Gingerbread Houses - Assembly

Okay so Sunday was Gingerbread House assembly day.  In the morning I made a double batch of cement (or Royal) icing and put some of it in a piping bag (my only piping bag that I could find was stained pink from some red icing that I had previously done...but don't worry the icing was still white as white). 

Then I put the remaining icing in a Tupperware container.  The icing hardens very quickly when it is exposed to the air, so getting it in either a piping bag or an airtight container is very important. 

Then I moved to assembling 3 sides of the house along with the bottom.  We decided that since the kids were so young it would be good to have the sides solidified so they could put stuff inside their houses.  So I laid out the pieces as shown below - the bottom in the center, the two sides on the left and right and then the back at the top. 

Then I glued the pieces together with the cement icing.

Then Grandma Jan arrived in the afternoon with the candies, cups and lights for the houses and the real work began.  We set out all the candies.  Put out the cardboard cake rounds and doilies at each place at the table.  Then on top of those you place the three sided house.

Then once the house builders arrive, you put them to work.  Have several piping bags filled with cement icing and then go to work.  Grandma Jan would use her piping bag and say to Tommy "How about putting a tree here" and then dolloping a dot of icing as "glue."  When the kids are so young it is best to have one adult per house being built.  That way the adult can handle the bag of icing and the kids just get to place the candy on the house.  So have the house builder decorate the inside of the house. 

Once the inside is decorated, you can adhere the front of the house and then put on the roof.  You can always add more icing to decorate, so if it looks a little sloppy that is okay...you can fix it at the end.

Now you can decorate the outside of the house and the "yard."

Here are our final products:



Tommy's House (Front)

Tommy's House (Rear view)



Morgan/Mommy's House (front)

Morgan/Mommy's House (Side View)

Trying to get the inside view of Morgan/Mommy's House

So really just have fun with it and develop your process on your own.  And don't worry if you mess up!  It is all for fun! 

Let me know if you have any questions or please share your own gingerbread house making stories!