Graham Cracker Gingerbread Houses – Easier than the Classic!

These graham cracker gingerbread houses are built with store-bought icing and regular graham crackers, so they’re smaller and much easier to put together than a traditional gingerbread house. The mini festive houses are perfect activities for your kids’ Christmas party at school or just for a fun craft leading up to Christmas!

Whenever winter hits and everyone immediately starts playing Christmas music (just me?), I often reflect on my favorite pastimes from my childhood. Drinking hot cocoa on a chilly winter’s day, cozying up next to the fireplace, and making the most epic gingerbread houses. 

I’ve since passed the passion for constructing masterpieces out of broken cookie pieces and candy to our daughters, and building gingerbread houses in December has become a time-honored tradition. 

I’ve always loved doing Christmas crafts with our family. One year, we made these cute cutout gingerbread houses that they could color and personalize. I also created this adorable Rudolf ring pop craft that was perfect for entertaining my kids for longer than 5 minutes. 

This year, we’re making these super cute mini graham cracker gingerbread houses! They’re so easy to create, and they’re the perfect holiday craft for any age! Your kids will love decorating (and eating) their own creation, and with so many gingerbread house ideas, everyone’s will be one-of-a-kind.

Supplies Needed

Here are the supplies you need to make your own adorable mini graham cracker gingerbread houses: 

• Graham crackers – You can use honey grahams, cinnamon sugar grahams, or chocolate grahams (or a combination of all three!) 
• Decorator icing or cookie icing – You can also make your own royal icing using the info in the recipe section. 
• Powdered sugar -Makes real-looking “snow” on the roof of your house.
• Candies, nuts, or other small edible items for decorations – More ideas down below!
• Serrated knife – I used this to cut apart the graham crackers, but you can also just use your hands! 
• Cutting board
• Parchment paper
• Wire cooling rack (optional) 
• Flour sifter – Great for sprinkling on the powdered sugar.
• Serving platter, baking sheet, or cake stand for displaying your finished graham cracker gingerbread houses! 

Ideas for Decorating Gingerbread Houses

Once your sweet graham cracker houses are assembled, the hard part is coming up with ideas for how to decorate them. Here are some of my favorites:

• sliced almonds for roof tiles
• white decorator’s icing sprinkled with coarse sugar for glittery-looking snow
• pretzel sticks to make fences and siding
• pretzel twists for windows
• shredded wheat cereal for thatched roofs
• peppermint sticks to make light poles
• shredded coconut for snow

• powdered sugar sprinkled on top of graham cracker rooftops to look like snow
• red candies grouped together for front door
• decorator’s icing applied in a soft zig zag pattern to look like realistic snow on the edge of a rooftop
• cut squares of fruit leather (like Froot by the Foot) for stained glass windows
• colorful Tic Tacs to look like Christmas lights, strung together with a thinly piped brown or black icing
• marshmallows, candy corn, and pretzel sticks to make a snowman in the front
• mini Nilla wafers for roof tiles
• red and green candies like M&M’s or Skittles for colorful decorations
• Necco wafers for roof tiles

How to Make Graham Cracker Gingerbread Houses

Once you’ve gathered your ingredients and supplies, it’s time to make your gingerbread houses! Here’s how to do it: 

Step 1: Prep the graham cracker pieces.  

Cover your working area with parchment or wax paper to catch any icing drips. You can also cover the whole table, which is a good idea if you’re doing this activity with younger kids! 

Place the graham crackers on a cutting board and use a serrated knife to gently cut them into shapes for the houses and buildings. 

Two packages of graham crackers are typically enough for four houses, so you might need more/less depending on how many you plan to make. 

*Tip: I recommend that an adult or older child (teen) use the knife. However, younger kids can carefully break apart the graham cracker pieces into rectangles. 

Step 2: Assemble the mini graham cracker gingerbread houses. 

Once you’ve cut out all your pieces, it’s time to “glue” them together using the cookie frosting or royal icing. Pipe lines of frosting along the edges of the graham crackers and press them gently together to make the houses. 

Don’t worry if you mess up during this process! You can always add more icing and cracker pieces if something falls apart. 

*Tip: For faster drying, pop your graham cracker houses in the freezer for a few minutes at different stages of decorating. 

Step 3: Decorate Mini Graham Cracker Gingerbread Houses. 

After your frosting is set and firm, it’s time to decorate your houses! I like to pour a small amount of each of my decorating ingredients into little bowls so that we don’t waste anything. 

First, squeeze a generous amount of frosting onto the roofs of your buildings. Use a spatula to carefully spread the frosting all over the surface. 

Use more icing to attach candies to your houses to make decorative trim and holiday-themed decorations. Create tiled or thatched roofs with sliced almonds or shredded wheat cereal. Pipe extra icing around the buildings’ edges, including rooftops and joints, to make snow drifts and icicles. 

Dust powdered sugar onto the edges of buildings to create a light, dusty snow effect. You can also use sanding sugar to make a glistening, packed snow look. 

Leave your graham cracker gingerbread houses to rest for 1 hour, allowing the frosting and decorations to set. If candies or decorations fall off at any point, don’t stress! Just add more icing and hold them in place a little longer as they dry. 

*Tip: Making a thatched roof out of sliced almonds can be tricky, so don’t get discouraged! Use generous dots of icing to attach them in an overlapping design and adjust the rows with your fingers or a toothpick if necessary. 

Step 4: Display your finished houses!

Now it’s time to put your holiday creations on display! Once the graham cracker gingerbread houses have fully set, transfer them to a cake stand or rimmed baking sheet. 

Sprinkle flaked coconut all around your display to create fluffy snow if desired. Or you can simply serve them and enjoy a sweet treat! 

Tips for the Best Gingerbread Houses with Graham Crackers

Here are some helpful tips to ensure you have everything you need: 

• I like to use Betty Crocker brand cookie icing (it comes in a pouch with a tip) to hold my graham cracker gingerbread houses together. 
• First and foremost – prepare for a mess! Building mini graham cracker gingerbread houses isn’t a mess-free activity, and I recommend wearing old clothes and aprons because you will most likely get frosting on yourself, especially if you’re making these with kids. 
• Use store brand candies – they’re cheaper and work just as well! I can get 8 oz bags of store-brand Starlight candies for $1.50 at my local Kroger. 
• You can use two mini candy canes to create an adorable heart detail on your graham cracker gingerbread houses!
• Cinnamon Imperials or Red Hots are usually available in your store’s candy aisle all year round. If you can’t find them there, check your store’s bakery section. 
• Although you can put your mini graham cracker gingerbread houses on display indefinitely, I recommend snacking on them within the first week or less for the tastiest (and safest) results.