Christmas Gingerbread House Making Ladies Night

Happy Sunday Friends!

Today I'm sharing the most wonderful night of the year!

Our Annual Gingerbread House Making Ladies Night with my dear friends!

I honestly look forward to this night every year. It's a chance to catch up with friends, make something creative and fun, drink, eat and make memories. 😊

 

And because I was hosting at my house this year, and it's so close to Christmas, I had to get my butt into gear and finalise my Christmas decorations. 😜

 

We kicked off with a Thai takeaway dinner from my favourite Thai. Keeping in mind we would be needing all the space on the table for the rest of the evenings events, I kept my place settings and table centrepiece simple, but elegant.

I used wooden chargers (recently purchased from Kmart), simple white plates, gold cutlery and gold sprinkled napkins, paired with white marble drink coasters and clear wine and water glasses.

 

For my centrepiece, I used my White DIY Table Riser, lined beneath with faux pine branches and white berry stems. 

 

Atop my riser I included a forest of green bottle brush trees, light up snowy pines and gold tea light holders. 

When dinner arrived, I was able to quickly remove these items and place the food on the riser.

 

We had such a great time I forgot to take photos during dinner and our gingerbread house making, but jump to the end of the evening and these are our delicious masterpieces!

 

If you have not created a gingerbread house before, I'll give you an idea of what you are missing out on. 

First you need to order your freshly baked gingerbread house kit from a local supplier. You can also purchase them in store, but freshly baked will obviously taste better. 

Your kit most likely will include the sides and roof of your house, a board to build on, icing in an icing bag, a ribbon fastener to hold your roof in place while the icing dries, cellophane for wrapping and ribbon.

Additionally, you will need to purchase lollies of your choice. 

It's up to you whether you want to jump on Pinterest to research tips and trick and design ideas. I haven't in previous years, but this year I did pick up a few ideas that I used in this years design. 😁 

In any event, your house is going to taste delicious and look amazing regardless.

 

This year I chose a log cabin design that I saw on Pinterest. I used choc orange sticks for my log walls. And for the roof I used mini white marshmallows and After Dinner Mints. I embellished with MnM's, pretzels and choc filled wafer sticks. Another little idea I found on Pinterest were the little pot plants made from Cadbury chocolate roll lollies, topped with Mint leaves.  Lastly I used white chocolate buds for stepping stones, despite there being no door on our houses this year. You could however make your own door using a decorated biscuit. 😉

And don't forget to stuff the inside with all your leftover lollies!

 

Here is my friend Vanessa's house. She used marshmallows, MnM's, musk sticks, candy canes, mint leaves, chocolate balls and raspberries. I love everything about it!

 

And my friend Jo created this stunning house. She used MnM's, mint leaves, raspberries, jellybeans and star sprinkles. I especially love her decorative icing on the roof! 

I also purchased the small gold glitter trees from Bed Bath n Table for us each to include in our design and as a keepsake. 😊  In past years we have shared light up trees and angels in our designs.

 

Don't they just look so pretty and edible! 

 

 

One of our traditions on the night is to have our photos taken with our houses. I love looking back on the past years and all the different designs and memories we made. 😍 

Lastly, all houses are wrapped in cellophane and tied with ribbon for transporting and keeping fresh. 

It's up to you whether you save your house for Christmas Day or eat it beforehand. Usually we last a few days before temptation wins, but this year it was less than 24 hours! 😂

And yes, it tasted as good at it look! 😍😆

Thanks for another wonderful night ladies! 😘 I'm looking forward to next year already!