Vintage Santa’s Village Gingerbread House

Santa’s Village were the first franchised theme parks in the world. There were two Santa’s Villages in California 1950s & 1960s – today they are both closed. One was near Los Angeles, at Skyforest, near Lake Arrowhead in the San Bernadino Mountains. The parks sat on fifteen forested acres, eleven colorful buildings housed Santa Claus and his toy workshops. It was a fairyland setting for his gnomes, elves, Gingerbread kids and little animal friends make up a children’s and grownups’ paradise the year round.” A REAL Gingerbread House, where a Good Witch bakes Gingerbread every day. Visit here for more information and spectacular photos on this vintage theme park.

Gingerbread Animal Houses

Aren’t these the neatest! A Cat Palace & House for a Mouse Gingerbread House. These photos are from the Rational Animal event in the Dana Discovery Center of Central Park. The goal was to educate people about the need for all animals to have a home, den, or nest. Educational activities relating to animals were a big part of the fun for the kids.

Gingerbread People Cookies

An easy and yummy Gingerbread Cookie recipe that you will find yourself making year after year. The ingredients are minimal and several folks comment who have made the cookies that you really do not need to refrigerator the dough for an hour and that some put it in their freezer for a few minutes till they can work with it. All folks say it is an easy and tasty recipe. Visit here for details.

NECCO Wafer Gingerbread House

In celebration of NECCO’s 150th anniversary in 1997, NECCO’s candy experts teamed up with baking instructor Susan Logozzo to offer a step-by-step guide for creating a traditional Gingerbread House with some special twists for creative decorating with candy.
You will need (for each character)
2- 1 1/2″ diameter wooden balls
2- 2 1/4″ diameter clay pots
2 buttons
shiny holiday ribbons
white small rick rack
white craft or hot glue
black finetip marker
large paintbrush
acrylic paints in light brown and pink
Visit here to get the rest of this project.

Clay Pot Gingerbread Pals

These Gingerbread are too cute to eat! If you are looking for an easy holiday craft, this could very well be the answer you’ve been searching for.

You will need (for each character)
2- 1 1/2″ diameter wooden balls
2- 2 1/4″ diameter clay pots
2 buttons
shiny holiday ribbons
white small rick rack
white craft or hot glue
black finetip marker
large paintbrush
acrylic paints in light brown and pink
Visit here to get the rest of this project.

Gingerbread Goodie Cans

This is a fun little Gingerbread craft project ~ a Gingerbread Goodie Can. Fill your goodie can with yummy Gingerbread treats! Print out the patterns and trace around. Then cut them out with the color of construction paper shown. Lines of detail were added with the black or red markers. To add a glisten to the eyes, simply apply a dot of whiteout. Visit here for the pattern.

Miniature Gingerbread House

This ‘mini’ craft has big flavor. Kids can decorate this Miniature Gingerbread House and enjoy as a Christmas treat, or as a decoration for years to come.
What you’ll need:

* 7 graham crackers
* Frosting for glue (recipe below)
* Assorted small candies for decorating
* Ribbon
* Pastry bag and tip or Ziploc bag and scissors
Visit here for details.

Fantasy Gingerbread Candy House

Set aside a day or two and enlist lots of help from the kids to create a memorable piece of family architecture with this Fantasy Gingerbread Candy House. You might want to document the roof-raising with photos or a video.
WHAT YOU NEED
* Gingerbread Dough (see recipe below)
* House template
* Scissors
* Plain paper (at least 8 1/2-inches x 11-inches)
* Ruler
* Pencil
* Rolling Pin
* Tree or girl and boy cookie cutters (optional)
* Baking sheets
* Wide spatula
* Cooling racks
* Royal Icing “Glue” recipe (see below)
* Base such as a board, baking sheet, flat platter or cake stand
* Foil (if using board as base)
* Narrow spatula
* Plastic pastry bag or sandwich bag
* Colored icings in tubes (with decorating tips)
* Mini Chewy SWEETARTS
* Mini Chewy SPREE
* SPREE Candy Canes
* BABY RUTH Fun Size Bars
* NESTLÉ CRUNCH Santa Pooh
* NESTLÉ BUTTERFINGER, NESTLÉ CRUNCH Fun Size Bars or Miniatures, or NESTLÉ Milk Chocolate JINGLES
* NESTLÉ CRUNCH Medallion
* Flake coconut (optional)
* Craft hot glue gun with craft hot glue sticks (optional)
Visit here to get the rest of the details!