Gingerbread House - 2011

Wan Family

Today, I host a Gingerbread House decorating afternoon at home. Initially, I was going to join the group at church but the event was for adults only. As my girls are older now, I know they will enjoy decorating the gingerbread house as well as eating the lollies and chocs as they decorate. I managed to ask my girlfriend (who organised the event at her church) to buy a few extra kits for me. Then, I invited another 4 families to join us for an afternoon of sweet fun.

Yasmine

It was an enjoyable afternoon indoors with a thunderstorm outside. The kit comes with the gingerbread pieces, lollies, royal icing, cake board and cellophane paper. Each family brought extra sweets and chocs to add to the supply. The children did most of the work whilst I sat back and supervised with a glass of wine in hand. It certainly made the supervision easier ;-) Mums were on hand to lend a helping hand and a comment here and there.

Tanudji Family

The children let their creative juices flow with the choice of lollies and chocolates in front of them. In the initial stage, patience is required to build the walls, then leave the icing to set for about 15 minutes. Then you attach the roof and leave it to set again. It's important to ensure the icing is set before you start to place the chocs and lollies. One of the house collapsed part way through and there had to be reconstructed. It happens. The children did a fantastic job with their houses, each of them worked hard to decorate them in their own style. It was fascinating to sit there and watch them at work.

James

In addition to the sweets, I also bought 3D figurines from a cake decorating store. I bought Santas, reindeers, snowmans, penguins, trees and wreaths.

Cindy

Hague family

All Wrapped Up

The finishing touch was a dusting of icing sugar and wrapped in cellophane paper and tied with curling ribbon.