Free Gingerbread House Templates

What Is a Gingerbread House?

A Gingerbread House is a bizarre yet lovely occurrence when skill and creative crafting come together. It's impossible to deny that everybody enjoys eating and the majority of people overwhelmingly love sweet cuisine. For dessert, many individuals love to consume pastries and other delicious bakery delicacies.

Alternate Name:

• Gingerbread Home.

A Gingerbread House is no exception to this particularly as the scents and taste of gingerbread is one of the most commonly associated with the winter and Christmas period. The scent of gingerbread wafting through a winter breeze is undoubtedly an extremely special smell that cannot be confused with anything else.

You can even use a pre-built Gingerbread House kit which will just simply need to be assembled following the instructions. However, to create the best Gingerbread House, you can download a Gingerbread House template which can have varying degrees of difficulty all based on your skill and experience, ranging from an easy Gingerbread House to a more complex multi-story house.

For a full list of Gingerbread House templates please feel free to check out our library below.

How to Make a Gingerbread House?

Making a Christmas Gingerbread House is not a quick process but it surely will be worthwhile. The whole process can be divided into four main steps which when followed, will ensure that you create a delicious and beautiful Gingerbread House. So, if you are stuck for Gingerbread House ideas and have no idea where to start you can follow the steps outlined below:

• The first step requires you to mix the dough and leave it to set for some time . There are tons of gingerbread recipes available; you just need to find the one that you think is the tastiest. Once your dough is ready, you can move on to forming your template;
• Find the template that you want to use for your house and this can be as simple or as complex as you desire . Print the template and cut out the various parts that will then be used as a template to form various walls and other parts of the house;
• You will then need to roll out the dough and cut it into the correct forms before baking it . Ensure that the dough is not too soggy and not too burnt by keeping a close eye on the baking process;
• The third part of the process involves the assembly of the house itself and this requires a little bit of patience and coordination;
• The final part of the Gingerbread House creation concerns the Gingerbread House décor which is considered to be the finishing touch.

How to Decorate a Gingerbread House?

Gingerbread House decorations very much depend on personal preferences but there are some more traditional ways of decorating your Gingerbread House. If you are unsure of what to do you will need two main ingredients: icing and lots and lots of candy!

All of the candy you use will be stuck to the gingerbread using royal icing so make sure you have enough on hand to decorate your creation entirely. Traditional decorations usually focus on decorating:

• The roof of the gingerbread – here you can add a snowy rooftop and a mix of small candies. It is preferable to stick to using green and red candies to keep within the Christmas colors theme;
• You may also want to decorate separate elements of the house such as doors and windows;
• The royal icing can be used as a chain or outline for lights, with candies being stuck on to represent the different colored Christmas lights.

The possibilities you have are endless, it all depends on your creativity and on the candies you like. If you love gummies, you can try and incorporate them by having a jelly baby opening the door to your Gingerbread House.

How Long Does a Gingerbread House Last?

As with anything, the expiry date of food depends on a number of factors such as storage conditions and Gingerbread Houses are no exception.

In general, if you have purchased a ready Gingerbread House kit from a store then you can expect it to last you up to a year if it is stored in the freezer and if it has previously not been opened. However, once your gingerbread has been opened, assembled, and decorated you have approximately a month before it turns inedible.

However, we would still recommend consuming your Gingerbread House as soon as possible as the more time goes on, the harder the gingerbread becomes and you want to avoid losing teeth in the process.

On the other hand, if you have decided to make your own Gingerbread House from scratch and created your own dough then the shelf life of your house can be considerably lower, ranging from one to three weeks. Again, this depends on the storage conditions and the amount of icing that you have used.

How to Preserve a Gingerbread House?

It would be a shame if your Gingerbread House would quickly fall apart and/or become inedible in a short space of time, particularly if you want to use your house as a form of decoration during the Christmas period. Although they can naturally withstand a fair amount of time, there are a number of things that you can do to preserve the house for longer. These tips can be found below:

• Make sure that your gingerbread is completely dry before you attempt to preserve it . If any wet parts remain and any moisture becomes trapped, you risk the house becoming moldy;
• Let it dry naturally for approximately 10-14 days;
• Use a special, edible coat of varnish to help preserve it . There are several types that can even create a slightly different effect on the gingerbread;
• The more coats you add, the longer the gingerbread will last;
• Carefully place the Gingerbread House in a safe container and put it away in a cupboard where the temperatures will not fluctuate and remain stable.
• Following these steps can preserve your house for several seasons.

Still looking for a particular template? Take a look at the related templates below:

• Christmas Activity Sheets;
• Secret Santa Form;
• Christmas Light Template.