A Simple Gingerbread Hack

One of my favorite holiday traditions is decorating gingerbread houses together.

Let me ask you… what is the best part about making gingerbread houses? Is it the prepping of the gingerbread, the baking, the cutting and sizing and construction? Believe me, I love gingerbread just as much as the next guy. In fact, we will be making gingerbread cookies at some point this week. But I have tried the gingerbread houses from scratch. They are so much work and they can be so stressful! I’ve also tried the gingerbread house kits. That gingerbread doesn’t taste great (I’d much prefer the cookies that I always make), and the candy accessories leave much to be desired.

Today, I am sharing a gingerbread hack. Folks, this is NOT my hack. My friend Bethany shared this idea with me many years ago and I’ve fully embraced it. So all credit for this goes to Beth, and belieeeeeeeve me, her houses are waaaaaay more advanced than mine.

Are you ready? We save the actual gingerbread for cookie day and for the gingerbread houses we use graham crackers and a whole lot of HOT GLUE. Nope, I’m not joking. Bear with me for a moment.

First, I cut out some cardboard and cover it in aluminum foil for each house’s base:

Then, I cut the graham crackers into pieces for the house, using a serrated knife:

And then I hot glue the holy hell out of the pieces to make them into a house form. I’ve told you guys before that I’m no Martha Stewart. These houses aren’t the prettiest, but I promise you they have some serious fun potential:

Repeat until you have enough houses for each person (and my suggestion is to make a couple spares just in case of construction drama!). Remove and discard any visible hot glue or hot glue strings.

Once your houses are complete, it’s gingerbread house decorating as normal. We use tubs of frosting and candy and then the kiddos are free to pick off candy as treats as the weeks go on. No hot glue is consumed, I swear!

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Life is uncertain.

Eat dessert first.

~Ernestine Ulmer

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