Traditional Christmas gift of a Gingerbread House!
Hey, remember that faithful Gingerbread house kit? The one where you can build and eat it all up after you have made it?
HOW IT’S MADE!
In each part of the house, the walls and roof are made out of yummy ginger biscuits, and you have to stick them together with icing sugar, finished with sugar treats.
THAT’S WHAT I GOT!
This year, I received a Gingerbread house kit as a gift, and I thought, ‘Oh no, I bet it’s in a hundred pieces, and I am going to be up all night building it!!’
Well, I was mistaken. The task ahead was straightforward, with only six parts, and the rest was down to decorating it!
WHAT HAPPENED NEXT!
Then I thought I would love to make this, but instead, I had a couple of enthusiastic candidates eager and ready with their sleeves pulled up, to give it a go!
I had the easy part, of course, I would be recording it.
MY INTENTION!
This is how the idea for this project came about: having stored up some cardboard boxes that had been flattened, it was simple, they would be what I would use to create a cardboard box Gingerbread house.
It’s a matter of cutting, joining up and finally painting.
BACK TO THE GINGERBREAD HOUSE KIT!
So I had my two candidates, and you do need a couple of characters to make this, as one set of hands would squeeze the icing, and the other set of hands would hold parts in place whilst they bond.
Before we get started, here’s a brief look into the history of the Gingerbread!
LET’S START!
Our volunteers had lots of fun doing this activity, and the best part was that once completed, they got to eat it, not all of it though, some was left for me. Unfortunately, we had to break it up!
Aw, what a shame!
LET’S MAKE A CARDBOARD GINGERBREAD HOUSE!
   RESOURCES!
1 Square box, an extra square piece for the base and a larger piece for the roof. (not shown)
Acrylic paints (your choice)
Glue gun. wax sicks.
Large scissors.
Ruler/black pen.
Long strip of paper.
Fine brushes.
PVA glue (not shown)
Coloured tissue paper (not shown)
LET’S GET STARTED!
WHAT TO LOOK OUT FOR!
How easy was that! You need to find three cardboard parts.
- One cardboard box to make the house body.
- A square piece of cardboard to glue the house on for stability.
- Finally, a larger piece of cardboard to make the roof when folded in half.
The main part is to find a square box that will be the structure of your house, then work around that.
   SOME USEFUL FACTS!
  EASY WAY!
- When I need to find the centre or half of an odd shape and measuring is difficult, I find cutting a strip of paper the length of the item to measure, making sure the strip reaches each end, then fold in half mark it with a pen, then transfer this to your shape holding the length of the paper against your shape mark the centre from the paper onto your item.
  SECURING BOX!
- If your box for the house has a base, then you will be fine, but if it’s hollow, then you will need to glue it to a square cardboard base to stabilise it, hence making it firm, then you can go ahead and attach the roof onto it.
  PENCIL IN!
- Before you paint all parts, you can draw in the windows, door and roof with a pencil. Although it’s pretty straightforward, if you have a Gingerbread house to hand, you can copy the markings, or you can make up what you like.
  ADULT GUIDANCE!
- When using the hot glue gun, be careful as the wax can get very hot and can burn your hands.
- I scrunched up different coloured tissue papers to make the treats for the roof of the house, but if you have little pom pom balls, they can be used instead.
Moving on I have something that might be of interest to you, I was quite lucky this came my way and at the right time to add to this post! So here we go!
I have a couple of treats for you. They are quite different, unusual and zany, something to put outside a house and something to show inside a house.
Coincidentally, these two items tie in quite well with our theme, a cardboard box Gingerbread house!
Let’s take a look.
THE FIRST OF THESE TREATS!
Let’s have a little make-believe. Imagine you are outside this Gingerbread House, and you are approaching the front door. Looking for there is this very quirky-looking doormat?
Assuming we are addressing the Gingerbread house, the doormat can have any wording or image of your choice.
Let’s say it reads ‘Eat me, at your leisure!!! or ‘Tasty treats and much, much more inside!’
Although your design would welcome your visitors before they stepped into your home with a fun welcome image!
It could be a pet photo, or a family picture, or fun welcoming words, right outside your front door.
When you click links in this post and make a purchase, I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. This helps support the craft projects shared on this website.đŸ˜€
(Affiliate disclosure)
  SOME FACTS.
The colour holds well coming from digital printing.
These mats are made from tough durable material.
Please see sellers description depending on whether you need to wash mats.
CHECKING OUT THE DOORMATS!
Just to show you, remember our two keen Gingerbread house students above? well I thought to use a picture of them as an example of how it would look on a doormat.
Adding a fun sentence, you have a super photographic doormat.
Cute, isn’t it? The text is in the style of their language, making it more personal.
Don’t worry, once it gets mucky with dirt, it can be washed (depending on the seller’s specification).
HERE IS THE SECOND TREAT,AND A COUPLE OF EXAMPLES!
LET’S IMAGINE!
Now you are stepping inside this bewitching Gingerbread house with all its glory it has to offer, pushing the crispy, sweet, loaded door with the glistening jelly tots and shimmering white icing, behold, what do you discover?
Strangly enough wonderful historical pet portraits!
These portraits look very grand, special, and quite spectacular!
WHO ARE THEY?
These royal ornate portraits! Who are they? These incredible characters are very distinguished and majestic!
A cat and a dog dressed in very important outfits. Could these be the characters that live in this house?
ARE THESE ANCESTORS?
Then I glance ahead and see a couple of happy characters also dressed, but this time in a Victorian ensemble with pretty garden scenery.
PERSONALISED HISTORICAL PORTRAITS OF YOUR FAVOURITE PET OR LOVED ONE.
Perhaps these characters could be people you know?Â
Have you guessed it yet? Yes, just think you can choose any members of your family, be it grandparents, parents, children, friends, colleagues or pets and have them transformed into a beautiful portrait in a historical setting of your choice?
How original and what a grand way to show them as if they lived during that period, fun and funny at the same time.
These portraits would be unique to you and to whom you would gift them.
Check them out on Etsy; these artists offer something different and a bit special. I found them to be cleverly designed, amusing and their presentation outstanding, with whoever you decide to go with.
LET’S CONCLUDE!
I hope you have enjoyed the activity within this post. I like to think that you can do more with your cardboard boxes.
BE INVENTIVE!
With a little bit of imagination, you can transform something simple and ordinary into a brown cardboard box Gingerbread house!
MY INTENTION!
The idea was taken from the original biscuit version, and as my volunteers were getting creative, that’s when I thought, hey!, how about recycling some cardboard throw-outs that I saved and recreating our biscuit treat?
SOMETHING DIFFERENT!
Finally, I include two very unusual and very different products that fit in well with the theme of this post, and I would welcome anything that’s not ‘the conventional’.
FUN, AND CREATIVE!
As my niche is called crazee kids art, I like to include crazee and fun ideas with a twist!
HOPE TO INSPIRE!
I enjoy doing this project, and if you cannot find any Gingerbread house kits, then I hope you can get what you can from my example.
DON’T FORGET!
Oh, I would love to hear from you or your kids about how you got on and any examples you may have, and I could post them as an update!
I’ve always been a fan of gingerbread houses and absolutely love the kit you shared in this post. What a shame it had to be eaten though! Your cardboard version is so creative. I’m sure both kids and adults would have great fun making it. I also love the extra treats, especially the doormat!
Hi Kathy, I know the best part of the Gingerbread house kit is in the making, unfortunately
my two volunteers could not resist tasting it! If it were me I would have had it sat on top
of my fireplace in its full glory! lol
I am glad you liked the treats, coincidentally the doormats are made in Germany where the
Gingerbread houses were mostly recognised! can you imagine designing a doormat with a
Gingerbread house on it!
Thanks for your comment and agree with how fun it would be for kids and adults to have a go
at making a cardboard version and don’t forget to save your brown cardboard packaging and you can
have a go too!
The gingerbread house is always a good project to introduce to couples and families. Cardboard ones we have not heard of and so we had to keep reading to understand how to make one. We will end up trying this we just made a real gingerbread house for Christmas me and my wife had a blast. We bet this one will be one to along with the special gifts at the end of the article.
Cheers,
MnD
Hi there, glad you had fun making a real Gingerbread house! My two volunteers did too!
The reason why I introduced a cardboard version of the same thing, is because I look to
recycle throw-outs into fun crafts for kids and as I collected a bit of brown packaging
it came in handy, perfect for this kind of project to try out!
As for the two treats at the end of the article, I thought as crazy and zany as there are
kind of tied in with this make belief Gingerbread house and fun to jump in and check out!
Thanks for your comment and do have a go at making a cardboard version, it can be just as
fun and creative too even if it’s out of season đŸ™‚
Awesome article! Loved the gingerbread house, will definitely try to make one with my kids, I think they’ll love it, amazing cardboard house – real creativity. Also love the idea of having personalised mat no sure I would feel comfortable wiping my foot on my loved ones faces though.
Thank you
Hi there, so glad you liked the Gingerbread house project! you can have a go anytime, keep hold of all your cardboard, grab yourself some paints and anything colourful, tissue paper, pompoms and you are good to go!.
I agree with you, it did cross my mind about wiping my feet on someones face lol, but you can always wash these mats and get them back to scratch!
Thanks for dropping by and if you get to make a cardboard Gingerbread house with your kids, drop us a line and I can add it as an update!
Happy crafting!
Julia.