Gum drops and peppermints, M&Ms and skittles plus piping bags dripping with icing. These are just a few of much needed ingredients for a gingerbread house making party. Prepare for candy overload and gooey fingers plus loads of fun watching your kiddos assemble, decorate and sample their way towards creating this Christmas classic.
Party Decorations
To set the scene for the gingerbread making party, start with a festive backdrop. My backdrop was our fireplace, already done up for the holidays. I simply added a themed garland. The garland was created from a pre-made fabric tie garland. To coordinate it to the gingerbread theme, I tied in gingerbread ornaments. You can find an already created garland here.
Gingerbread Assembly
The centerpiece for the gingerbread house party is a ceramic cookie jar atop a re cake stand. I found this adorable Santa to stand next to the centerpiece. The rest of the gingerbread house party decorations come from the candies and toppings used to create the houses.
I purchased already assembled gingerbread houses at Target. The focus of the party then could be on decorating instead of frustration over trying to get the house to stay upright. In small paper red cups, I set out several types of candy; M&Ms, skittles, gumdrops, peppermints, gummy bears and sour patch ropes. The gingerbread houses came with tubes of icing so there was no need to make my own. Easy and simple.
Clean Up
To make party clean up a breeze, I wrapped the table in brown packing paper. To add a bit of color, I made a table runner out of candy cane striped wrapping paper. Using these cheap and easily accessible materials meant that when the gingerbread houses were finished I simply wadded up the paper and through it all in the garbage.
For more holiday fun, see our Christmas Movie Parties, North Pole Breakfast and our hot cocoa party posts.
Happy Adventuring, Rochelle