Simple Gingerbread House Decorating

So, I love doing the gingerbread house thing but my plan for 5 kids is to buy 1 premade house kit and let them all do it together for a family home evening. No one actually eats it, because too many hands make for germs and then it collects dust, so it sits atop our counter and then gets dumped in the trash on Dec. 26!

I came across this cute Wilton's House Cookie Cutter and decided to do it all different! I made our family gingerbread dough and a double batch of royal icing! We cooked gingerbread men and houses. The kids each decorated a man and a house! I didn't put a lot of forethought into this and didn't buy the traditional candies to top with. So, I went to our candy bucket and cut open bags from all their halloween and holiday parties! (The halloween mats were from target last year and I use them all the time for cooking and craft projects!)

The kids had fun decorating and the cookies turned out perfect! They each got to eat 1 cookie and save the other for another day! This is my new favorite way to still keep a holiday tradition going without all the cross contamination and hassle :)