KINGSTON — In a shower of jellybeans and icing, employees at the Farm Kitchen have been helping North End families create memories and traditions, with the help of a little gingerbread and a lot of holiday cheer.

Its annual gingerbread house parties concluded Dec. 17, leaving a trail of candy and crumbs behind happy customers, and a new batch of contentment for Farm Kitchen co-owners Hollis Fay and Anne Thatcher.

“I didn’t do it as a kid,” Fay said of building gingerbread houses. “We started these parties because we thought it would be a fun event for families and friends, and that it would turn into a holiday tradition for a lot of people. I think it has now.”

This was the seventh year the parties took place at the Farm Kitchen, and many children who started out in the early years are now annual visitors, often pestering their parents to take them to a gingerbread house building session, Fay said.

“We’ve watched these kids grow up over the years,” she said. “But we also have had a lot of newbies this year. It’s fun because more often than not, those families and friends tend to make this a traditional part of their holidays.”

In preparation for the parties, Farm Kitchen employees mix hundreds of pounds of gingerbread batter, and Fay purchases between 700-800 pounds of candy to decorate the structures, she said. Each year, there is a certain kind of candy gingerbread construction workers prefer over all the others — this year it was spiced gumdrops.

“It blindsides us every year,” Fay said. “We try to prepare for it, but it’s hard to say which candy will strike people.”

Residents get as creative as they can while working on their houses, Fay added. She’s seen everything from hot tubs to extra porches to gingerbread men fishing in the front yard. All of it delights her, too, because one of the biggest reasons she started the gingerbread house parties was to promote creativity.

“This is an event where people can come and be all in the same place when they create, and build off of each other’s ideas,” Fay said. “Also, most people who love candy can come and have a little blitz. Most parents relax the candy rules for their kids, and everyone’s just relaxed and having fun.”

She said this year a man brought in his neighbors, a family with several small children, who had been struggling with misfortune. It was his Christmas gift to them, to kick back and enjoy some time without worry, Fay said.

“That’s what this time of year is all about,” she said. “Decorating gingerbread houses allows everyone to be on the same page.”

For gingerbread house builders who missed the parties, the Farm Kitchen puts together kits allowing for the same memory-making in the home. Though, Fay adds, they won’t have the same cleanup service the Farm Kitchen provides.