Making gingerbread houses is a family tradition. Spending time with friends on Friday nights is also something they enjoy, so I decided to marry the two ideas and it became a gingerbread and cookie decorating party.
I realize that as the kids get older they will want to spend more and more time with friends. I also hope that by having fun and engaging things for them to do at our home, the kids and their friends will chose to spend time with us.At least one Friday night per month the kids are rewarded for their hard work during the week by having friends over at 7- 9:30 pm. It began as a movie night in our theater room, but lately we have done more engaging things such as board games or gingerbread houses.
The kids paired off into groups of two and picked which gingerbread house they would build. Some were harder than others. I learned from Lauren that their family hot glues the cookies instead of using frosting. That was totally an Aha! moment for me.
We never eat the cookies. The kids just fill up on candy when they build them so I am going to adopt their tradition in the future.
The girls also got to decorate and eat sugar cookies. I was very impressed by their creativity.
The night was fun but messy. The red frosting got on everything so while Todd and I cleaned up the kitchen the kids went downstairs to play glow in the dark ghost in the grave yard.
Lauren is a relatively new member of the "Friday night club." She has much older brothers, and doesn't do much with kids her age that live near her home. But she is such a wonderful girl and a great influence on the other kids. I am so delighted that she is available and willing to join us in our crazy adventures.
