it's not too late! "gingerbread" houses

It's Evan's third, THIRD Christmas this year. I can't stop saying it. But now that he is old enough to help and to communicate clearly, I'm really enjoying the holiday traditions this year. A while ago, Eric suggested that we make a gingerbread house. I was totally underwhelmed with the "kits" at the store, but there wasn't a chance I was going to bake gingerbread from scratch only to let it sit with candy on it and get old. Sorry 'bout it!

But then I remembered seeing gingerbread houses made of graham crackers. Or maybe we did that as kids. Either way, I decided that was the best route.
Here are some of my secrets!

Lots of candy! I'll definitely be getting more of an assortment next year, but use whatever you love. We had Goobers, Dots, some round jelly candies, Nerds and sprinkles. Use frosting from a jar. I'm normally a homemade frosting kind of girl, but I also can't resist the stuff from the jar. I figured for an activity where we wouldn't really be eating it, the stuff from the jar would suffice.

Hot glue. Enough said?

Evan was psyched when he realized what I was doing. Photo tip: If you want to get really good pictures of your kids doing activities, set up the activity before you let them know about it. That way, you won't be scrambling between trying to help open things or get things in place and you'll be able to capture all the perfect candid moments.

Evan's got a real attitude lately, but sometimes it's really, really, really cute. Did I say really enough times? Probably not.

The grown-ups got to do houses too. But Evan's turned out the best.

He had a blast and I am SO glad we did this! These kinds of activities don't last that long at this age, especially with only one kid, but I am excited to start the tradition. He will be pumped to show his sister about "gingerbread" houses next year!