Christmas Activity: Gingerbread House + Printable

Making a gingerbread house is an easy task with your children when you purchase a gingerbread house kit. This super fun, super simple kid-friendly project is all about making a delicious Gingerbread House and decorating it with gumdrops, licorice, peppermint and Royal Icing.

I have the perfect activity for a family movie night this holiday season. First off, your home must be fully decorated for the season, stockings hung, a fire needs to be roaring (if you have a fireplace), and mugs must be filled with all sorts of chocolate and marshmallows. Everyone needs to have a sit together and cuddle together under a blanket and pop in a great holiday family movie.

But, before you sit down and begin the cuddles, you need to get your kiddos in the holiday spirit. One could bake holiday cookies in all holiday shapes or you could build a Gingerbread House! I’m sharing one of my children's all time favorite Christmas Activity: Gingerbread Houses! I began this tradition when my kids were really young and we haven't missed a year since.

Christmas Activity: Gingerbread House

The holidays are all about creating lasting memories with our families, especially for our children. We all have so many memories and I can't wait for my kids to be able to share this tradition when they are old enough.

I love to see what ideas my kids come up with from one year to the next. Each year I try to do something a bit different, so we are not always creating the same old gingerbread house. One year we made an entire tiny village of tiny gingerbread houses. The next year we made one big house with an entire family of gingerbread men. Another year, we created a gingerbread train that was full of tiny presents for my kids.

There is so much creativity that comes out of my children when they have a vision for their gingerbread house and I love that with this one family Christmas activity we are creating happy, lasting memories.

So everyone knows the best things about Christmas sweets is eating them, but my kids think it is more fun to decorate with them. Making a gingerbread house is a fun holiday activity for all ages when the family is gathered together for a holiday movie night.

How to Make A Gingerbread House

Get Decorations Together

Once the gingerbread house wall and roof pieces are put together with royal icing, they are ready for decorating. Royal icing is really the best for securing the gingerbread houses together and later for decorating because it drys well and pretty fast.

Some of my kid's favorite essentials to use when decorating a gingerbread house are listed below. My kids are all different when decorating, one uses every single piece of candy that is available. One kiddo is a minimalist and the last one is right in the middle. Simply use as many as you like is my motto.

Gingerbread House Decorating Accessories

candy canes
cereal
chocolate candy pieces
lolly pops
gum
jimmies
sweet tarts
chocolate or strawberry wafer cookies
gumdrops
hard peppermint candy
licorice
pretzels
marshmallows
fruit strips
jelly beans
rock sugar
sugar pearls
flat chocolate

This gingerbread family activity is so easy and sweet your kids will want to build a whole gingerbread house village! Everyone could build their dream house or you could host a theme each year. Like Victorian, Village, Ranch, Georgian, or a Farm.

Get your family together this holiday and have a Gingerbread House Decorating Party and finish up with a Family Movie Night In. Have a Christmas movie night with the entire family. Classic holiday movies are a holiday season must.

Host a Happy Holiday Family Movie Night

Select a DVD, sit down, cuddle up, turn on all the holiday lights, pop some popcorn, make hot cocoa and enjoy this great family movie for the holiday season.