I had the somewhat brilliant idea to host a Gingerbread House and Ornament making party in December. At the time I was pretty sure I was delusional and/or insane. But I went with it anyways.
One of my Village is an awesome baker and I asked her to make gingerbread houses for the kids. I supplied regular icing for the decorations along with the ornament making supplies. Party guests were asked to bring candies for the house decorations.
Ornament making came first. I kept it very simple since we had a wide age range of kids at the party. I went to my standard back-up for ideas, Pinterest. I found the perfect craft as expected, Icicle Ornaments. Pipe cleaners and pony beads – easy and yet allows for individual creativity for all ages.
The kids had fun making the ornaments, making several to take home and give as gifts. Then on to the highlight of the party – decorating Gingerbread Houses!
Kelly did a fabulous job with the gingerbread houses. She baked all the pieces, made the royal icing and assembled them. That’s right – we had fresh gingerbread for our houses. Totally edible and delicious. No prefab kits over here – booyah!
Overall I count the party as a success! Adults and kids had a blast decorating their houses. It was fun to watch each child’s personality displayed in how their house ended up being decorated.
I think this will become an annual event at our house.

This sounds like so much fun! I didn’t do a lot this year, as I was away for Christmas, but I definitely want to do more of this sort of thing next year. Thanks for the inspiration!
Laurel Regan recently posted..In Praise of Blank Books
Glad you were inspired! Kids are not required to have traditional holiday fun. The adults had just as much fun as the kids and yes we made our own houses just for us. 🙂
Elizabeth
First of all how kind of you to host such a party. Secondly, it looked like everyone had so much fun with this. My daughters and I didn’t make gingerbread houses this year , it was too busy. I will definitely have to make time next year, these look too good not to!
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It was fun! Normally I don’t host parties, I’m like the Mary Tyler Moore (dating myself) of parties. Total flops. I was just thrilled this turned out so much better than I had hoped.
I hope you try hosting your own party this Christmas!
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