ARLINGTON — Gingerbread houses might be more of a Christmas staple.

But Karla Benjamin and Charleen O’Neal saw great enthusiasm for building “edible haunted houses” out of Graham crackers and Halloween candies at the Arlington Boys & Girls Club Oct. 29.

“We’ve been trying to focus on more projects for teens and tweens,” said Benjamin.

She debuted the activity for the Arlington Arts Council, drawing a dozen kids between the ages of 10-17, after she’d conduced it successfully in other communities. “All the kids have loved it so far.”

Siblings Sam and Ali Giles had built gingerbread houses before, as part of the Scouts.

So they applied the lessons they’d learned to create structures that could withstand the car trip home.

Their houses held secret compartments of candy inside. Both have a sweet tooth for candy corn.

“I’m using the frosting as mortar to give the ground floor double-walls for more strength,” Sam said.

By contrast, Ali was more flexible in her designs, borrowing ideas from other builders to ensure the stability of her house.

Suzanne Williams helped her son, Jacob, build his own house.

“I’m a bit of a perfectionist,” she laughed. Her recipe for success involved lots of frosting.

“The more candy, the more the merrier,” said Kegan Main, one of Sam’s classmates, as he finished his own house.

Given the enthusiasm and skill that this year’s crowd of kids demonstrated, Benjamin wondered whether to award “best of” categories to each house next year.