Okay, that might be a misnomer–gingerbread house, since the first one I want to tell you about is made from cardboard!
I was raised making gingerbread houses from scratch until I realized you could buy them already made and still have the fun part–decorating them. I’ve read the story of the gingerbread man, acted it out, made a little man out of play-doh and ran him through the town. We made little houses by frosting small milk cartons and placing graham crackers on for siding. But I have to admit, I was fascinated by the “gingerbread” house (minus the gingerbread) that I encountered at a child’s house last week. It was too easy to resist telling you about.
Mom got the idea from allrecipes.com. Easy cut outs from cardboard save the hassle of baking the forms and waiting for the next steps. This mom cleverly added her child’s picture peeking out of the front door! Luckily her frosting stayed a bit soft so her son can sample the goodies whenever he wants!
Just in case you want to do a lot more work and bring out a little Martha Stewart in you, I will share my traditional way of making one from scratch. I use a Gingerbread House Bake Kit that includes large cookie cutters for the walls and roof. Four batches of icing later, it is together and the fun begins. I only decorated half of it in anticipation of 3 year-old Will helping me put the candy on.
So have some fun and reinforce the story with some gingerbread 
people and a house for them to go home to!
