MiWonderings: Christmas Traditions: Gingerbread Houses and Cookie Decorating

I've recently been thinking about what type of family traditions I could start with my little ones. This past Christmas, we decorated gingerbread houses and decorated cookies and it was so much fun for the whole family that I think we may continue to do this in the years to come.

Gingerbread Houses:
My sister bought the kids gingerbread house kits from the craft store. We just needed to assemble the houses and then we could decorate them. The kits include everything you need including the gingerbread pieces, royal icing mix, piping bag & tip, and assorted candies.

L ate more candy than he put on his house

The piping was a little hard for my 2 1/2 year old but my 6 year old niece had no problem with it.

K is a pro with the piping bag

the finished gingerbread houses and the proud owners

father - daughter gingerbread house tradition

L's first gingerbread house

Cookie Decorating:

I baked some sugar cookies and outlined them with white royal icing. My sister had a great idea to use small plastic squeeze bottles for the flooding icing. The bottles are much easier to control for small hands. The kids added the icing and then decorated the cookies with sprinkles and small candies.