people have made a gingerbread house,” Hon said.

The restaurant was also collecting unwrapped toys and stuffed animals to donate to Toys for Tots, taking $5 off the price of $25 per child who attended the event.

Chef Partner Jason Grasti, a recent addition to the Roy’s at Bonita Springs, has plans of doing more special events for the restaurant’s customers in the future.

“We just did a pumpkin carving class for Halloween and we’re thinking of maybe doing a cooking class around Easter,” he said.