Elf on the Shelf Gingerbread Holiday House Fun

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It’s that time of the year.  Gingerbread Houses and Elf on the Shelf.   I have a love/hate relationship with both.   I’m not being a Scrooge, it’s just 25 days of Elf on the Shelf can be a bit much and Gingerbread Houses are fun but can also be a candy binge overload.  Luckily, I killed two birds with one stone this year by having our Ef on the Shelf, Jr., surprise my daughter with an Almost Candy Free Gingerbread Holiday House made with Honey Maid graham crackers and somewhat  “better for you” options for decorating the house.

 

Elf on the Shelf Gingerbread Holiday House Fun

My daughter loves candy but she also loves to eat foods that are a better choice than candy.   Let’s just say, she was thrilled the other morning when Jr., our Elf on the Shelf,  left her a fun Christmas activity by creating  Gingerbread Holiday House out of Honey Maid Graham Crackers.  Jr. also filled the  basket full of her favorite almost candy free decorating favorites too.

 

This Gingerbread House is decorated with  banana chips, almonds, yogurt covered pretzels, dried cranberries and her favorite, chocolate covered cherries.  It is held together with royal icing though.  Unless you use hot glue to hold the house together, royal icing is a must when it comes to building a Gingerbread house.

How many people actually eat a Gingerbread house, anyways?   Typically, everyone eats what goes on to the house and since this is an almost candy free house, eating almonds and dried cranberries seems better then eating gum drops and candy canes, right??

 

After my daughter decided on the size and shape of the houses,  we made  “Gingerbread Concrete” aka Royal Icing from 2 cup confectioner sugar,  1 egg white, 1/4 tsp Cream of Tarter and 2-3 Tb of water.  You may need to add more or less water depending on the consistency.

 

 

The roof of the Gingerbread House is decorated  with almond slices.  This was totally her idea too, she’s just  creative  and clever.

 

The rest of the  Gingerbread House has chocolate covered cherries for windows, banana chips as doors and a yogurt covered pretzel as a wreath.

 

 

My daughter loved making the Gingerbread Holiday Houses together and didn’t even miss decorating without real candy.    She created a  main house and a rustic shack.  She knows I loves rustic things so, I guess that’s where I’ll be staying.

 

 

 

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I think Jr.,  our Elf on the Shelf  did a great job leaving my daughter a Gingerbread Holiday House Fun activity.  Now Jr. needs to come with almost a whole month more of creative ideas.