Need a fun way to get into that spooky spirit? There is nothing like a fun activity, that also doubles as a delicious snack! Why not create a spooktacular Haunted Halloween Gingerbread House? Decorating with HERSHEY® candy is a perfect way to get festive and have even more fun with the kids! Keep reading for tips on making this your new favorite (and yummy) Halloween tradition!
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Missed our LIVE Haunted Halloween Gingerbread House? Watch it below!
[note note_color=”#ffffff”]Our partners for this fun live video tutorial are SheSpeaks, HERSHEY and Walmart. All opinions are 100% my own.[/note]
Tips on How to Make a Haunted Halloween Candy Gingerbread House with Graham Crackers
Ready to get started?! We’ve made our share of gingerbread houses for the holiday season, but never for Halloween. This is a first for us, but SO MUCH FUN!
We even brought our spooky candy “gingerbread” houses to the table last night for dinner and used it as dessert! The kids were thrilled, of course, and are already asking to make more.
With our share of gingerbread houses, though, we’ve learned quite a bit during our failed attempts… with houses falling down, candy dripping off and more! So, here are our tips for a spooky haunted house or a candy topped Christmas “gingerbread house” with graham crackers (and really, you can use gingerbread if you’d like, too!).
Check out these 10 Cute Halloween Family Costume ideas!
Start with a half-gallon milk carton.
Add this to your list of milk carton crafts! And really, there is a good reason there are so many milk carton crafts, most of us have them in our homes already and they come in so handy.
After emptying a milk carton, wash it out, cut off the spout, if necessary, and I even recommend cutting a few inches off of the bottom of the carted to make a shorter Haunted Halloween Gingerbread House. Especially if this milk carton craft is for younger kids, or multiple kids, a shorter Haunted Halloween Gingerbread House means less candy and product used and it’s also a more sturdy option.
Using a milk carton for this craft makes for a sturdier house in general, and when you’ve got little hands pressing the candy onto the sides or the roof, sturdy is a VERY good thing.
Don’t miss these Not-So-Spooky Snacks and FREE Math Printable Download
Begin your Haunted Halloween Gingerbread House base with hot glue.
This is really the only part of this project that I recommend hot glue, because you want a Haunted Halloween Gingerbread House to be edible! But, for the purpose of creating a sturdy, lasting base, I use hot glue to attach my graham crackers to the milk carton.
If you are using hot glue, make sure to keep kids’ hands away or build your bases before getting the kids involved, those glue guns get hot! Also, I reminded my little ones that everything is edible down to the cracker, but not the cracker. 🙂
Looking for more spooky snack ideas? Try these Dirt n’ Worms Caramel Apples
Create the edible “glue” with this perfect icing recipe.
I’ve tried ALL different kinds of icing and frosting for our gingerbread houses, and NOTHING works better than creating your own with two simple ingredients that you most-likely already have!
Just powdered sugar (also known as confectioners sugar) and water will mix to form the best paste. I don’t usually measure this when I make it, but I do start by adding the powdered sugar to a bowl, and then adding just a pinch of water at a time. Start with a spoonful and mix well. Add an additional spoonful of water as needed. You’ll need a LOT less water than you think, as you mix, the mixture absorbs the water, and you want to form a paste-like consistency.
The great part is that as you press the candy onto your Haunted Halloween Gingerbread House, the paste will dry a bit and hold those candies in place really well!
You can also separate the paste into different bowls and add food coloring to create icing to use on different parts of your Spooky Candy Gingerbread House.
Other fun tips:
Get creative and have fun with the edible mediums in your kitchen! For example:
- Want to take your spooktacular haunted Halloween gingerbread house even darker? Start with CHOCOLATE graham crackers as the base!
- Shredded coconut flakes and green food coloring makes for really fun “grass”.
- Additional sprinkled powdered sugar can be a fun snow topping for a more traditional gingerbread house.
- Cotton candy can serve as a delicious spider-web for a spooky gingerbread house.
- Hershey Reese’s Peanut Butter Pumpkins make the perfect little “bodies” buried in the “grass”, as well as fun pumpkin near the front door!
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