Whether you’re entering a gingerbread house competition or just having a party with family, here’s how to make a fun and festive camping gingerbread house. This creation includes a camping trailer, truck, campfire, picnic table, trees and lots of cute black bears. Check it out!

Last year I entered a gingerbread house competition at our local mall. I am a novice baker, so this was a good learning experience for me. However, despite my non-existent skills, I think it turned out pretty good. Here’s how I made it and what I learned along the way. Check it out!

Gather your gingerbread supplies

You’re going to need a bunch of ingredients/supplies to make your camping gingerbread house. Here’s a list of the main things you’ll need:

• Wooden board or similar platform
• Homemade gingerbread (graham crackers won’t do)
• Royal frosting
• Fondant
• Cinnamon candies
• Frosting piping kit
• Jolly ranchers
• Food coloring
• Powdered sugar
• Coconut flakes
• Christmas tree cookie cutter set

Make your truck, camping trailer and picnic table

Obviously, the hardest part of this gingerbread display is going to be the truck and camping trailer. But I just made your life a lot easier because I have a template that you can use to make these. Just download the free template below and cut out each shape.

Next, make a big batch of gingerbread dough and roll it out on the counter. Place your cutout templates on the dough and cut them out and cook them in the oven.

Don’t forget to label each shape so you don’t get them mixed up. Keep all of the left over scraps of cooked gingerbread because you’ll need them for miscellaneous parts to the display.

You might need to cut some of the edges so they are straighter. Then, frost each piece with royal frosting. This was my first time frosting gingerbread with royal frosting. It didn’t turn out perfect like you see on those cookie frosting videos on social media. But it wasn’t bad. The red frosting color bled a little bit onto the white frosting, but no biggie.

Glue all of your gingerbread pieces together with royal frosting. I tried gluing them together with boiling sugar because it dried quicker, but over time it didn’t hold. They fell apart. Royal frosting works way better. Fill in the windows with melted jolly ranchers. Before you place anything on the wooden platform, spread a layer of royal frosting over the it to hide the brown color.

Build your Christmas trees

Using your star Christmas tree cutters, make various gingerbread stars of differing sizes.

Starting with the largest star, stack the star cookies in an alternating pattern on top of each other until you form something that resembles a pine tree. Attach each cookie to each other with royal frosting as you stack. Save the smallest star so it can be placed on the top.

Finish the star trees by placing a dollop of green frosting and a cinnamon candy on each branch. Then sprinkle powdered sugar over each tree with a small mesh strainer.

I made three star cookie trees (two big and one small) and four sugar cone trees covered in green sprinkles. You can make as many as you want!

Add finishing touches

Once your camping trailer, truck and trees are done (phew!), it’s time to add the cute little bears. I bought some fondant on Amazon and formed these cute little black bears. I made five black bears and one snowman. Each of them are doing some kind of fun Christmas activity like roasting marshmallows and ice skating. And don’t forget to make your picnic table (template included in the download above).

You can attach the small pieces of fondant together with just a little dab of water. I also made the presents, sled and pile of snowballs out of fondant too. I made the pond and the campfire flames with a few melted Jolly Rancher candies.

Finally, to make the snow, blend a few cups of shredded coconut until you get the consistency of snow. Spread it all over the ground.

Even though my camping gingerbread house wasn’t perfect, I was still really happy with the way it turned out. It was fun to try something outside of my comfort zone. Even though I didn’t win the gingerbread house competition, I loved participating. It was so much fun. Here’s some pictures of some of the other gingerbread houses at the competition.

More from My Silly Squirts: 8 tips to a chaos-free gingerbread house party

The post DIY camping gingerbread house display for beginners appeared first on My Silly Squirts.

I love a good gingerbread house party, but if you’ve got kids, sometimes it can become a bit chaotic. That’s why I’ve created a fail-proof list of tips to make the entire party a success. So take a look!

So, we have four little boys. Every year when we make gingerbread houses, it never fails that I have four kids asking for my help at the same time. I felt like it was a night full of chaos, tears and frustration. But this year, our gingerbread house party was going to be different. With a few small changes, our party ended up being super fun and frustration-free. Here’s what we did.

Tip #1: Assign guests to bring some candy

There are tons of different candies you can buy for your party but it can get expensive. If you are having guests come to your party, ask them to bring a bag or two of candy. Don’t limit yourself to items just in the candy aisle. There’s tons of different candies you can buy to make your gingerbread houses sugar-packed. Here’s some fun candy suggestions:

• Fruit by the foot
• Skittles
• Oreos
• Vanilla wafers
• Gummy bears
• Mini candy canes
• Neccos
• Pretzel sticks
• Andes mints
• Chocolate balls
• Hershey’s kisses
• Whoppers
• Sugar cones
• Twizzlers pull n’ peel
• Twizzlers nibs
• Melted Jolly Ranchers (for ponds and windows)
• Gum drops
• Cinnamon Imperials
• Spearmint wedges
• Santa candies
• Cinnamon bears
• Dots
• Tootsie rolls
• Mike & Ikes
• M&Ms
• Sixlets
• Holiday sprinkles
• Airheads
• Starbursts Minis
• Fruit leather
• Cracker Jacks
• Coconut flakes
• Christmas nougats
• Life savers
• Dum dums
• Reese’s Christmas trees
• Christmas candy corn
• Peppermint rounds
• Christmas gummy rings
• Old fashioned Christmas hard candy
• Peanut brittle
• Werther’s
• Rice Krispy Treats
• Milk duds
• Sweet Tarts ropes
• Smarties
• Peppermint bark
• Christmas nougats
• Nerds
• York Peppermint Patties
• Gum
• Tic Tacs
• Teddy Grahams

Tip #2: Separate candy into bags for each child

If you place all of the candy out on the table, sometimes it become a free-for-all. Little Tommy ends up not getting any M&Ms while Little Katie’s houses in covered with them. Avoid the tears and give each child an equal amount of everything.

Tip #3: Don’t use real gingerbread

Hosting a gingerbread house party is already a lot of work. So, don’t stress yourself out by making your own gingerbread. Sheesh! Graham crackers do the trick just fine. Or, if you want, you can buy a gingerbread house kit.

Tip #4: Use cardboard for the base

I just went through our recycle bin and cut up some old cardboard boxes. Then I just covered them with foil. That’s better than a paper plate which can be too small.

Tip #5: Assemble your houses BEFORE the party

It took me and hour and a half to assemble my kids houses before our party started. Then when we started the party, the kids could start right away on decorating their houses. It was perfect and I didn’t have four kids asking me to build their houses at the same time.

Tip #6: Glue houses together with hot glue

This is a must! Frosting takes longer to dry. Hot glue dries instantly and makes for a quick building process. Just make sure you have enough hot glue sticks because you’ll use a lot. Plus, we didn’t have one gingerbread house fall over the entire night. Success!

Tip #7: Use the right royal frosting recipe

You’ll still need frosting to glue all of the candy to your houses. But not all recipes are created equal. You need a thick royal frosting recipe that dries quickly. I found the perfect recipe that only calls for cream of tartar, powdered sugar and eggs white. We had eight gingerbread houses and I quadrupled this recipe. And make sure you make the frosting ahead of time.

Tip #8: Invest in frosting bulbs for kids

Of all my tips, I would recommend buying these frosting bulbs the most. They are perfect for little hands and easy to use. Just fill them up, screw on the cap and start frosting. No more dealing with sandwich bags or frosting bags. These are the bomb and will make your life so much easier.

I couldn’t have been happier with the way our gingerbread house party turned out. I wasn’t frantically rushing to help each child. Everyone was able to decorate their own houses without any drama. It was wonderful. Here’s house some of our houses turned out. So cute.

All in all our party was a huge success and it will quickly become a Christmas tradition in our home. What tips and tricks do you have to hosting a fun gingerbread house party? Leave your comments below.

Related link: 15 Kids Christmas Crafts

The post 8 tips to hosting a chaos-free gingerbread house party appeared first on My Silly Squirts.