Photos by Stephanie Beeley
My daughter decided to have a gingerbread house birthday this year when we almost always have outdoor birthday parties (yes even in the winter). In the past we have had different kinds of outdoor play parties free playing, sledding parties and skating parties.
This is how we did it:
My daughter had to write and make her invitations cards. We used blank cards and she painted a gingerbread house with acrylic paint. We then made gingerbread cookies from scratch and decorated them to make our gingerbread chandelier.
I sourced and bought the gingerbread houses, icing mix, candy, and basket wrap. My daughter requested a fairy castle cake. I used this awesome tutorial form Liv Hansen and made my own with a twist. One the day, I put all the gingerbread houses together and use caramelized sugar as glue as I find that it sticks better. If you have not worked with caramelized sugar before it can be a little tricky.
Decorate the table with candy, cookies, candy canes and make a gingerbread chandelier. Make the icing and put it into plastic bags that the kids can use as a piping bag.
We ordered in for pizza to try to lower my work load. I was playing with the idea to make pizza shaped by cookie cutters, but I did decide that it was way too much work.
At the party:
Kids arrive at 4:00 pm 4:15 kids are eating pizza.
4:30 Kids are making gingerbread houses, for a little inspiration we showed them images of gingerbread houses on the computer.
5:00 Unwrapping gifts
5:30 Sing Happy Birthday and eat cake.
Thanks to my good friends helping out; we were able to wrap all the gingerbread houses filling them with candy. Parents were very impressed by their little artist’s creations when they picked them up.
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