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??

That looks yummy vitalogy!

Yes it was quite tasty, ginger flavour in there from what I can remember. We just broke it up after and used it up like regular biscuits. I think the main trick is getting the right consistency of the icing, too thin and you end up with a melting thaw like we did or too dry and it's not pliable enough. Either way you can have a laugh and a bit of fun.
I've just had an idea. Making a frame out of lolly sticks might give some added support.

Don't leave it on the side then accuse your 4yo of sneaking bites of it, then realise actually you have a rather fat mouse! Oh no this definitely didn't happen to us

Best Christmas that mouse ever had!

WE buy a kit every year. Normally one with the walls etc already made but DP insisted on buying a baking kit this year and it's not a house, it's a tree. I have told him I am having nothing to do with the baking side because I kill cakes/biscuits.

Bizarrely when we got the Christmas stuff down from the loft I found a tin which had had shortbread in, in one of the boxes, I opened it and found a single decorated wall from last years house. It's in the bin!

I make a too large gingerbread house with moulds from Lakeland. I don't think we've ever eaten it all although we've tried so I am fine with some of it ending up in the food recycling bin.

People have commented on the lovely smell in the house though, so you could also see it as a room scenter

For Easter, we did it in chocolate once in a mix of white and milk choc.

I was thinking about doing it next week if we have time.

I bought a couple from Costco; they are preassembled and you just decorate them. It's all I have the energy for this year, tbh! We are decorating them on Christmas Eve with friends. The DC would be horrified of they don't get to eat it afterwards! I might make them wait until after Christmas dinner at least, though.

We build it Christmas Day, take a picture of it and eat it after dinner. It keeps the kids quiet for half an hour while I get all the wrapping paper and bows out of the living room.

Last year my adult daughter, who had been having a very hard time, and after getting everyone's permission, smashed ours with a hammer. She found it extraordinarily therapeutic. Not saying anyone should do the same, but.........

Constructed our house today using the recipe on the back of the box of the Lakeland cutters. Tastes delicious and not too arduous to put together.

Then we popped into Ikea yesterday and my son aged 9 went and bought one with his pocket money!

1. Has to be done during Christmas holidays once the presents have all lost their initial excitement and siblings are beginning to squabble.
2. Forget to buy any sweets so you have to send children out to buy really expensive sweets at corner shop.
3. Make icing - realise that yout eldest used most of the icing sugar for food tech, send dc back to shop for icing sugar.
4. Make icing far to stiff to pipe add one drop of water and turn icing into gooey mess.
5. Declare that it will just have to do and leave dc to construct the house together.
6. Return when the shouting reaches critical level again.
7. Get every child to hold a wall or two (one of the times when more children is better).
8. Get phone, say 'now' at which point every child must smile, look at camera and let go whilst you use burst mode in the hope that in at least one photo every child has their eyes open and are smiling in the 15 seconds before the house falls down.
9. As the house is now broken let them eat it.

10. Google gingerbread houses - find one which is good but not professional, photoshop it into your photo from 8 - post on social media #havinghoildayfunwiththekids.

If no children available you will just have to substitute with adults.

I am planning on constructing one for the first time this year on xmas eve. I bought a Halloween gingerbread house kit reduced in Morrisons so going for a 'nightmare before Christmas' kinda theme :)

Our first attempt this year - MIL bought us a kit from Ikea and we did it yesterday with DS1 and our niece.

They loved it and we actually started eating it tonight as we figured it will go stale quickly - was expecting it to taste awful but was actually nice!

Pics!

Several years ago I made a gingerbread house with my step daughter. It looked so good we never ate it, it got stored in the garage and came back on the following two Christmas’
I eventually threw it out. But it looked fabulously Christmassy and was terrific fun to make tog.

Guess you could put an led candle inside so it wouldn't melt?

Led candle is a brilliant idea!

Bought two packs of frozen gingerbread dough yesterday - this thread makes me so hungry for gingerbread!

I enjoyed making one a few years ago - then the dog got hold of it and I ended up clearing the mess. Didn't bother again. If you do one - make sure you get extra icing etc - there is never enough in the packet

Im thinking about baking the Mary Berry gingerbread house, its on the BBC good food website and includes the full recipe and cut out templates for the walls. The lovely picture I have in my head of me and DD having fun putting it all together on Christmas Eve is probably not going to happen is it LOL

The Mary Berry/BBC recipe is a good one Stormy. We did that one last year and tbh we should have done it this year - our gingerbread dough tasted weird.

This year the recipe I did use gave me the revolutionary idea of sticking the bottom of the walls to the board with icing which made it so much easier to stick everything together.

Also definitely do the royal icing from Mary Berry recipe - that stuff could be used to build skyscrapers.

We usually treat them as an ornament..we buy a kit and the gingerbread is usually inedible.

We still have last years as we forgot about it, so will definitely be just for show. One year DS smashed it up and it took a few hammer blows

Kit from Tesco - have just constructed the house this afternoon (DH isn't feeling well and I needed a distraction for stepson). We will put the sweeties on later this evening.

And DDog is very intrigued by the smell, so will have to make sure she can't get at it!

There is a recipe and template on the bbc that we’ve used for a number of years. I used to make them with my niece and nephew and let them decorate. If you want it to look nice and to taste nice then I think adult decoration is the way to go. If you want the kids to enjoy it let them get stuck in even if it looks like someone has vomited icing sugar on it. I haven’t done one this year as my toddler is still a bit young but from next year I’ll do one every year in the run-up to Christmas.