Yes, even I know the sound of this blog post sounds insane, doing anything with a toddler is a project let alone a messy one. Now that my daughter Taylor is 2, I wanted to start some new traditions with her. What better tradition then building a gingerbread house for Christmas?! I was excited to team up with Christmas Tree Shops and That! for this post because I knew they would have a great selection of treats for this project. OK- and also I knew it was a great excuse to also check out the rest of their Christmas decor! They always have new products and such a great assortment, its like a treasure hunt!
Christmas Tree Shops and That! had a whole section of gingerbread house kits! They even had pre-built ones for under $10 which was such a great deal! I grabbed two of them, one for me and one for Taylor to make. They also had lots of holiday candy which is great for stocking stuffers too! (I got some candy for my husbands stocking.) After picking up a bunch of red and green candies I went to their regular food section and got lots of cookies and candies for our gingerbread houses.
Now for the tips on how to survive this new tradition.
- Expect a mess. Listen, as an adult I can’t even make a gingerbread house without some sort of mess. The icing will get on your hands, the gumdrops will get on the floor and everything will find a way to get sticky. So make sure you have some wet paper towels handy to wipe it up. I also picked up a vinyl tablecloth from Christmas Tree Shops and That! to cover the table. I 100% recommend covering your table, that gave me a little more comfort knowing I wouldn’t find a wet peppermint stuck to it later in the day.
2.Buy a prebuilt gingerbread house. Little hands are not gentle so when they place that candy cane on the roof it will come crashing down if its not secured well. Both prebuilt houses I used were able to withstand toddler hands.
3. Set everything up the night before or while they are napping. I got so many cookies and candies that needed to be unwrapped. If my daughter was around while I was opening them she would have been demanding to eat/hold/play with each box I opened. Having it all set up the night before helped so much. Once we were ready to make them I just sat her at the table and we were ready to go. I’ve learned toddlers don’t have much of an attention span so if she had to wait while I set things up it would have been over before it started.
4. Use muffin tins to separate and set up the candy and cookies. I bought disposable tins so I could just throw them out when done. You can easily use regular baking pans too. Also, don’t fill them to the top with candies, the more they are filled the more they can eat or throw. You can easily add more to each tin as you go.
5. Just have fun and be patient! I would put some icing on a candy and then let Taylor press the iced candy onto the house. Two years old was a little too young for me to trust her with a bag of icing. (I see how she still over squeezes her pouches haha) She had a little creative direction from me but still had fun!
The whole activity lasted about an hour and then it was time for a nap, so mommy could clean up and finish her gingerbread house too! Make sure to take some pictures to show them in the future! Sit out the houses on the counter for the season, they will be very proud of their work and enjoy seeing it displayed. I found cute matching white cake stands at Christmas Tree Shops and That! to display ours on.
