Have you ever thought about decorating Gingerbread houses with your class? YOU SHOULD!!! I had a Gingerbread House Decorating Party with my class every year and it was the best tradition! IT was a stress free party… I am not lying! Here are the things you can do to have an EASY, stress-free gingerbread house party at school:
1. Towards the end of November send a note home requesting candy donations. Click >>HERE<< to get the note I sent home with my students.
2. Have your students invite ONE grandparent or special guest. This is what makes the party so easy! Each student will have one-on-one help with an adult, which will make the decorating so much more fun for everyone. Be sure to make an invitation for the special guest and send it home with a note, explaining the activity to parents. Get the note >>HERE<<. (Sorry, I don’t have a copy of the invitations.)
3. Divide all the candy donated into ziplock baggies. Once that is done, you won’t need to worry about sharing the candy equally during the party. This is also a step you can do way ahead of time.
4. Assemble the gingerbread/graham cracker houses with a glue gun and on a sturdy paper plate. The video below is a great tutorial on how to do that. These houses can be made days/weeks in advance! Recruit your parent volunteers for this one. One year I didn’t make a single gingerbread house, because I had so many amazing parent volunteers help out. TIP: Once the houses are glued together, don’t forget to glue them down to the paper plates.
5. Make the icing! (Another thing you can recruit parent volunteers to help with.) This blog post >>HERE<< has a great recipe and tips for the royal icing. Don’t forget to use freezer bags, as they will hold up a lot better.
6. Set up an agenda for the party. That way you won’t have anyone sitting around with nothing to do! Pull out all your Holiday books, games, and pick up some cookies for everyone to eat. Whatever works for you and your classroom!
7. Right before the party, make sure each student has a graham cracker house, bag of candy, and a bag of royal icing. When their guest arrives, they will be ready to get started! Just a warning… your students will use ALL the candy you give them.
7. During the party, take pictures of each student and their special guest. After the party you can write thank you notes and send a picture home! The kids and the adults LOVE this!
