The Gingerbread Lady

Patti Hudson, affectionately known as “The Gingerbread Lady” of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, is a professional home economist who has established a business, written a book and produced a DVD and three videos based upon her experiences in creating and teaching gingerbread housemaking to students of all age groups.

Patti’s first gingerbread house was built over thirty years ago.  A family holiday tradition of building gingerbread houses was started with her two children, John and Linda.  She began to receive many requests for reproductions of her creations by people who saw the family houses.

As Patti’s reputation spread, she was overwhelmed by requests to produce individual gingerbread houses and to teach her gingerbread art.  Demonstrating and teaching workshops occupied the greater portion of Patti’s business, as she has traveled from New York to Texas and has judged many local and national gingerbread competitions. Her annual holiday lecture demonstrations and workshops at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. were so popular that February Valentine classes were added.  In 1988, Patricia Hudson was made a member of the Faculty of the Resident Associate Program of The Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. where she taught for eight years.

The Gingerbread Lady has appeared in many newspaper articles in the Lancaster newspapers, The Washington Post and The Wall Street Journal.  National magazines that have featured The Gingerbread Lady include Americana, Good Food, Pennsylvania Magazine, the Smithsonian and People Magazine.  Patti has been featured on WGAL TV-- PM Magazine, Thursday Live and the Evening News. She was interviewed on TV News in Washington, D.C., and appeared in a Smithsonian Christmas program shown on national PBS.

Patti has produced a DVD, GIngerbread Housemaking with the Gingerbread Lady, which combines programs from her three videos: The Joy of Gingerbread Housemaking, The Gingerbread House, and Gingerbread Land. "Highly Recommended" by VIDEO LIBRARIAN magazine. New segments in the DVD include: the Cookie Cottage (a no-bake gingerbread house), a Sing-along for children with three original gingerbread houses and creations to enjoy and to generate ideas for the viewer's creativity. Segments of the gingerbread videos have been feature on TV in Lancaster and Scranton-Wilkes Barre, PA and on Maryland PBS. Patti's Gingerbread Ideas book is a perfect companion to the DVD and videos. The 128-page book is now in its 5th printing. Gingerbread Ideas includes recipes, full-size patterns, step-by-step instructions on how to make gingerbread houses and cookie cottages with examples shown in full color, and activities for children.