Tips for the Ultimate Gingerbread House!

I've made many gingerbread houses in my days as a parent. Here's some things you should know before you get started!

1. Don't even think about trying to keep your house together with frosting. It doesn't work! The walls cave in, the roof slides off, and you're left with a huge mess! I've found the best thing to do (other than buying the houses that have already been cemented together) is to use a hot glue gun! Sure, you can't eat the outside walls of your house in the end, but how many of us really do that anyway?!

2. Buy or make your own frosting. The kits never come with enough frosting and the quality isn't great. With extra frosting you can do lots of cool things like make icicles dripping from the roof and you can make multiple colors if you want.

3. While we are on the topic of extra, buy extra candy. I think the best gingerbread houses are the ones that look super gaudy. Plus, if you throw on a lot of candy you can hide mistakes. Gum drops, lemon drops, junior mints, pretzels, candy canes, peppermint candies, pull and peel licorice, and soft mints make great decorations; but you can really use any candy you like.

4. Decorate the roof last and don't put candy on the roof that is too heavy or it will easily slip off.

5. Let your kids be creative! Don't get too hung up on the fact that you want it to look like the one on the box! "Perfect" gingerbread houses are boring anyway. I either let my kids each be in charge of one side of the house, or I let them each have their own house and we have a little family friendly competition!

Happy Decorating!