Gingerbread House Photo Gallery

Every year at Christmas time my kids decorate gingerbread houses. This is something that usually happens on Christmas Eve because we like for our efforts to remain intact for Santa, and assembling them any earlier presents too much temptation. However, this year, thanks to me teaching a couple of "mommy and me" gingerbread house decorating classes, my kids had the opportunity to do a couple of practice houses.

My older son graciously volunteered to help me out with both classes and did most of the demonstrating for me. I'd like to share his efforts since we left these houses at the class venues for the staff to enjoy instead of bringing them home.

Front of house

Above is the front view of the first house he decorated. I think he made the doors and windows before deciding to have the whole house covered in snow. Below is a side view. The lights are actually candy sprinkles in the shape of Christmas tree lights. It took a lot of work and patience for him to place them on the roof.

Side

This is the back view of the house.

Back of house

The snow must not have drifted very much on this side of the house. But it still has loads of lights on the roof.

Other side

Because we ran out of the candy shaped like Christmas tree lights, on his second house he used those candy fruit slices to make a colorful mosaic pattern on the roof. Each fruit slice was cut into quarters, and then gum drops line the roof edge. The trees are green shaped marshmallows.

Side

Here's the front of that house. Note that the snow/icing was spread before the decorations were added this time, and I love the dangling icicles. Pretzel sticks are great for making doors, window frames, and thatched roofs. Shredded wheat cereal also works well as a thatched roof, especially the frosted kind because then you already have a light dusting of snow.

Front

Here's the other side. The dangling colorful candy are Mike and Ikes. Gobstoppers, fruit loops, and life savers candy were also used. You can see a photo of my original gingerbread candy stash on my "Gearing Up for Gingerbread House Season" post.

Other side

What all are you guys making this year? I'll try and get our other stuff posted soon. So far I've made Hazelnut Truffle Squares, Chocolate Nut Yum Yums, and the sugar cookie dough is in the refrigerator just begging me to roll it out, go to it with seasonal cookie cutters, and bake it. So I guess I'd better get to it!