I’m finally done with the “Christmas project” I mentioned a few posts ago. I’m so excited to show you what I’ve been working on!!
My mom and my aunt have been making these AMAZING gingerbread houses for a few years now, and last year I decided that I wanted to make one too! Only I wanted mine to be ALL PINK (this was long before I was pregnant, and obviously long before we knew we were having a girl)!
So all year long I watched for pink candies. At Valentine’s Day, Easter, etc, I just collected and collected all year long.
We make these houses from scratch using a pattern & recipe given to us by my Aunt’s friend. (Sorry I can’t share the pattern, she owns the copyright). We bake the gingerbread and cut the pieces out on the first night. We also bake all the windows and the pond (crushed up/melted life savers & jolly ranchers) into the gingerbread. From making the dough, to finishing the windows, this part took about 4 hours.
Then the next night we bring all our pieces and we build and decorate the houses together. Since it was my first time, I was much, much slower than my mom and Aunt. They are pros! So, they finished way before me. Even so, we got together at 6:00pm, and finally left my Aunt’s house at 3 in the morning!!!!! 9 hours!
While my mom and aunt left that night with finished houses, I still had my entire “yard” to create. This took me another 4 hour session last night.
It’s an insane project. For CRAZY people! But the end result is totally gratifying.
To Re-Cap:
Making dough, baking, windows: 4 hours
Decorating Night 1: 9 hours
Decorating Night 2: 4 hours
TOTAL: 17 HOURS!!!!!
Yes, I’ve lost my mind. I spent 17 hours on something that I can’t even keep forever. After the holidays I’ll have to get rid of it!
I wish I had a cuter spot to take my photos and display this beauty, but with our remodeling going on there’s nowhere else to put it.
BUT it makes my kitchen smell YUMMY! I’m sure that delicious gingerbread smell will wear off in the coming weeks, but right now its quite nice!
Let me show you some pics of my mom & aunt’s amazing creations as well!!
My mom’s house:
My aunt Karen’s house:
And here they are together after completing theirs (way ahead of me). Don’t they look cute!? You can’t even tell its about 3 am.
So all in all, its a VERY fun project. So fun to do together. Even though it takes forever, we passed the time very quickly listening to Christmas music and chatting all night long. Plus, when I do these kinds of crafty projects, my creative, artistic side is in full force & loving it. However, when you get to about 2 am, you start to think, I’m SO NOT doing this again next year. But then you wake up the next morning and see your beautiful finished house all aglow, and you think . . . well, maybe!
OMG, Britt! That is the cutest thing EVER! LOVE all the pink! I spend a ridiculous amount of time on my kids' birthday cakes, so I can sympathize. But I think I'll be buying the prepackaged kit and let the kids put ours together and leave the super-crafty houses to enthusiasts like you! 😀
Wow- those houses are awesome!! I especially love your pink version- very cute! I've only ever done the boxed kits, but you may have inspired me to try one on my own lol 🙂 What do you use as a base- the circle with ribbon??
Wow, Britt! These are amazing! The time was well spent. You did a great job. Congrats on your first (and awesome) gingerbread house!
Great question Sharon. It's just a 14" round styrofoam disc you can get at the craft store. Then you pick whatever cute ribbon you want to put around the edge. The ribbon really finishes it off and makes a BIG difference.
And – my mom puts her house on a lazy suzan so you can turn it and see all the sides. I don't have one, but I'm gonna see if I can get a cheap one to display mine like that too!
So So So cute! love all the pink candies!
Britt, those are DARLING!! Minnie could totally live in yours. Kudos to all three of you on some amazing gingerbread houses! But especially to you on your first. Had you not said anything, I NEVER would have guessed you'd never done it before! We take a shortcut sometimes & make ours with graham crackers, but I sure do love doing them from scratch. We have molds though…I've never tried it completely from scratch like you did! The lazy susan is a great idea – I'll have to try that. 😉 What do you use to light it up inside? One of those flameless candles?
They look fantastic!! And the pink one is so very you Britt!
Holy cow Britt, those houses need to be on the cover of a cooking or craft magazine!! So beautiful and such a labor of love, you really did an amazing job!!
ADORABLE! Seriously CUTEST thing ever. 🙂 And pink is PERFECT!
OH MY GOSH!!!! My mouth is seriously on the floor. No SERIOUSLY!!!!!! That is insanely beautiful and totally awesome. I WISH I could do that, but I won't even try. A-FRICKEN-MAZING!
Adorable! Love the all pink!
All I can say is WOW!!!
Tammy S
These are seriously amazing!! The pink is adorable. I was checking your post out with my 3 year old standing behind me and he was jumping up and down about it. He loved it too! 🙂
Wow Britt, that is one awesome house!!
Will there be a kit coming out to match it? 🙂 I have a thing for gingerbread decorations around the holidays, and I know I could not resist a kit like that!! 🙂
You should donate them to the Festival of Trees.
Cutest Gingy house ever! It is so Britt! Looks like your website! Love it! Your mom and Aunt made adorable ones too, but gotta love the pink.
So so cute!! Your pink one is my favourite 🙂
I love them all. I tried to do a gingerbread house a few years back and it was a disaster. I was working with one of those houses you can buy at a craft store though (precut pieces). The pieces kept falling over and it would not stick together. I might try it again one year though.
awww how cute!! I can't phrase it as well as the ladies before me have, but that is serious talent there Britt! Awesome job! And it may not last forever, but those pictures are ones your daughter will cherish!
these are the most amazing things i have ever seen! out of anything in the world, these houses are the coolesst! i can't even begin to think how much time and love went into them! you all rock!
-justine
Wow!!! That is amazing! Can you share tips on how to get the houses to stay together? LOL! I've tried a few times with my kids and that's always a problem for us. 🙁
I should have mentioned this in my post!! Since I was definitely NOT going to try to eat this house, I used hot glue! I hot glued the seams of the walls and roof. I know its not "true" gingerbreading if its not all edible, but I mostly just wanted a house that would stay up all season!
Most of the candies and other items are all "glued" with Royal Icing. But the walls and a few other candies are hot glued.
These houses look sooo cute! My mom would love to have one of these in the house, but I doubt either one of us has the patience to build one from scratch. Congratulations on your first gingerbread house! I have a feeling we'll see another one next year! hehe 🙂
OMGoodess! Britt! It is gorgeous!! When you have t get rid of it, just send it my way, LOL. Pink is MY COLOR! and that is just to gorgeous to throw away!! You did an amazing job on it! Congrats!
Wow Britt, these houses are stunning!! Your pink one is so pretty! I really love the lights on the inside!
beautiful! very beautiful..next year you might be busy with another pink beauty coming soon! :0)
Woooooooowwww! Britt, that is totally gorgeous! I am super impressed. Amazing. And CONGRATS on the baby!!!! YAY!!
This comment has been removed by the author.
I had to stop by and let you know that I finished my Valentine Gingerbread House! Visit my blog at let me know what you think!