This paper gingerbread house
is what every kid needs this Christmas!
If you love gingerbread like our family does, you’ll definitely want to make these gingerbread ornaments too! They’ll make your house smell amazing!
You know why I love this gingerbread house?
Because it’s paper…;0)\
Making gingerbread houses is one of those yearly traditions that we all look forward to, and I couldn’t imagine missing it.
But a giant house made out of candy?
That can get extremely messy, expensive and quite the sugar rush!
To keep things a little bit more simple, but still indulge in our gingerbread cravings, we make simple gingerbread men cookies instead of huge houses.
But these gingerbread houses aren’t messy…and they’re sugar free! ;0)
Plus, you’ll feel good about recycling your milk and juice cartons!
These paper houses are made from recycled cartons, paper, ribbons and buttons!
Sounds simple, right?
You can dress these up as much or as little as you want.
You could even make a whole little gingerbread village!
And then you can try out more gingerbread activities for families!
I love adding the final touch to these adorable gingerbread houses by adding tiny, battery operated tea lights inside the house.
You simply open the doors and place them inside.
It creates a beautiful, cozy holiday scene you and your kids can enjoy at night!
Don’t you love family crafts that also make fun holiday decor? Just another reason why I love these DIY snowglobes too!
Ready to create some gingerbread house fun without a huge calorie and sugar rush?
Follow the simple instructions below! And grab the materials you need by clicking the image below! We do earn a small commission for clicks!
Homemory Realistic and Bright Flickering Bulb Battery Operated Flameless LED Tea Light for Seasonal & Festival Celebration, Pack of 12, Electric Fake Candle in Warm White and Wave Open
Acrylic Paint Set – Artist Quality Paints for Painting Canvas, Wood, Clay, Fabric, Nail Art, Ceramic & Crafts – 12 x 12ml Heavy Body Colors – Rich Pigments – Professional Supplies by MyArtscape
Paper Gingerbread House that Lights Up!
Materials Needed:
- Recycled cartons, washed and dried
- Scissors
- Scalloped scissors or paper punch
- Box cutter
- Brown acrylic paint
- White acrylic paint
- Paint brushes
- Glue
- Buttons
- Paper (white, brown, green, candy striped)
- Ribbon
- Tissue paper
- Plastic LED tea lights
- Any other decorative materials you want!
Instructions:
- Using scissors and/or a box cutter, cut out the bottoms of the cartons. Use the box cutter to cut out any doors and windows. Leave one side of the door connected, that way it can swing open and closed.
- Make sure the inside and outside of the cartons are clean and dry, then paint them brown. It might take 2 coats for full coverage.
- While the paint is drying, you can start prepping your decorations. Using the scalloped scissors, cut scalloped borders to go around the edges of the houses, and around the windows.
- To create a wreath, tie a bow with the ribbon, and hot glue it onto the bottom half of a large green button.
- To make the trees, cut triangles out of the green paper, and glue them on top of each other, stacking them 3 high. Once they dry, add “snow” onto the tops of the branches with the white paint.
- You can create any kind of embellishments you want – snowmen, candy canes, gingerbread men, etc.
- Once the houses are dry, glue on all of your decorations.
- To finish the doors, cut out a piece of tissue paper, a bit larger than the size of the door. Glue it to the inside of the house, so it covers the entire door opening.
- Do the same thing for the windows, but also glue 2 skinny strips of brown paper to the tissue paper. Criss-cross them, so they look like window panes.
- For the roof, add more scalloped white paper (to look like snow), or a bunch of different buttons. Work around the spouts – those are the chimneys!
- To display, place the tea lights inside the houses and turn them on. Watch the candle light flicker against the tissue paper!
*Affiliate links have been added to help you create your gingerbread house!*