Gingerbread season is finally upon us! Making a gingerbread house has been a tradition in our home as long as I can remember. It’s such a festive holiday activity and it makes a wonderful decoration too! Some of the holiday creations you see are amazing and elaborate, but that’s not a requirement to construct a cheerful, cookie dwelling for your home! They can be simple and imperfect and still bring holiday joy to your celebrations all season long. Today I want to share a fun idea I decided to try this year and hope you’ll find some inspo and encouragement to give building a gingerbread house a try! You can hide a multitude of ginger-oopsies with all sorts of goodies…so take a peek at my imperfect holiday joy! Let the construction begin…
it’s gingerbread season!
i love a gingerbread kit and there’s no shame in that! grab a tray filled with cookies crackers, candies, nuts–anything goes! you may not use it all but have it all nearby…
ready-made kits are so convenient and they still smell like you baked them fresh! you can even find them already constructed!
shortbread cookies dusted with edible glitter will fill the window openings. a little hot glue will hold them in place…
i used hot glue to construct my frame as well! easy, quick, & if you have kids helping this is a game changer! just have adults use the hot adhesive.
this year i decided to frost the entire house. use an offset spatula to give it a good coating!
decor tip:
start frosting your house on a piece of parchment paper. once you get the entire building frosted you can carefully lift & place it on your pedestal. don’t worry if you make some smudges, you can pipe over any errors later! you might get messy fingers but it will keep your cake plate tidy. if you use purchased frosting, remember it won’t set up hard like royal icing but it gives you much more time to work with your embellishments before it sets. it will still hold most candies in place with ease!
once i got the house completely coated i added cracker shingles, cookie doors & windows and herbs for holiday garland!
cake decor candies are darling and EASY embellishments! a hazelnut cookie straw makes a fun pole to decorate with a snowy owl perched on top!
decor tip:
i used hot glue to hold the “pole” in place. be sure you’re using a glass platter or pedestal if using glue on the surface. other materials could be damaged. a little sugar will cover any of the exposed glue and when you’re ready to throw the house away, the glue should pop right off. if you do have any trouble try placing the plate in the fridge to cool the glue before lifting it up with a small spatula
i reused one of the chimney pieces as a door and embellished it with some cereal. the “mistletoe” is thyme and red candy sprinkles…
you can pipe extra frosting anywhere you need to cover something you don’t like. add more cake decorations or candies & herbs and you can distract from any minor mistakes!
in the end, no one will notice the little imperfections and they’ll only see a house made with christmas love!
no matter how you create it…
enjoy the tradition to the fullest!!
pin for later~
