Gingerbread Decorations for your Decorating Party

Have you ever made a gingerbread house?

Last year, my 2-year old and I made super simple graham cracker gingerbread houses. I’m not even sure if you can call them gingerbread houses since they were made from graham crackers. Hmmm.

But making a real, bonafide gingerbread house: this was new territory for me, and I wasn’t prepared for how much trouble I would have with it.

After a few tears were shed and lessons learned, I thought I’d share my experience and a host of others so that you won’t have to go through the growing pains I went through.

Use a gingerbread house mold

To make our house, we started with a Gingerbread House Mold similar to this one (affiliate link). You simply make the dough and then press it right into the mold. Brilliant!

To make it even simpler, we made a batch of gingerbread with the recipe from the Trader Joe’s gingerbread baking mix. So easy.

My kids enjoyed pressing it into the mold and my 3 year old helped pop the cookies out once they cooled. So far, so good!

Candy Toppings for Gingerbread Houses

While the dough was cooling, we went candy shopping! Mmmm. This may have been the funnest part.

Since this was mostly new to me, I asked my Facebook friends for recommendations and they had the BEST ideas (clearly, my fans are professionals).

Are you ready for this?

Candy for Gingerbread House Decorating

gumdrops
M&M’s
marshmallows
mini candy canes
rainbow nerds
dried fruits and nuts
life savers
ribbon candy,
colored frosting
gingerbread men/trees to add to scene
pretzels for a fence
sweet tarts and those candy necklace candies
Christmas Captain Crunch with tree shapes
star shaped cookies from Trader Joe’s
skittles
jellybeans
cut out fruit strips into shapes
gingerbread shaped marshmallows
tootsie roll for a chimney, Pretzel squares for windows
crystal like sprinkles for a special touch of snow
sifted powdered sugar and cotton candy to look like snow
Twizzlers
red hots and mint
swirled red and white mints.

I made a batch of royal icing, the same way I made it for our gingerbread cookies, but I added a bit more powdered sugar to thicken it. Traditionally, royal icing is made with egg whites, but because I knew my kids would lick their fingers I opted to go with this meringue powder version instead.

RECIPE FOR ROYAL ICING

1/8 cup Meringue Powder
1/4 cup Cold Water
2 cups sifted Confectioners Sugar

Add water to meringue powder and beat until soft peaks form. Add sugar into the mixture and beat until it’s the desired consistency. Add more sugar for stiffer icing.