Filed under: Fun Stuff, Holidays, Design, etc
We can't turn down a good house decorating opportunity -- even a gingerbread house! Check out the gingerbread house AOL made for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital and get tips for decorating your own gingerbread house.You can click here to donate to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.
Back in October, we heard about Neiman Marcus' life sized gingerbread house from our sister sites Slashfood, ParentDish, Holidash and Lemondrop. Our first thought: We could do that! Our next thought: Let's do that! So we asked for help from our supremely talented coworkers, the DIY-ers from DIY Life, the foodies from KitchenDaily and Slashfood, the holiday enthusiasts from Holidash and many more, from MyDaily to AOL Latino.
The result was a 6-foot-tall house -- a veritable winter wonderland that had AOL staffers' kids (and yes, AOL staffers themselves) feeling giddy. But even our sugar high was no match for the excitement we have about the gingerbread house's next stop: St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, in Memphis, Tenn., for their annual holiday party. AOL is also donating 250 gingerbread house kits to St Jude so the kids can make their own mini holiday homes.
We were lucky enough to get a discount on candy from Economy Candy and the fantastic logo cookies donated from In Record Time, a full service branding and creative agency. The plywood structure was made by DIY Life contributor Brian Kelsey and our own fabulous Laura Fenton came up with the candy crafting plan for everyone to follow.
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As for the decoration -- we used a lot of conventional interior design wisdom. Who knew? Some of the best home decorating ideas make for great gingerbread house tips. If you're making a gingerbread house this holiday (big or small), keep these things in mind:
1. Symmetry is key: Just like matching end tables can make a living room room feel balanced, matching peppermint stars can do wonders.
2. Use everyday items in new ways: You already know to use placemats as wall art and baking soda to kill weeds -- why not use gummy rings as grass and candy canes as flower stems?
3. Don't be too matchy-matchy: You'd never match your carpet to your sofa to your drapes to your wall paint...right? So don't make your gingerbread house monochromatic.
4. Metallics are your friend: Every room needs a little bling...and chances are, so does your gingerbread house. Foil-wrapped chocolate coins do the job perfectly.
5. Keep things tasteful: Literally. Tasteful. And tasty. We won't even try to avoid this pun.
You'll be seeing plenty more of the gingerbread house next week on our sister sites -- check back here for all the links.