Perennial Gingerbread House

My granddad made me a gingerbread house from wood and plywood when I was 3 years old. My parents would decorate it every Christmas with chocolate, candy, licorice, dried fruits, nuts, gummy bears, etc. I loved it throughout my childhood, it made Christmas so special. It has held up through a great many years, and was enjoyed by my own children. This year we decorated it again with our grandson. A wonderful tradition!

Over the 70 plus years the old plywood started to warp and delaminate pretty badly from cleaning the chocolate and candy off after the holidays, so I decided to rebuild it for next year in honor of my granddad. Here is how I did it. I did not rebuild the fence, and I reused the old base. The beauty of my granddad's construction is that it can be disassembled and stored flat for the next holiday season.

300 mm (12") by 460 mm (18") board; plywood or hardwood

1/4” thick plywood. The plywood I'm using is actually 5.8 mm thick, so that is the dimension shown in all the drawings.

Various size hardwood trim and support strips

Wood glue

Finishing oil

Eye hooks, turnbuckles, zip ties

Battery powered LED light - optional

Candy, chocolate, sweets, etc

Table saw

Laser cutter or scroll saw

The gingerbread house is assembled from ten panels:

Front wall, back wall, left side, right side, front roof, back roof, shed front wall, shed back wall, shed side wall, shed roof

You will also need a base, e.g. an 300 mm by 460 mm by 20 mm hardwood or plywood board; a chimney piece; and optional fence pieces. Don't forget the candy and chocolate!

Use a table saw, laser cutter, or scroll saw to make the ten panels from plywood. I have included all drawings in the single PDF file gingerbread_house.pdf. I cut the panels on the table saw, then used the laser cutter to cut the windows and door.

Make the base for your gingerbread house from 20 mm hardwood or plywood.

Prepare a number of wooden strips for the bottom support frame, and the wall supports. The various profiles are shown in the PDF file.

Miter-cut the bottom support strips (12 mm by 21 mm) to length and assemble on the base. This frame will hold the four walls of the gingerbread house in place. Check against the wall panels before you glue or nail the strips down to the base.

Prepare four wooden strips (8mm by 12mm by 110mm ) for interior wall support; then glue the strips to the front and back panels as shown in the drawings. To test the fit assemble the four walls on the base plate/bottom support frame and hold in place with blue tape or rubber bands. Make any adjustments as necessary.

Prepare the wooden strips for the roof support. Glue two strips to the outside edges of the roof panel as shown in the drawing. Cut the top edge of each roof panel at an angle of 53 degrees (table saw setting 37 degrees!).

Test the roof panels for size on the gingerbread house that you (temporarily) assembled in the prior step. Then glue on the last two support strips so that the front wall and back wall fit into the slot between these two strips.

To fix the walls in place install four small eye hooks in the front/back wall support strips toward the top of the wall. Then use a small turnbuckle and a zip tie to connect the front wall to the back wall. Tighten the turnbuckle until all the walls feel stable. Don't over-tighten! The zip ties provide a little 'springiness' to hold everything in place. The pictures should clarify what I'm doing here. Alternatively you could connect the front/back hooks with strong rubber bands.

The door is the actual cut-out piece from the front panel. Attach it to the inside by using a canvas or leather strip for a hinge.

Make the chimney as shown in the drawings and set it on the roof.

For window 'glass' I used tissue paper glued to the inside front and side panels. I did this after finishing and sealing the wood panels.

I found a cheap battery powered LED light with a remote to provide interior lighting for the gingerbread house. Put it anywhere inside the house.

My old gingerbread house has a side shed, so I rebuild that as well. The shed does not disassemble. You can build it small enough to store with the base board and panels without taking up too much extra space. Or skip the shed and make the left side identical to the right side with windows.

The gingerbread house was finished with several coats of tung oil and a top coat of polyurethane. Hopefully this will seal the wood and provide sufficient protection from water so you can clean the gingerbread house for storage. And hopefully it will last at least another 72 years!

Every year we have a lot of fun decorating the gingerbread house. We melt dark chocolate to use as 'glue' to put a wide variety of goodies onto the roof and walls, sometimes onto the shed, door, and chimney. Powdered sugar can serve as snow. Use your imagination; but remember you'll have to clean it up afterwards :-) The best part for the kids is eating a bunch of sweets while they decorate!