Our yearly Gingerbread House

It's that time of year again - time to make the Gingerbread House! This is a tradition that I started back in 2012, and after the first year I used the same recipe to make two smaller gingerbread houses so that the children could decorate one each. I always use the Tesco Gingerbread House recipe which is fab, it comes with a template to print out (print it out at 75% if you want to make two houses) and a video demonstrating each step, perfect if you are attempting to make one for the first time.

Here is this year's effort!

Making the house takes a couple of days. I make the gingerbread pieces in advance and leave them to harden overnight, as if you try and put the house together straightaway the sides are too soft. I usually assemble the house myself, I'm quite good at it but I do need to concentrate. I find that if I make the icing nice and thick the pieces stick together well, and when the icing has set the house is nice and sturdy.

Then I lay out a variety of different sweets and let the children decorate.

For Mia I squeeze the icing where she would like it, but Harry can now use the icing nozzle himself. They are always so proud of their houses!

I captured our efforts on video as part of Vlogmas 2016, see below:

And here are our efforts from previous years!

Top left - Christmas 2012
Top right - Christmas 2015
Bottom left - Christmas 2014
Bottom right - Christmas 2013

Do you make a Gingerbread House at Christmas?