So here’s a fun holiday activity to do with your family that seems to always turn out great.
To make these faux gingerbread houses you’ll need the following materials. I’ve linked all the products I used below because I felt like they all worked really well for me!
- Cardboard/paper mache houses
- White glue sticks
- A decent quality glue gun
- AppleBarrel paint in Territorial Beige
- Mode Podge (optional)
Step 1:
Brush each of the houses generously with the acrylic paint. Don’t worry about making sure the paint is even, if there are spots with less/more coverage that’s totally okay. This project is a good one in that authenticity is more of the goal than say, perfection. My husband made fun of me while I was doing this because you’re essentially painting a brown house a different shade of brown and I won’t lie – the difference is subtle. But I tried it both ways and painting is definitely the way to go.
Step 2:
Using the glue gun with the glue sticks, make a few test designs on a scrap piece of paper until you feel comfortable with holding the device and applying pressure with the glue to get the shapes and designs you’re looking for. I created some sample designs you can print out and trace over
Step 3:
Start applying the glue to the houses. This is a more is more situation and from personal experience, the first few lines and squiggles didn’t look that great, but the more you pile on, the more realistic it starts to look. Don’t worry too much about it looking perfect, we’ve all worked with frosting before and real gingerbread houses don’t. So yours doesn’t need to either.
As an aside, I bought a 36 pack of double length glue sticks, and I ended up using all of them. Remember – more is more.
Step 4:
Once you’ve used up all your glue sticks (and you should definitely use up all of your glue sticks), use a pair of tweezers and a pair of sewing scissors to go through and pull off all the little glue strings
Step 5 (optional):
If you want to add a little protection to your diy faux gingerbread houses, brush Modge Podge across the surface area of each house to seal it in. I went with a satin finish, but you can get glossy or matte depending on what you’re going for!
Ugh, this seems like a lot of work. Can’t I just buy one?
Yes. Absolutely. Here’s a roundup of some of our favorite turnkey faux gingerbread houses:
