Easy Gingerbread houses that kids can do themselves are a great holiday party idea. This sturdy gingerbread house works for even the chunky toddler fingers–no baking required! These gingerbread houses use graham crackers right out of the box.
All the fun is really in the decorating right? This lets you get to it right away with virtually indestructible tiny houses!
Supplies needed for No Bake Gingerbread Houses
2 Boxes of Graham Crackers
3-4 Cans of Frosting ( white is traditional but we used pink too)
Assorted Candy (peppermints, licorices, gum drops, mini-gummy bears, sour cherry balls)
Powdered sugar for snow
Mini Marshmallows for snowmen
Small stick pretzels
Hot glue or Elmer’s Glue
Pint milk cartons
Structure of the No- Bake Gingerbread House
The pint milk cartons provide the structure for the “gingerbread house.” I turned up at my son’s elementary school for lunch and collected a few dozen empty milk cartons. At home, I rinsed them well and let them dry completely before stapling the tops shut again.
Hot glue is much faster, but if the white style Elmer’s glue it handy, then use that to adhere the graham crackers to the sides of the carton. It takes 6-8 crackers per carton. Gingerbread houses are not normally eaten. Just in case a little one gets hold of a 3 month old house, I prefer to use not toxic Elmer’s style glue.
The extra two crackers can be cut to fill in the “gable” sides of the milk carton or these sides can be left open and filled with icing and candy.
Drying time for No-Bake Gingerbread Houses Bases
To make these gingerbread houses super kid friendly they must be sturdy. Letting the glue dry over night makes the gingerbread house virtually indestructible. Little hands are not gentle when mashing candy in to a cookie house and I want a structure that can take it.
In fact, more than one of these has been dropped with little more than a loss of a few gum drops, ( Tears were wiped and gumdrops replaced to everyone’s satisfaction).
Easy Set up for No-Bake Gingerbread Houses
Licking and sticking is a common practice among these young gingerbread house makers. Be sure to have a separate set up for each child. Plastic knives and paper plates are wonderful for this activity, along with a throw away table cloth that allows you to wrap up the whole sticky mess and pop it in the trash when the project is complete. Be sure to write each child’s name on their paper plate before they start.
Decorating the No-Bake Gingerbread Houses
Place assorted unwrapped candies on small plates for each child. Use 1/2 can icing for each child in there own container. Let their imaginations run wild. Eating candy is part of it, so be prepared. An outdoor activity after the gingerbread house decorating is a great idea. Plus it is always wise to start with a meal of real food first.
Parade of No-Bake Gingerbread Houses
Line up the houses and admire them at the end of the party, or sometime when the family is gathered. Let each gingerbread artist share their ideas on decorating. I have included kits below just in case you want to assemble a village, a carousel or Santa’s workshop. These affiliate links make it easy for you to find what you need and support the family blog at no extra cost to you–A Win all around!
I love your been there done that tips like your suggestions of planning this activity after the kids ate a meal. Otherwise I’m pretty sure my daughter would have most of her candy in her belly instead of on the house lol. Last night I asked her to help me make a soup and her job was to cut up celery. I gave her a bowl to put her cut up celery. After I finished cutting up the rest of the vegetables, I went to collect her bowl of celery and the bowl wasn’t as full as it should have been. I never even knew she liked celery that much but I can only imagine how empty her house would be if it was candy she was using.
Melanie you have hit on something! Maybe I should have mine help more with veg cutting so they would eat more! Yes, there is plenty of candy that ends up in tummies. I have found that they are less likely to have a tummy ache if a meal has proceeded the house decorating and candy eating part of the evening. Thanks for veg tip.
There are few things as fun for kids as decorating Gingerbread houses! I love doing this every year with my daughter. FYI- we discovered when she was in 1st grade, that you can use royal icing in place of glue, and it will hold. That may be a good idea if you have a child who cant help but “sample” the house! Love your idea of using graham crackers too! Why make things more complicated!? Great activity!
Thanks Shannon. We do use royal icing with our from scratch gingerbread houses it is super gluey and does hold the house together well. Your are right the graham crackers do make this houses quick and easy. Plus each child has their own house to create just as they like.