When the kids were little, our church's Wednesday night clubs program had a gingerbread house making night every year. What a mess that was! My aunt, who I'm sure received many jewels in her crown for this, would ask the children in the school where she worked to save their cardboard pint milk containers. She would then get the local grocery store to donate styrofoam trays. But this was nothing to the amounts of icing she made ahead of time so that every child could make a house to take home. It was one of those activities that was a favorite of the kids every year, but not so beloved by the adult leaders (at least not by me).
We've found that the pint container, styrofoam tray, graham cracker method works best for us. It's a tradition that we don't repeat every year, but enough so that some of the kids get a chance to create every few years. The only deviation is that I make edible icing instead of that egg white stuff we used in clubs. Kids are bound to lick their fingers or get some icing when they pull the candy off to eat, so you might as well make it all edible.
The biggest dilemma, as I see it, is how to dispose of those houses once they've been made. In our house, it's a mystery to this day that when we return from our annual Christmas trek to Ohio, the houses are gone. Must be the college kids who house sit; maybe they just can't resist all that candy and sugar and in their binging they just eat the whole works - cardboard pint containers, styrofoam and all!
Whose house is this, anyway?
If making a house brings out the personality of each child, you can easily see that this one is the organized, methodical, future teacher, right?
Nope, she didn't do that herself. (And I'm told taste-testing is necessary to the quality of the finished product)
The finished products! And yes, this project is definitely more fun with a friend or two. Thanks, Katrina!
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