Gingerbread Houses

I'm not sure I will ever add decorating gingerbread houses as an actual tradition, but it is fun to do on occasion. 

I bought a kit from Target with four mini houses. The problem is, there is a lot to be desired on the store bought kits. Not enough frosting. Not enough candy. And the house pieces have to be snapped apart before being assembled. I practically obliterated two of the houses before finding a sufficient method for getting the pieces apart without breaking the whole thing. And don't get me started on trying to use frosting to hold the house together!!! It's impossible. Tip #1, hot glue the houses together BEFORE the kids even see the activity. I also added extra candy we had on hand.

We broke the activity into two days. Two houses to decorate with Mom and Dad and two houses to decorate with Mandy. The smaller houses limited the time of the activity and by hot gluing the houses together, it saved sanity AND frosting to use for the decorating. 

Ivy was hilarious, she barely assisted but was super pleased to have access to several bowls full of candy. She kept saying, "ooh, I hun-gee for candy."

The kids had fun and it was a festive activity to fill a couple of afternoons.

Yum!