Christmas inspiration – 5 sparkly and sensational ideas
Gingerbread house in rainbow colors
To get a really colorful gingerbread house, forget the less-is-more Scandi-style minimalism. ‘Tis the season for extra everything – and channeling a My Little Pony vibe.
Go really over the top and use colorful sweets, rainbow sprinkles and icing dyed with different food colorings. Once your house is finished, create a lovely yard around it and try not to eat it, at least for a few weeks (by which time it will be too dusty to eat, anyway).
By the way, do you like the cone fir trees? Scroll down to find out how to make them.
At the end of this article, you’ll also find helpful tips for how to build a gingerbread house.
More colorful treats: Share the love with heart-shaped cookies
Cone fir trees with sprinkles
Decorate the yard around your gingerbread house with cone fir trees (as above). Later, your guests can fill them with ice cream and eat them up.
Melt white chocolate in a bowl over a saucepan of warm water. Brush the melted chocolate over the cones, one at a time, and cover with rainbow sprinkles before the chocolate hardens. Keep them in your fridge until you use them. Make sure you cover the chocolate with sprinkles, so the cones don’t melt in your guests’ hands.
Want to combine baking and crafts? 5 Gingerbread Cookies Decorating Ideas
Christmas crackers in pastel colors
Everyone loves a festive Christmas cracker! All you need are empty toilet rolls and some sheets of tissue paper. Mix different colors and add something your kids will love to each cracker, e.g. a small gift or tasty treat. These crackers are made using two sheets of tissue paper per cracker. Decorate them with stickers, glitter tape and pretty ribbons and hang them on your tree or on doors or walls. Your Christmas party is sorted!
Fun winter wonderland decorations: 5 Easy-to-make Christmas Decorations
Christmas tree balls with glitter and confetti
Sparkly Christmas tree inspiration! Fill clear plastic Christmas tree balls with lots of brightly colored bits and pieces. Get a fantastically festive look by using different sizes, textures and colors, for example by mixing confetti, glitter and sequins. Use a paper cone as a funnel when filling the balls or your home will be covered in glitter for weeks!
More tips for decorations! Homemade Xmas tree decorations – 4 tips
Colorful Christmas presents
Here’s your opportunity to go all in and stack a dazzling pile of presents under the tree this year. Be creative and use wrapping paper and ribbons in as many different colors as possible. Glitter ribbons add a fabulously festive touch.
How to build a gingerbread house – 8 helpful tips
- It’s not cheating to buy ready-made dough.
- Print out a template for a gingerbread house from the internet if you doubt your skills as an architect.
- Choose a design with a large roof – your decorations will be displayed better.
- To make edible “glue”, simply melt granulated sugar in a frying pan. Then dip the edges of the house into it. But if you aren’t planning on eating the house, you might as well just use all-purpose glue.
- Decorate the sections of the house before you assemble them. It’s so much easier to pipe on icing and stick on candy when the sections are lying flat. Press the candy into the icing before it hardens.
- Leave an undecorated border along the outer edges so you have somewhere to hold while you glue the house together.
- Once you’ve assembled the house, pipe a thick line of icing along the edges and corners to hide any glue disasters, broken edges and gaps. Press more candy into the icing.
- You can make really good icing by whisking 8 oz/240 g of powdered sugar, one egg white and 1 tsp of white vinegar until it’s fluffy. Use a cloth piping bag or cut a hole in the corner of a small plastic bag.
You’ll find more gingerbread cookie decorating ideas here
