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Christmas

From present ideas to party food, find all your Christmas inspiration here.

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Original poster

gingerbread houses

23 replies

hatwoman · 03/12/2006 20:28

I'm thinking of doing one with dds and my nephew. Are they very fiddly and actually difficult for 3 pairs of little hands? would they squabble and break it? does nayone know how big the kits are - is it ridiculous to get 3 and let them do one each? also how long do they take to dry? any tips (and sources) gratefully accepted

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poppyh · 03/12/2006 20:36

I got one from Ikea, and I struggled on my own!
I found it very fiddly but it looked lovely when finished and as its from Ikea it was inexpensive.

Original poster

hatwoman · 03/12/2006 20:39

I hear you can get them from Ikea - but unfortunatley there isn't one near us. GLTC do one - it's £15 which is ok in itself, but makes me think twice about getting 3! I need ministure ones really

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mummyplonk · 03/12/2006 20:48

Just bought one today from our local garden centre £7, there was either a christmas village or a train. It smells yummy.

fartoobuzzi · 03/12/2006 20:49

Cheap and you don't have to be a domestic godess. For those with no time and hate cooking! Ginger Bread House

My MIL has bought us a real kit one to make. Didn't want to do it yet, can you imagine eating all the dust from now till Xmas if it was made!

Will get round to it some time.

Original poster

hatwoman · 03/12/2006 20:51

ooh at £7 a go I don;t mind getting 3. is it a chain-type garden centre - or alternatively could you tell me the name of the gingerbread house manufacturer? I would send lots of Christmassy thank yous. The advantage of them doing one each is taht my nephew could take it home

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ernest · 03/12/2006 21:43

ok, I'm dumb. Everyone is going on about gingerbread houses, but what do you do with them? You make them, they look pretty. Do you leave them for a week to admire then just call in the council to demolish i chuck it, or break lumpy off and hope no one notices the chimney's missing? Don't they go stale? I'm going to ikea tomorrow, so if it's the thing to do, but I just don't understand....

Think being in charge if Christmas is too much responsibility....

xmasmummy · 03/12/2006 22:01

you can buy one from sainsbury's they not that cheap but very nice.

Original poster

hatwoman · 03/12/2006 22:10

ernest - presumably you eat them? gives me an idea actually, in our house it probably wouldn;t be too difficult to persuade dds to only eat the sweets, then when they've all been picked off we could put it away and get it out again next year to decorate afresh...

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ernest · 03/12/2006 22:15

sorry, i am being thich and just can't see it. do you make, decorate, eat straight away (and eat how? just pull bits off?) or do you put it on display and admire and then it's all stale andd nasty? Has anyone really done it? How does it work. I am very curious.

CantSleepWithSanta · 03/12/2006 22:17

Oh saw some of these in John Lewis today - they looked amazing. Of course I hate ginger, so would be no use at all to me!

MerrilyTooBuzzi · 03/12/2006 22:22

first time this year to make one (kit) Don't think i'll eat it, but kids will pick sweets off I guess. Mines a stieffenhofer hexenhaus, which MIL probably got from Lidl or Aldi.

see link and bottom of web page on the link
Gingerbread house

Carmenere · 03/12/2006 22:25

I made a couple one Christmas they were easy and looked great and I will do them this year now you have reminded me. You just make ginger biscuits in the composite shapes, stick them together with icing, stick sweets all over it and they last for about two weeks and then they get picked at and eaten by greedy dp's.

Twohootsunderthemistletoe · 03/12/2006 22:31

Was going to say they've got them in Aldi - not sure of price but they look OK??

orangecake · 03/12/2006 22:59

Asda sell these for 4.99. we did one today and it was fab, the kid thought it was so exciting. not really fiddly but do make sure you have ots of icing suga and a piping set so that you can stick it all together.

we had geat fun making it, took loads of photographs and the trashed it. It did look beautiful though.

Original poster

hatwoman · 03/12/2006 23:19

asda at 4.99 sounds good. I don;t mind getting them one each at that. Carmenere - did you really make the gingerbread yourself too? was it really easy? I am deeply sceptical? how did you get all the shapes right?

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bobsmum · 03/12/2006 23:23

DS had the Ikea one last year - it was great - just like the picture on the box and very tasty

Have just bought tha slightly pricier train for my niece from John Lewis, but it does have extra decorations and a display tray (whatever that is!).

ernest · 04/12/2006 07:06

hatwoman, you can get a ginger bread house biscuit cutters set with all the shapes you need. You can also get one of the nativity scene but cinsidering the lowly status and poverty surrounding being born in a stable it seems a bit gratuitous to cover inpink icing and a ton of sweets!

maybe I'll give it a whirl, cyinical old me, going to ikea anyway, so what the hell

mummyplonk · 04/12/2006 10:22

Sorry 4 delay Hatwoman, was a Garden centre called "Dobbies" not sure if it is a chain? It has 3 little houses you decorate and 3 little elves and a tree included, you just add the icing and the little sweeties included onto the roofs.Looks quite easy. It looks like it is German so I hope someone can correct me on the spelling here but you may be able to find it on the web under a company called "Bastelspa" the is the german sort of B symbol does it mean "ss" too long cince I left school.

Carmenere · 04/12/2006 10:35

It was quite easy really, you just cut out paper in the shape of walls(4) and a roof(2) and use them to cut out the biscuit dough when you have rolled it out. Bake them flat and when they are cool stick them in position with hard icing and I used those icing pen things to decorate.
I did make extra walls and roof pieces in case the biscuits broke when I was handleing them.
You can also make a sleigh shape quite easily this way too and fill it up with sweets.

mummyplonk · 04/12/2006 11:05

Oh, have just seen there is a hint on the back of the box to add a squeeze of lemon juice to make the icing extra sticky.

ernest · 04/12/2006 20:36

yes ß is like a double ss. Bastelspaß is literally 'handicraft fun'

bought my cutters today, so i'll do it at the weekend and let you know how I get one. Ikea had sold out, so I'll be baking my own

Original poster

hatwoman · 09/12/2006 13:42

carmenere - I think I'm going to be brave and do my own. I've found some templates on teh web - what type of icing did you use to stick it together? I'm getting the impression you need to make proper royal icing? will bought royal do do you know?

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WhenSantaWentQuietlyMad · 11/12/2006 13:50

The IKEA ones are going on ebay for 2.99 incidentally.

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