Thursday, October 27, 2011

Halloween gingerbread house

I know you didn't get enough Halloween pictures yesterday. (Ahem.)

In August, Mikko and I were at JoAnn's when he spotted this Halloween gingerbread house kit. Now, I didn't know such a thing existed, and we didn't need one in August, but don't try telling Mikko that.

(Our camera had broken and was sent off for repairs, so these are from our cell phone.)

Mikko m4yo decorates spooky gingerbread house for Halloween 2011 holidays
Sam helped Mikko put the base together. This was the trickiest part because the icing was a really slippery consistency. That did not deter Mikko from slurping it off the knife.

Mikko m4yo decorates spooky gingerbread house for Halloween 2011 holidays
At this point Sam gave up on trying to get the darn thing to look like the box and Mikko took over stacking the leftover pieces as he saw fit. (The can is to hold up the structure as it dries.)

Mikko m4yo decorates spooky gingerbread house for Halloween 2011 holidays
Mikko decorated with the candy and icing in a 1:1 ratio: one for the house, one for him. Until he realized the candies mostly tasted terrible.

Mikko m4yo with black lips from frosting for spooky gingerbread house for Halloween 2011 holidays
That black and gray frosting, though, was surprisingly delicious. (Warning: Your poop will come out intriguing colors, though. Just saying.)

actual box for spooky gingerbread house for Halloween 2011 holidays
What it was supposed to look like. Oh, silly Wilton. You are always setting the standards so high. Note that we were supposed to have rolled the gumdrops flat to be the light in the windows behind the perfectly scrolled icing and colored coconut shavings green to be the yard. Yup, that happened.

spooky gingerbread house for Halloween 2011 holidays
Our final creation! Pretty awesome, huh? Mikko has internalized one-to-one correspondence and made us put one ball on top of every gumdrop by the door, as you can see. He's my little Montessori teacher.


I think it ended up pretty spooky and festive. It's long past edible, but we have it on display still for Halloween!

It would be pretty easy fun to make your own gingerbread house for Halloween, or Thanksgiving, or Easter, or a birthday, or any other non-standard time when a cute homemade house would add just the right touch to your celebration. You can put a house together with graham crackers as a much simpler base and then just make or buy the frosting. Kids love to pick out the candy and show you how to decorate!

Bonus: Smashing the house when you're done is really satisfying, too!

4 comments:

Melissa said...

It is definitely both spooky and festive, and Mikko looks awfully proud of it - even if it doesn't look precisely like the one on the box! This is the first year I have heard of a Halloween house, and I definitely think I need to remember them and get in on the action next time. Thanks for the idea!

Lauren Wayne said...

@Melissa: Isn't it fun? I had only ever thought of gingerbread houses for Christmas, which is why I at first was hesitant to give into Mikko's request for a Halloween one. But now I'm converted. In one of the links I linked to, someone was saying they make a gingerbread (graham cracker) house for birthdays in place of a cake — wouldn't that be a fun tradition?

And, by the way, if you get a bunch of Halloween candy you're trying to use up but not by putting in your mouth (hee), you could always make a post-Halloween house and use all the leftovers for the decoration!

Lisa C said...

I think your gingerbread houses are way scarier than the ones on the box. LOL

Elisabeth Stone said...

NICE! Yeah I agree that your guys' final product was way more bada$$ than the box. This looks like it was so. much. fun. to do with Mikko :) Maybe next year E will be old enough for something fun like this.

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