so yeah…i chickened out of the REAL gingerbread house.
and yeah…we didn't make our houses until december 30.
but WE DID IT.
and they really loved it.
i tried to build the tiny houses with grahm crackers and my royal icing but they wouldn't hold.
sean asked "can't we just hot glue it?"
i laughed "NO sean…we can't hot glue them…WAIT…we could HOT GLUE THEM!!!"
i told sean he was a genius.
(and he remembers)
it worked.
i told them to cover the glue with frosting so it didn't look too dorky.
you do what you gotta do to make it work….right?
it's not like we were going to eat them anyway.
i LOVE group projects that start with everyone having the same materials.
and every single one turns out very different.
each personality shows on their work.
i was happy that scott joined in.
if there is candy involved…he is usually close by.
annie was on hour 21 of those princess jammies.
i had asked her to get dressed at noon and she said "but i'm just so cozy!"
true.
they turned out to be a very cute little gingerbread neighborhood.
there's a benefit to having five kids…your gingerbread houses make a whole block! 
annie covered her entire piece of cardboard with frosting and candy.
when she was finished she said "it looks like a gaw-den!" she was right.
a beautiful candy garden.
creative tree that talby made…her own idea completely.
and i loved the use of the swedish fish for a door!
the happiest house on the block. :)
Tracy - We too do our gingerbread houses after Christmas. It started a few years ago when I forgot that we bought the stuff, ran of time and then decided to make them on the 26th…we have been doing the same thing every year since.
judi - Love it! We never made ours this year at all – so now I am buying Valentine’s day candy and going to make a cupid cottage instead. I had thought about using hot glue – glad to see it worked. Will do that for sure. Also, since it won’t be edible – I like the glitter idea!
Jill - Hey… I whipped out the hot glue gun for our gingerbread houses this year too! Then I decided that since we already ruined the houses with glue, we might as well sprinkle glitter all over them too, you know, for sparkly snow? It was lovely and non-edible. Buddy, our chocolate lab, ate them anyway. There is glittery poop in my backyard now. The joys of the holidays! :o)
Kristine - hot glue IS genius! frosting not holding is exactly why i cringe at gingerbread houses. NO MORE! winter 2010 will be my year!
house for sale Philippines - Lovely gingerbread houses. Yummy 🙂
You guys are really great.
Deirdre G
Angelica Bays - Cute! And that dude of yours is gonna be a high-payin’ engineer someday ;o)
Kelli - I LOVE that you used hot glue! We too made ours after Christmas and got so frustrated that the house wouldn’t stay together! Guess we will have to use hot glue net year! Thanks for the tip! 🙂
Jaime Melcher - Love your gingerbread village! My mom hosted a huge gingerbread house- decorating party last Christmas & we used the trusty hot glue gun, as well. Worked like a charm!
Wanted to send a quick thanks for posting your yummy family recipes… I live in Little Rock and Mr. Weatherman says to expect the coldest weather we’ve seen in 15 years over the next 4 days. Needless to say, I’m stocking up at the grocery store today and plan on making your tortilla soup, potato soup and chocolate chip cookie bars! 🙂 Thanks and Happy New Year!
alyssa - Okay, I was able to vote for you over at the homies. You probably don’t care, but I wanted to make sure you knew. You know, just in case you picked me!
I am definitely making individual gingerbread houses next year. Why didn’t I think of that. Now Kade can destroy his own house! I love it.
Mrs. - Okay, what do I know? But…I know that if you add a GENEROUS helping of cream of tartar to your store-bought icing it makes it very thick and sticky (but NOT tasty). Also, if you think in advance, you can snag some of those empty kiddie milk cartons from school. If you “glue” your graham crackers to that base, they hold up really well.
Even so, yours are lovely. I wish we had done that (maybe next year), and maybe, because I have only 2 children, we can make it into a party and invite some friends. Boyo, I sure do have a lot of plans already for next year!
aubrey - You pick good candy–those look so good. Like as in tasty good. (And decorated nicely 🙂 )
Diana - Mmmmmm, hot glue… now that’s a genious idea!
ADORABLE houses!! They have their mama’s creativity! 😉
Kelly - uh, i’m the girl who once hot glued something to dirt . . . yeah. hot glue on gingerbread, Sean is a genius!
amanda - hot glued 25 for my son’s 2nd grade christmas party at school, also glued them to the chinaette(spelling?) plate – the kids loved them and no slipping, etc…love your blog!
Jaime - Glue gun was a great idea… who’da thunk it?
Love the pics… feels like I’m there with you all!
Becca Parker - Nothing wrong with hot glue! It is a miracle epoxy!
the inadvertent farmer - ROFL…yet another reason I could not live without my glue gun! Kim
christi - hi meg! i so love your blog!! thanks for all the beautiful photos and great stories. you are an inspiration to me.
Heather Giustino - LOL! We always hot glued ours too!!! Love the gingerbread neighborhood – too cute!
Sara - Love it! Whatever works, right? Upon a recommendation we made some with whipped frosting from a can – it actually worked really well. We did use a piece of yarn around the perimeter for stability, but other than that it was 100% edible! Pics are here: http://sarasdailydetails.blogspot.com/2009/12/ive-been-looking-for-something-fun-and.html
BTW, I don’t comment much, but I love your blog and it’s been such a great source of inspriation for me!!
Happy New Year!
MOW - Glue gun=genius idea…
Growing up me, my sisters and all my cousins would collect the little milk cartons from school, rinse them out, take them home, slap frosting on those, and then graham crackers and decorate! Just another way to keep it all together!
I’m 23, and gingerbread houses is a family tradition that I look forward to the most at Christmas!
purejoy - mmmmm… looks like deliciously good fun!
i’ve never tackled a gingerbread house with my kids. maybe next year. (i’ll have to get the sedatives before hand)
meaghan - okay…A. having 5 kids makes hauling all that stuff out so much more worth it, and 2. i made your rainbow cake today for my son’s 2nd bday!! it tastes even better than it looks (if possible)!
Traci - i think i see lemonheads. my favorite!!
gina - We made these and just used canned frosting that I had put in the fridge over night- it makes it very thick!. We also braced the roof with little stacks of candy instead of another piece of “gingerbread”.
Kelsey - haha totally used hot glue on my gingerbread house this year too!!
Courtney Walsh - I have never made one of these…but the problems it that I am a total candy junkie!! I would’ve eaten all those Mike and Ikes long before they were glued down!
Staci - We didn’t do gingerbread houses this year ;( Looking at the fun you guys had….I’m sad I didn’t just suck it up and do it!! LOVE the idea of hot glue!!!!!! I think My Jake stayed in his pajamas the ENTIRE Christmas Break 🙂 LOVE IT!!! And now…it’s back to reality today! Happy New Year!
Sarah @ Clover Lane - Hot glue or not, your photos make them look deliciously edible!
Laura Phelps - my kids would have eaten them
glue and all
Trina - I am with you…. that icing is a pain in the butt…..and loved that you used graham crackers.. brilliant!
xx Happy New Year!
Trina
Jainatina - My family always uses hot glue to hold the houses together. It helps them withstand the holiday season. 🙂 We also use pampered chef gingerbread house molds… which turn out super heavy chunks of cookie so the only thing that can hold them together is hot glue. ^^ Tuns of fun.
Ryanne - I can’t believe you let your kids make crafts on such a pretty tablecloth.
Jennifer - We bought a prefabricated house and it still fell apart! I did everything they said, yet still, within about 20 minutes everything slid and the house became condemned. Thank God my husband is handy. He came home and drilled their house together-not sure how exactly, but it worked and Christmas was saved. You have to do what works, I agree. Your family looks so fun! We loved doing your pompom ornament craft. 🙂
Jenny - Brilliant! Loved it!
Vera - Those are some seriously awesome gingerbread houses!! Love all the color – they just make me happy looking at them!
My trick is to beat the royal icing (the real egg, cream of tartar, powdered sugar kind!) for like 5+ minutes until stiff, it’s glue-ier than glue that way.
shari - I LOVE the hot glue on the gingerbread houses… makes it a much more enjoyable experience for everyone involved!! We never eat them, so it’s no big deal. GREAT houses! I wish we had done them this year but we ran out of time. DEFINITELY next year!!!
H-Mama - They look perfect. We made ours after Christmas too. 😉 I’m going to have to remember hot glue for next year!! We never eat them either!
Kelly - This is always an after-Christmas project we do with my inlaws. They aren’t coming until this weekend 🙂 Your houses are adorable!
diane - we always made graham cracker houses growing up and I think most of the time they were hot glued. I am looking forward to starting this tradition with my little ones. Those are great photos!
Amanda Jo - Too cute! Kids are so creative!
Darlene - The icing never works – even though it seems like glue. You’ll be surprised to know I actually just bought a glue gun. Now I’ve got the power in me to glue anything that comes my way. Happy glue-ing!
Heather @ Cookie Mondays - Looks very similar to our gingerbread neighborhood 🙂 And my kids never got dressed the whole two weeks, so don’t feel bad!
Ashley - So fun! With only one child we sure didn’t have a whole block of houses!! And this is after the fact…but I melted sugar in a pan and then used that to connect the crackers…but it prob would have just been easier to use hot glue…not like you eat them!!! :0)
No.17CherryTreeLane - wait….is there something wrong with glue guns? because that’s how we roll…..
Rachel - So cute! It’s so neat how they are all so different.
Susan - Love the idea of hot glue! We never end up eating those things anyway…great job!
tasha roe - awesome idea! and no one would have known about the glue hidden under the frosting anyway. 😉 They do look yummy!
stodd - We use hot glue too! I did read somewhere last year that if you add a little bit of cream of tartar to your icing, it dries really hard and holds well. But, I like the glue better… the kids are kind of rough as they decorate. It’s one of their favorite things to do. In fact, we made haunted houses for Halloween and gingerbread for Christmas!
Becky @ Farmgirl Paints - I think we need to start a mom of the year award. You would rock that category I think with all the fun stuff you do with your kids. Adorable house:)
Karina - I should have used hot glue – we used icing instead and my waistline does NOT thank me!!! We (OK, a lot of it was just ME) ate the whole house – thank goodness I have “only” three children and wasn’t tempted to eat a whole block’s-worth!!!
Scrappy Girl - That tree is fabulous! So creative! We have never made houses…it’s on the list for next year!
julia - we had major structural problems with our gingerbread house. it only lasted 24 hours before the roof caved in. i should have called the insurance company and blamed it on a hurricane and collected money to fix the roof and then turn around and use the money to buy a new gingerbread car. it’s a florida thing.
Ashley Ann - He is a genius…wish I had thought of that one!
feather - well, you aren’t the first mom to use hot glue on gingerbread houses. seriously, i think our culture should do away with houses and go to gingerbread piramids. the egyptians had it right. just lean everything into on nice little point on the top. why are we trying to fight gravity?
Amy C. - I starting doing the “real deal” gingerbread house about 3 years ago. I checked out a book called Gingerbread Houses:building and making memories by Nonnie Cargas. Recipes
for the house work great.
We made a train last year and a tree this year.
What I’ve learned is make the dough and icing 2 days before you need it. Cut and roll out the house the next day. Let it sit overnight to firm up. Decorate it the next day.
I store royal icing in mason jars. It keeps it from drying out until you are rady to use it.
It is too crazy for me and a very long day to try to do it all at once. More enjoyable to break up the steps for me and the kids.
The hot glue cracks me up.
Nancy - You bet, I used my glue gun,too … best secret in town! It will keep us sane and that is a good thing.
Andrea - We used the caramelized sugar for the first time and thought it was revolutionary! But, since everyone only picks off the candy and never eats the graham cracker part, hot glue is brilliant!
Amber - hahahahaha. hot glue! we should have done that. our gingerbread house looked like a smeary mess! But my daughter’s hands were covered in goodies and she sure like that. 😉
Holly - ok I love that you hot glued them! How funny! You gotta do what works,lol!
Joanna @ The Casa - Great houses! I love how she is standing on the chair. I remember being that into a project when I was little.
Jenn Grigoryev - i tried to use caramelized sugar on my gingerbread house, only to realize that 20 minutes of whisking and burnt fingers produced something that looked EXACTLY like hot glue. so i busted out the glue gun and finished up and boy was i WAY happier. my husband claims it’s cheating, but it’s not like anyone was going to eat month-old gingerbread anyway, right?
PaisleyJade - Those are just so cool!!! Never made a gingerbread house but you have inspired me (and also made me open to the idea of a hot glue gun and trying to make one well after Dec 25th!)
rachel - HAHAHA love this post – the kids have made a lovely job and who wouldn”t want to live in a block like that 😀
your cool friend Cheryl - If you look closely at the pics of our gingerbread houses, you’ll see I totally used my glue gun, too!
We’ll never eat anything that’s been so man handled by a 3 yr old and anyway, I don’t trust that icing one bit…