Gingerbread Houses

These are last years pictures because I forgot to take some this year.

I know, I know. You guys probably already think of me as the "crazy craft lady", so I am going to give you more reason to think that.

This is the 3rd year I have had my 2 nephews and my daughter make gingerbread houses. They enjoy coming up with new designs every year. We do the same basic house each year, but change decorations/candy. (Actually we mostly use the stale stuff that we find in our cabinets.)

First you start with a sturdy base. It can be a board, cutting board or even sturdy cardboard (tape 2-3 pieces together to make it sturdier.)

We use this recipe for "glue". It is edible; however, since we use stale crackers and candy we don't eat much of it.

Layout all of your crackers and candy. I forgot. We just use graham crackers for the house. We haven't ventured out to actually make them out of gingerbread. Every year we talk about buying those kits, but haven't done that either.

I find it easier to build the house for my daughter. My one nephew likes to try building his own and he always uses too much glue. It ends up falling apart because the glue can't dry. Besides, I think the kids like decorating it the most. After I build the house, I glue it to the base.

Now it is time to glue the candy/decorations to the house and the "yard". When all the decorating is done, we put marshmallow creme on the yard to make it look like snow.

That's it! I know it sounds like a lot, but the kids love it. And seriously, I think I LOVE IT MORE THAN THEY DO!

Gingerbread Houses

http://momnaction.blogspot.com/2009/12/gingerbread-houses.html