Make your Christmas extra magical this year! Learn How to Host a Gingerbread House Party that really rocks!
I started our Gingerbread House tradition 7 years ago. Paul and I had just met and this tradition began as a way to bring our two family’s together. For me Christmas is all about family and traditions. The traditions that we had when I was a kid are the fondest memories that I have when I remember Christmas’ past.
Divorce is never easy…especially for the kids. They have to deal with so much change and that can be so difficult around the Holidays. Old traditions change and the kids are pulled in different directions. I wanted to begin a new tradition to help put a a little magic back into Christmas for everyone.
Seven years later and our little Gingerbread House Party has turned into a wonderful “Family” tradition! It now includes other family members and friends too!
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I’ve learned a few things over the years about How to Host a Gingerbread House Party that really rocks. Here are a few of my tips:
- I go a little crazy in the candy department but you can definitely have a great party with no matter how much candy you buy. Try to find the best deals on candy and other toppings. I usually buy generic brands when I can to save money.
- Use clear plastic cups to put all of your candy in. Make sure you have at least two cups of each candy especially if you have a large party. That way no body is fighting over one cup.
- SET UP PLASTIC DROP CLOTHS UNDER THE TABLE AND CHAIRS!! As you can imagine things can get a bit messy. The drop cloth may not catch everything dropped but it will collect most making clean up a whole lot easier.
- Cover your table with a plastic table cloth. Your table will get even messier than the floor. After your party is over just scoop up the table cloth with the crumbled bits of candy, wrappers and icing and toss it out.
- Disposable plastic pastry bags work the best for holding your icing. (Click here for the Amazon link for the bags that I use.) Last year I started using Icing Bag Ties as well. They are a little rubber band that you attach to the top of the bag to seal it. It prevents icing from oozing out of the wrong end when your piping. ( Click here for the link for the bag ties.) These supplies can also be purchased in stores with a cake supply section like Michaels, Hobby Lobby or Walmart.
- Use cardboard cake boards to build your Gingerbread Houses on. (Click here for the link for the cake boards I use.) I like to get at least a 12 inch board so that there’s room to create a yard around your house. (Make sure you attach your house to the board with your icing so that it doesn’t slide off.)
- I use disposable aluminum baking tins to store all of the Gingerbread parts until we’re ready to use them. They are a good size to fit all of the pieces.
- This year I had a little help with the set up from my daughter. She was truly a God send! She even set up this awesome turn table with all of the candy on it. It was such a great idea! It made it much easier for everyone to get to the candy of their choice. It’s not a necessity but it definitely made things easier.
Click here for my recipe and pattern for making your own Gingerbread.
Over the years we’ve had lots of family and friends join us. I always like to make sure I have plenty of Gingerbread for extra guests. It’s nice to have extra in case of breakage too.
Here are some of this year’s guests hard at work and their finished works of art!
Max is doing a great job overseeing the work here!
Paul even lost the “Grinch” hat this year and decided to join in the fun! It was the first Gingerbread House he ever made! Love it!
I love the creativity that everyone has!
I love the marshmallow smoke coming out of this little Tootsie Roll chimney! So imaginative!
Go Pats!
Last year my daughter’s friend had a little Gingerbread House catastrophe. Too much candy and too much icing led to a roof collapse! It didn’t stop him from completing his house last year though or from coming back to create this masterpiece this year! Nice work!
Drum roll please! Here is Paul’s first ever Gingerbread creation! Excellent work! Congratulations on losing your “Grinch” hat and letting your heart grow three sizes this year! 🙂
Now for the secret ingredient on How to Host a Gingerbread House Party that really rocks!
Christmas spirit!
Do you decorate Gingerbread Houses? I’d love to know what your favorite candies for decorating are. Leave me a comment below and tell me all about your favorite family tradition too! What’s your favorite family tradition?
If you follow me on Instagram make sure you tag me @familytabletreasures so I can see your Gingerbread creations!
Merry Christmas from our family to yours!
Here are the links to our other Gingerbread House Parties!
Very creative houses!! I love the tips you shared. Our kids are much younger so I’ve always found it helpful to have a few extra “stations” to go to after they’ve finished their house otherwise they will go crazy in the house! We have a fun candy cane ring toss game, some random Xmas crafts, etc! Love Christmastime!
Good idea! I remember those days. Gotta keep them busy! Merry Christmas! 🙂
We have a yearly party too. My sister, mom and nieces help me bake on the Monday Noholiday and we host the party the Saturday immediately following Thanksgiving. We use corn syrup sugar and water to make a glue to build the house and attach it to the cakecircle cardboard base. We only use royal frosting for adding candies. Necco wafers and pez candies make great walkways. Shredded mini wheats make great snowy roof tiles. We have guests bring different candies of their choice every year
Such great memories! Thanks for adding your tips. Love the Necco wafer and Pez candy ideas!
I love this idea!! I actually came to look at ideas because we wanted this to be our Christmas tradition as well. We are a blended family and like you said, change can be hard on the kids. Thank you for all the tips! We are planning on inviting friends to do this with us next year.
My pleasure! It’s such a fun tradition…I hope to all enjoy it as much as we have! This was our 10th year doing it! Have fun creating lots of memories with your family!
We’ve done one every year since 2008. This year we plan to drop off kits at friends houses so we can do a virtual decorating party. Because we typically have some younger children and a few with special needs I build the houses ahead of time. A few years ago I bought a cookie cutter set that saves a lot of time. I set out bowls of icing and the kids spread it on one side at a time and decorate.
Favorite candies include Andie’s, skittles, and mini candy canes.
As “Gramma”, gingerbuilding parties are a great way to get all the little cousins together.ast year we were just too busy to squeeze it into the holidays, so invited all the kiddos up in the springtime, and built gingerbread birdhouses! It was a great way to take advantage of all the Easter candy sales and during clean up all the kiddies could go play in the park or run in the sprinkler!