Crafting Gingerbread Christmas Ornaments and Decorations
Popular and fun crafts you can do with your kids are the traditional gingerbread Christmas ornaments and decorations. By baking the hard German-type recipe, you can create the witch's gingerbread house, as in Hansel and Gretel. Or, if you're less ambitious, some simple gingerbread men.
Gingerbread Men Ornaments
Gingerbread men and women can be shaped by hand or formed with the help of cookie-cutters; either way, they should have a round head with stubby arms and legs. As a bare minimum, gingerbread men should have a face—either indented or applied—and shirt buttons made out of red hots or raisins.
The latest cool thing to pop out of an oven, is the ninjabread man. Your children will surely love these edible acrobats. If you can't get a hold of the cookie-cutters, you can find directions on how to make them at: instructables - ninjabread men.
Ninjabread Men Photo
Gingerbread House - Kit or Scratch?
I'm sure that when you hear the words "gingerbread house", you think of flour, sweat and mess. Not to worry, you can now get a gingerbread house kit…some assembly required. Or, if you're not the crafty type, visit your local bakery and purchase a completed one.
If, however, you want to spend some time with your kids on a an elaborate gingerbread Christmas decoration project (say that 10 times really fast), here's a video that explains what you'll need to get it done.
Gingerbread House Video
Of course, if you want to hang some gingerbread ornaments on your tree, just add a hole at the top with a straw or chopstick after cutting your shapes with holiday style cookie-cutters. When the cookies are done, thread a short length of narrow ribbon through the hole, knot ends and hang your spicy ornaments.