DIY Gingerbread House

I love Gingerbread Houses! I love planning party thru Gingerbread House displays during the holidays. We try to make our own Gingerbread House every year, it’s one of our Christmas traditions. We’ve made them using store bought kits as well as making our own out of graham crackers and candies. In either case our houses never quite look like the pictures, possibly because we never read all the directions. Nonetheless we have lots of fun making them and the kids love to munch on them.

Image by Savvy Nana

Here are a few recipes to make your own Gingerbread House and some ideas to inspire you. Whether you decide to make your own building materials or use a kit you buy from the grocery or discount store enjoy the activity, and remember you’re limited only by your imagination! One year at my daughter-in-law’s annual company Christmas party the main event was a Gingerbread House building contest. My son, who along with the rest of us, has a very competitive streak got a bit carried away with their house and built a large patio with swimming pool. Alas he didn’t win,. He claims his loss was due to lack of time and his pool was left unfinished.

If you decide to make one out of Graham Crackers here’s a tutorial from Meet Penny.

Nancy Clinton who make displays for Chicago Botanical’s annual Wonderland Express makes a fragrant no back gingerbread dough to use on her trains. This dough can be used to make ornaments, gingerbread houses, and even fake cinnamon sticks! Click here to learn how to make this dough.

If you really want to make everything from scratch the traditional way here’s a great tutorial from Frog Prince Paperie.

Once you’ve made your gingerbread, you’re going to need "glue". Even when we used the kits we still had to make our own icing, there was never enough in the kit.

Here’s Kid’s Activities Blog’s "secret" recipe for Gingerbread Glue.

Who says you need to use Gingerbread to make a house? Not the folks from Worth Pinning.

They made these cool Log Cabins from Pretzel Rods!

Learn how here!

And who says they need to be BIG? Not Martha will show you how to make these cute gingerbread houses to perch on your mug of cocoa. Kids and adults will love them!

You can decorate your house with lights made from candies. Learn how to make them on Bit Rebel.

You can use grape branches dipped in chocolate for your trees.

Learn how from Artisan Cake Company.

Or you can make trees from waffle cones. Learn how from the Discount Queens.

You can even make these adorable Teddy Sleighs from Tip Junkie.

And what gingerbread house would be complete without candy trains. Learn how to make them using a roll of lifesavers from Passion for Savings.

Maybe one day with enough practice your house could look like this and win the Best in Show at the Boston Christmas Festival!

Hi! I’m Carmina, also known as Nana. I love DIY projects, parties, crocheting, and traveling. I hope that you enjoy my posts and find them useful! If you have any ideas or suggestions I’d love to hear from you!