Gingerbread Houses 101

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The kids and I have been making gingerbread houses for years. Probably 7 or 8 years with Elizabeth, Sam and Georgia and I made them with Hayley when she was a wee girl too.

Many, many moons ago I tried making, cutting, baking and assembling my own gingerbread house from scratch. It was a disaster, a first world disaster to be sure, but a disaster none-the-less.

Gingerbread Log Cabin

I have, ever since, bought the kits you see in every grocery store and of course Michaels. Most of them are right around the $10 mark, and very easy to assemble.

I used this gingerbread house kit this year to create the house above. It was just $8.99. A steal really.

The kits are cute and all, and if you just buy a kit and nothing else you’ll have created a super cute gingerbread house and more importantly some great memories to go with it for your children.

However, why not take it a step further and use the kit as the base for an even more elaborate creation? For about $10 extra you can create a gingerbread to call your own! Your kids will love you for it.

Here are a few ideas from this year’s model.

Mint Leaf Gummy Candy Evergreen

This evergreen tree is made by stacking 4 Spearmint Leaf candies. The first 3 were stacked and rotated, the four and top candy was cut in half with the pointed end of the leaf pointing up.

Hot Tamales Candy Chimney

This kit didn’t come with a chimney and every log cabin needs a chimney. You can build one out of Hot Tamales cinnamon candies and frosting. It’s easy … or if you prefer you can use graham wafers and cereal like we did last year.

Sour Whips Doors and Windows

Sour Whips purchased at Dollarama were used to make the green siding, window interior and even the roof shingles. These candies are similar to Betty Crocker’s Fruit Roll Ups, which were also used along the roof line and around the chimney base.

Sour Whips Shingled Roof & Siding

Logs for the base of the house were made using Rondoletti Cafe Style Cream Wafers (available at Canada Safeway).

Do you ever make a gingerbread house? I’d love to see pictures if you do. I’m always looking for new ideas.


3 Comments

Headless Mom · December 14, 2011 at 10:45 pm

My kids make them at school and we’ve even done it here once. Necco wafers make good roof shingles and ’tiles’ for a walkway to the door. There are pretzels that look like windows that I’ve used before. I’ll have to do some digging and see if I’ve ever posted any pictures of them!

One of these days I want to attempt a giant one like the ones that go to competition. I think it would be fun to do!

MommyKnows · December 14, 2011 at 10:57 pm

@Headless Mom, I think a big one would be so much fun. I’ll have to work up the nerve to move past the kits though!

Hannah · December 16, 2011 at 2:20 am

Amazing! They look great, Kim. We are yet to decorate a gingerbread house here. I’d love to do it, but not sure if I’d have the time … does it take ages?

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