What the hell are you supposed to do with gingerbread houses?

[thishedgehog]

I have one and I'm very much looking forward to making a mess of putting it together however I have the following questions:

• when do you assemble it? Is it a group activity?
• where do you display it?
• do you eat it?
• if you eat it, when do you eat it?

I am kind of thinking you have putting it together, then you leave it out for a while then demolish and consume?? But perhaps that's all wrong??

[Natsku]

Growing up mum always put it together a few days before Christmas and I'd decorate it, then it would go on the sideboard to be displayed and we'd eat it on Boxing Day.

[LillianGish]

To be honest I don't think they taste that great - lots of handling while you assemble them and then left out to gather dust (well unless you eat it immediately, but then that slightly defeats the point!) I guess if you want to make it as a centre piece for a kids party (or whatever) so you make it then eat straight away, but even then - I think they look much nicer than they taste.

[Natsku]

They only don't taste great if they've been made wrong - ours always tasted delicious, and a few days wasn't enough time to go stale and bad.

[WazFlimFlam]

Smug much Natsku?

[ILoveDolly]

Smug? What a horrible thing to say. I have made them with my kids a few years in a row, usually from a kit but anyway, its a fun activity and then you get to eat it later. A fun Christmas tradition if you've got time.

[FoofFighter]

Bought a kit but can't get it to stay up argh!

We display ours as an ornament then afterwards put in the bird table

[reluctantbrit]

We do ours as an ornament. It is on the sideboard in the dining room on a huge cutting board. The house, little marzipan houses, trees and angles. Sometimes a snowman or gingerbread man/woman.

We do ours around end November/beginning of December, we do it over 2-3 days depending how stable it is. It is def a group activity, I do the dough, we all cut and bake and DH and DD do the actual build. We all then decorate it.

Ours last until NYD and is then demolished in the garden with a hammer, absolutely no way anybody would want to eat something, one month old, sitting in a room gathering dust.

DD already looks forward to it.

[Juanbablo]

I let the kids decorate it on Christmas Eve. Then we eat it from Boxing Day onwards.

[thishedgehog]

Thank you all for sharing your gingerbread house traditions. I'm glad I wasn't too far off the mark!

I think perhaps we can plan to decorate it as a family over a few sherrys (I must add that there will be no kids involved ) and then either eat on Boxing Day or donate to the birds!

[n0ne]

I did one last year with DD. It was seriously difficult! DD (then 3) really enjoyed decorating it but it was basically an eyesore. It sat about for a couple of weeks, then we smashed it up so we could eat it but it wasn't very nice. I'll not bother again.

[trumptown]

We make our own homemade gingerbread. Kids help make the dough, put it in the silicone mould and when it's baked and cooled they decorate it. Then we eat it after admiring it for a while.

[NewtsSuitcase]

We did one from a kit last year and the DC enjoyed making it. It didn't taste nice though.

[doyawannabuildasnowmaaaaaan]

I assemble the house usually then the dc decorate it. Then I display it proudly best side showing in the dining room. Bits usually drop of over the weeks. No one ever eats it ever ! It's purely for fun and decoration. I would add don't assume the best ones are the most expensive. I've brought a few and the best was from Aldi.

[thishedgehog]

That's good to know, we got one from Costco which I discovered when we got home was pre built which I was disappointed with to begin with but actually it might not be a bad start.

[doyawannabuildasnowmaaaaaan]

That sounds bloody good to me op !! Only because the one I brought last year was from a very expensive garden centre and would not stick for love nor money . It was the worse one by far. So one already built sounds good to me. However I'm reading other posts on this thread with interest and may try to make one next year good luck. You must post a pic !! We haven't had a 'show us your gingerbread houses thread' yet to my knowledge.

[doyawannabuildasnowmaaaaaan]

Oh and I love Costco..... I bet it's a really good one from there.

[StealingYourWiFi]

Ornament, pick at it and tell the dog to "stop bloody staring at it, you're not getting any!!"

[Natsku]

Smug much Natsku?

Well it's true, a well-made gingerbread house will last a few days without going stale and taste good - my mum always managed to do that, so not me being smug for myself, just on behalf of my mum. I use pre-made dough which also works well obviously through no effort of my own (except putting it in the oven for ten minutes) so nothing to be smug over. Obviously a house that's been made weeks in advance is not going to taste good, that's why mum always left it to close to Christmas.

[MelanieCheeks]

It's a tradition that me and my SN stepson always do each year. I buy a kit (usually from IKEA, this year from Tesco).

It's a fun activity to do together, he takes it home to his neices, I guess they admire it for a while, eat some, and then...who knows.

[Robyrollover]

We make it a few days before Christmas. There are lots of tears and lots of screaming from me . When it's finished I take a photo and post it on Facebook with # blessed and # family time. Over the next few days the kids steal all the good sweets. On Boxing Day it gets demolished and shared out, but all the sweets are gone by then and it tastes shit because it's soggy.

HTH

[Peregrane]

We make it with home-made dough, with a type that is actually too hard to eat for the first couple of days, and it gets better over time :) (apart from the dust... but that must be good for keeping the allergies down, right? :) )

[irregularegular]

We visited a "gingerbread museum" in Slovenia. Yes, there is such a thing. Anyway, the experts there said that gingerbread houses are not really for eating, they are mostly for decoration. The gingerbread recipe for houses is made to be the best for building with (strong, presumably) but not the best for eating.

[endehors]

We’re using a ready made kit this year. Before that I’ve used pre made gingerbread dough. Have only made them once from scratch personally, it wasn’t too bad (I’m not skilled in that sort of thing) but it was time consuming, though I did melted boiled sweet windows and that sort of thing.
It lasts well, a good few days. We break parts off in the days following Christmas!
I need a new witch though, if anyone knows where to find them. The small, standard plastic sort with fabric shawl.

[llmb]

I admire the will power of not eating it straight away! Iv just bought a kit today. We will make it when they break up (next week) but we eat it the same day!