A Gingerbread House Decorating Party with Amy Blessing

Decorating gingerbread houses around the holidays is a tradition I grew up with and have always loved. Now I do it with my own kids and probably enjoy it even more! For the last few years my friend Amy Blessing has helped me organize a decorating party for our children and some friends. This year, for a bit of a twist, we did gingerbread tents with little trees and all kinds of add-ons for the kids to make them completely unique.  

Our friend and chef Arabella constructed the blank tents using three triangular pieces of gingerbread adjoined with frosting, one with a triangle cut out for the door. The tents were placed onto round cardboard cake bases from Amazon, which gave the kids even more space to decorate. After that, it was all about setting up an assortment of materials for the kids to use. Amy picked up shaved coconut, almonds, pumpkin seeds, pecans, and pretzels from the grocery store.

At World Market she found peppermint sticks and crushed peppermint, and at Target she picked up some mini bottle brush trees. The burlap bags for all of the toppings were from a craft store downtown; you should be able to find something similar at your local craft store. When the party kicked off we gave each child their own tent, and a squeeze bottle filled with frosting, and let them have at it. Each house turned out so cute, and the kids really had a great time coming up with their creations. XXJKE