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Making gingerbread houses is one of our family’s favorite holiday traditions each December. For years, we’ve been making the easiest kid-friendly graham cracker gingerbread houses. If you teach little people, then there's a good chance that you've made milk-carton gingerbread houses.
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They have been hosting these adorable gingerbread house decorating parties for years and have lots of adorable decorating inspiration. Using a serrated knife, cut your graham crackers to the size of your house. I had never even thought of making a gingerbread house out of graham crackers until I was planning my daughter’s 3rd birthday. Making gingerbread houses right after Thanksgiving dinner was a tradition I started long ago. My kids, nieces and nephews just loved this activity while the adults were cleaning, watching football or in a turkey coma.
How to Make the Gingerbread Houses:
Each family brought an assortment of different candies (SO much candy!) and decorations, so we had a fun variety of options that were different than our usual fare. We met at a local park and gave everyone muffin tins filled with the ingredients to decorate their pre-assembled houses. The ingredients you need are divided up into two categories. The “must-have” ingredients and the “optional” ingredients.
Get The Kids Involved
To have it be even on both sides, count the dots down the side of the graham cracker. Use scrapbook paper or wrapping paper to create paper placemats for each placesetting. Then cut a piece of cardboard or use a paper plate for each child’s graham cracker gingerbread house. I hope you all had a fantastic Thanksgiving holiday with family and friends. As usual, Grandma outdid herself with the food, and we all overstuffed ourselves!
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A serrated knife is pretty crucial for cutting the graham crackers. Make sure to have a drop cloth in your workspace. Wait until they feel firm before adding the roof, about 5 minutes at room temp or 2 minutes in the fridge. Let house stand for 10 minutes at room temperature to set up completed before decorating (it will take less time in the fridge).
The must-have ingredients are the things you'll need to make the graham cracker gingerbread houses. The optional ingredients are suggested ideas to decorate the gingerbread houses. Make an EASY, foolproof graham cracker gingerbread house! Learn how to cut, glue, and create the cutest inexpensive gingerbread houses made from graham crackers. Making gingerbread houses is one of those holiday traditions that often seems like it’s going to be more fun that it actually is.
If the kids are too young to pipe on the royal icing themselves, it’s great to have an adult handling that for them. We actually never eat them after they are on display in our house during the holidays, so I use my trusty hot glue gun. But I’ve made them with royal icing as my glue and that works as well. Each house will use six Honey Maid graham crackers. Follow the template in the photo above to cut each side.
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If you do this on a small cutting board, you can pop the house in the fridge to help the white chocolate set up very quickly. Cut the other two graham crackers in half so you have four graham cracker halves and two graham cracker halves with triangle shapes on top (they will support the roof). And they have cried during holiday house making before. If you will be decorating houses with a young child (or if you are outnumbered by children), save yourself a lot of hassle and ASSEMBLE THE HOUSES IN ADVANCE.
Steps for Making It
We also used Wilton melting chocolates this year to add some extra decoration to the graham houses. The kids loved creating patterns with the melted white chocolate. You are going to cut two identical pieces for the front and back of the house. You are making two cuts to create a peak at the top of each cracker. I typically like to do this part on my own (but your kids can certainly help too). While I watch The Great British Baking Show (holiday edition, of course), I mix, cut and assemble at my leisure.
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I first took some mini marshmallows and covered them in food coloring. I used icing to attach this to the base as the trunk of the tree. Hold it with one hand and smash it into your other palm to make it more like a tree. When you are ready, use icing to attach it to the base and smash down the marshmallow, otherwise it might try to fall over. I decorated my tree but just sticking on some red circle sprinkles and put a yellow leaf sprinkle on top. Additionally, don’t forget to check out Pizzazzerie’s page for more graham cracker house ideas.
The little ones built the traditional gingerbread houses on Friday. We built one gluten-free house and six graham cracker houses. This delightful holiday tradition combines the charm of gingerbread houses with the simplicity and convenience of graham crackers. You could also opt to use store-bought frosting in lieu of the royal icing; however, the hold will not be as strong. (Trust me on this one!) Honey Maid graham crackers are sturdier, flatter, and much easier to cut than any of the other competitors (not to mention they taste a lot better, too!). These gingerbread houses are also a perfect way to liven up a Christmas party.
Invite friends and family to join the gingerbread house-building extravaganza. Everyone will bring one or two bags of their favorite candy to contribute and share. Not only will the laughter and cheer multiply, but splitting the candy cost makes this activity even sweeter (literally!). How will you be decorating your gingerbread house this year? Share your ideas and spread the warmth of this fun Christmas tradition.
To make the roof, attach the two last pieces to the top of the house. I use the canned frosting because it works perfectly, the kids can use a plastic knife or spoon to add the frosting to their candy, and I don’t have to make it. The sugar will start to crystallize first – just keep stirring. It took me about five minutes to completely melt the sugar. Keep in mind the sugar will start to harden immediately, so if you’re making quite a few houses you’ll want to warm it up intermittently as you go along. Don’t keep it over the heat the entire time as the sugar can start to burn.
The winning family gets a prize, which is usually a bag of candy. This is a simple page that requires no cutting or glueing. Because let's face it, on the days and hours leading up to break, things need to be kept as easy as possible. Did you ever use a milk carton to make these in elementary school? We did ours freestanding but I do understand why teachers and care takers opted to hot glue the crackers to a carton. Pair these with a mug hugger or enjoy with a hot cocoa stirrer or cocoa bomb and you have a full day of holiday baking festiveness that's actually easy.
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