sugar & spice gingerbread dreams

This delightful gingerbread decorating party is the perfect way to celebrate the holiday season with children of all ages.

Sugar and spice and everything nice – that’s what this holiday party is made of. Mum Sara De St Jean of The Homespun Hostess welcomed five of her daughter Annabelle’s friends to celebrate the holiday season at this super-sweet gingerbread decorating party. “It was our first annual kick-off-the-holiday-season party for Annabelle (5) and her best school friends,” Sara explains. “We kept the guest list small so we could afford to make the occasion extra-special.”

“I bought pre-assembled gingerbread houses to save the frustration of building them, and we went straight to the fun part – decorating them!” she says.

The dining table was set up as a “decoration station”, and each place setting had six small cups of candy embellishments and mini icing bottles to make “gluing” them to the gingerbread houses easier for small fingers.

“The girls had a blast decorating the gingerbread houses while wearing their matching aprons,” Sara recalls. The party refreshments were simple – cake, gingerbread cookies, cupcakes with gingerbread man toppers, and peppermint stick cake pops.

Colourful printables, also designed by Sara, pulled together the theme. From invitations to the “sweet” flag banner for the table to the mini bottle wraps, gingerbread men danced through each of the whimsical paper items.

“It was a great way to get everyone in the holiday spirit,” Sara smiles.

Sara’s gingerbread party tips

  • Set up each place setting with a sheet of colourful scrapbook paper as an inexpensive placemat.
  • Pre-built gingerbread houses bypass the frustration of building (and falling apart) and lets the children start with the fun part: decorating!
  • Use colourful baking cups to hold individual portions of candy for decorating.
  • Small squeeze bottles of icing with custom labels were set at each place setting. The small bottles are easy to fill and easy for little hands to work with.
  • Inexpensive children’s aprons embellished with rick-rack and pom-poms make great party favours and the girls look adorable in them. I had the names embroidered by a local shop for a few dollars each.

Tip
While the gingerbread houses are drying, be sure to read the story of the Gingerbread Man for a little extra holiday fun.

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