A washable gingerbread house? I know. It sounds a little crazy. After all, isn’t a gingerbread house all about molasses and rolling pins and good-smelling kitchens?
Ummmm,,,maybe.
To be honest, I’m all about homemade. I brew my own iced tea and my popcorn is popped on top of the stove nearly every. single. night.
But when it comes to gingerbread houses, I don’t make them from scratch.
Because I tried that once.
The gingerbread house that failed
With great care I measured, cut out and baked pieces of wonderful-smelling gingerbread. Then my daughters and I created our masterpiece, complete with ice cream cone trees and a licorice fence.
But I didn’t take into account our typical Mississippi winter. In the middle of December we had full-on heat and humidity.
As a result, the next day the roof of our gingerbread house turned soft and collapsed.
We were crushed.
For years after that I swore off gingerbread houses.
But then I had grandchildren.
So I got my nerve up again. Well, kind of.
Because I still wasn’t about to bake the gingerbread myself.
A gingerbread house that worked. Sort of.
First I had my husband design and craft a wooden house. That worked pretty well, but it was hard to clean so he normally had to make a new one each year.
Meanwhile at a local arts and crafts show my oldest daughter found this:
A washable gingerbread house! The most epic gingerbread house ever!
I’m telling you.
This. Is. Genius.
A plastic washable gingerbread house that breaks apart and snaps together again. It’s simple. And it’s the perfect size.
I simply smear on three cans of cheap cake icing.
And then the grandchildren start decorating.
The only negative thing I can say about it is Why in the world didn’t I think of that myself???
These washable gingerbread houses are made by The Candy Cottage and sell for $30. Since my daughter purchased hers we haven’t seen it at a craft show again. But you can order them online. This year I ordered a washable gingerbread house for my youngest grandchildren and the company promptly shipped it for free.
Since I have three sets of grandchildren, I normally make the rounds to their homes for gingerbread house decorating, ornament making and some fun activities like Christmas Bingo.
I don’t advertise with my blog, but if I did I’d try to sell this washable gingerbread house. Because I’m convinced everybody needs one.
Merry Christmas!
I had no clue washable gingerbread houses were a thing. I definitely need to invest one because we tried one of those DIY kits and almost all of the wall pieces were cracked or crunched up. This is genius! Thanks for sharing!
You would love one of these! They also are for sale on Amazon. If I advertised on my blog I’d offer them in a heartbeat! Thanks for reading!
I don’t mean to be a Negative Nelly, but I have always been curious about the excitement of gingerbread houses . . . . . it seems like such a waste to spend money on food items that won’t get eaten. They just get thrown away. Any thoughts??
Ha ha I see your point which is one more advantage of the washable gingerbread house. We include leftover Halloween candy so for the price of 3 cheap cans of icing and some dollar store candy my grandchildren have a ton of fun. Cheaper than a movie!:)