One of the fun team-building activities that families and friends do during the holidays is decorating a gingerbread house. The gingerbread decoration art spans from the traditional designs to the latest trends, but generally, you’ll catch an eye to it because of its creativity and holiday spirit.
Here are some decorating ideas to inspire your gingerbread masterpiece.
Classic Holiday Traditions
To create a more traditional gingerbread house, stick with a red, green, and white color scheme. Apply royal icing to create a snowy effect on the roof of the house and around its base. Enhance the festive flavor by adding classic candy canes, gumdrops, and peppermint candies to your gingerbread house.
Pip the roof, windows, and doors for an immaculate finish.
Use small pieces of chocolate or pretzels to perfect a rustic chimney effect. Finally add a romantic snowfall effect by dusting the entire house completely with powdered sugar for the clue: just fallen.
Fantasy Candy Land
Turn the gingerbread house into a magical candy wonderland. Incorporate bright and playful elements such as colored gummy bears, licorice strips, and jelly beans to decorate it. Perhaps make layers or patterns of candies for that seriously whimsical but structured look.
Use wafer cookies or Necco wafers as shingles over the roof. Chocolate buttons or rainbow sprinkles make a fabulous approaching pathway up to the house. A marshmallow snowman or lollipop trees in the yard bring this house and scene into a very cheerful one.
Rustic Cottage Style
A log cabin theme is very warm and adorable. Pretzel sticks work great for the wall liner of a log cabin. The most ideal snow-covered landscaping is with shredded coconut. Graham cracker squares add a fascinating look to the roof like some wooden shingles.
Earthy tones with the addition of real edible decorations such as toasted almonds, dried cranberries, or edible flowers can give a fantastic natural feel. A house and yard can then further be decorated with chocolate truffles as garden shrubs and powdered sugar as snowy dusting.
Winter Wonderland
A monochromatic winter wonderland theme is pretty cool and serene. Stick to just white and silver with icing, coconut flakes, and even white chocolate for the decorations. Add sugar pearls or edible glitter for a glassy look like that of iridescent snow.
Create beautiful icicles by piping icing along the edges of the roof and letting them drip slightly. Add glamour with silver dragées or little edible snowflakes. Meringue trees or marshmallow snowdrifts can be placed around the house for a final flourish.
Festive Themes and Characters
Holiday themes or characters may incorporate gingerbread-from building Santa’s workshop into a gingerbread house or fondant sleigh and reindeer, gumdrops, and chocolate bars for building into elements of toys about the house.
Design a gingerbread house in the style of your favorite holiday movie or book, such as “The Grinch” or “Frozen.” Use themed colors and edible figurines to bring the concept to life.
Candy Cane Dreams
If you love candy canes, then they really must be the feature of your gingerbread house design. Crush some and sprinkle on the roof or walls. Save whole ones to use as a frame for the door or to make columns.
Create a candy cane fence around the house or make a heart shape with the striped candies on the roof and couple them with red and white candies such as peppermints and jelly beans for a uniform look.
Edible Landscaping
The area around your gingerbread house can be almost as imaginative as the house itself. Build a pathway with graham crackers, sprinkle coconut flakes to resemble snow, or build a pond using blue-tinted gelatin. Pretzel stick fences or log chocolate-covered biscuits can mark off the yard.
Complete the mood: ice cream cones all slathered with green icing and covered with colorful sprinkles are trees, with mini marshmallows forming tiny clusters that create ‘snowy’ bushes. A fondant family of one-inch doll proportions can bring more life to the scene.
Modern Minimalist Style
Minimal designs are minimal and modern, which means clean lines, muted colors, and simple decorations such as monochrome candies or geometric patterns.
Instead of all intricate designs covering the house, try something subtler – the seam of a perfectly piped roof or accents in gold or silver almost minimizing them. This style is perfect for lovers of understated elegance.
Personalized touches
Add personal flair to your gingerbread house by integrating elements that say something about your family or traditions. Use edible markers to write names or festive messages on cookies. Create mini replicas of your pets in fondant or candy.
Add up in these decorations little details like the small gingerbread signs saying holiday greetings or baking distinct-shaped cookies. This makes your gingerbread house one-of-a-kind indeed.
Conclusion
Making a gingerbread house is a fun and artistic way to welcome the holidays. Whether you want a traditional taste a whimsical candy wonderland or a rustic cottage, the possibilities are endless.
A festive masterpiece is just what you need to get you in the mood for celebrations. So gather up your supplies, invite your family, and get decorating!