Making a gingerbread house is one of the most joyful experiences of the holiday season. So being able to build it properly should be a cause for celebration already!
But once you are done making it, how do you keep it that way until the guests start visiting your home? Well, we have one or two tricks up our sleeve to share with you!
So let’s start discussing how to preserve a gingerbread house effectively.
Repairing The Gingerbread House
A mandatory precaution before any of the preservative measures is to repair the faulty parts of your gingerbread house. The reason behind that is simple - why would you want to preserve something broken?
Building a gingerbread house is already a pretty challenging task to do. After passing that challenge with flying colors, you surely would not want to display the weaknesses of your project to others. Such a marvelous piece should definitely be remembered for its best features.
That is why, start repairing the beautiful piece of art before making it a permanent showpiece for the holiday season.
The mistakes can be something as small as a misplaced candy, or something more time-consuming like a broken railing.
Make sure every piece of your gingerbread house is exactly where it is supposed to be. Fix the areas that need attention and amendments. Then move on to one of the ways described below for preserving such a perfect house.
Two Distinct Ways To Preserve A Gingerbread House
1. Drying Varnish Method
Remove Unnecessary Pieces
We all love to adorn the beautiful gingerbread houses with many accessories. Of course, who would want to keep this house a plain one after spending so much time and money on it?
However, if you want to preserve it for a long time, removing the unnecessary or perishable items from it would be a good idea.
Such items may include perishable decorations like real leaves or standalone decorative pieces like plastic figurines.
You will need to remove the perishable ones for good and throw them in the trash. For the standalone pieces, you can take them away from the house and store them in another place.
Dry It In A Warm Room
Now that your gingerbread house has no unnecessary piece on it, you can now set it up for drying. In order to do so, carefully lift the whole figure and move it to a room full of warmth.
Keep it here for 24 hours or longer so that the entire house is dried. Make sure there is no shred of moisture left on its surface.
Varnish The House
If your little house is dried up properly, you can move on to the main step - varnishing.
For this phase, you will need to place the dry house in a room that has a good ventilation system. Then use a spray bottle to apply the varnish all over the house.
Make sure this polish reaches every single area - no matter interior or exterior. The internal parts of its door frames and windows should also receive the spray.
It is a good idea to start with the interior and then move on to the exterior since the first one is more difficult to do. For the latter, you can just spray it in a circular motion from the outside.
Some people consider using brush for this task. However, that is not ideal since the brush strokes can easily cause the tiny or fragile accessories to fall off the house. Spraying it will definitely keep them in place and enable the varnish to reach everywhere.
Let It Dry Completely
When the varnishing is done in its entirety, all you have to do is wait. Let the coating get completely dried up so that your gingerbread house has more stability and security to it. The minimum time period you need to wait is 24 hours. For higher durability, you may decide to extend the period to a bit longer.
Store In A Dry Place
Now that the entire process of varnishing and drying is completed, your gingerbread house can be preserved for the whole holiday season.
Just make sure that it is stored in a dry place. Otherwise, moisture may compromise its texture and ruin all your work!
Point To Be Noted:
This particular process renders the gingerbread house inedible. Since it is showered with a chemical like varnish and kept away from moisture for a long time, it becomes completely unpalatable.
So this method will work only if you don’t have any plan to serve any part of the house or its decoration to the guests!
2. Nightly Plastic Wrapping Method
Wrap With Plastic
The best part of this process is that all you need here is some plastic wraps. Use them to cover up the entire gingerbread house at night.
This will protect it from coming into contact with dust, moisture, insects and similar elements that ruin food items. Following this method can keep the house good and edible for a year!
Store In A Cool And Dry Place
Before putting on the wrap and after taking it off, make sure the house is placed in a room without any moisture or high temperature.
It must be stored in a cool and dry area at all times for protecting its quality and appearance. Proper storage is the secret to the longevity of most gingerbread houses.
Point To Be Noted:
This is the perfect way to go if you want to keep your precious gingerbread house edible and also preserve it for a very long time.
Using a plastic wrap will not prevent it from being a delectable option for the guests. At the same time, it will easily keep out all the disturbing elements from the beautiful house.
Follow this video guideline for making your gingerbread house more attractive:
Final Words
By adopting the right measures for preservation, you can enjoy the joyful view of your beautiful gingerbread house for as long as a year!
So, now that you know how to preserve a gingerbread house in two different ways, you can pick the right one for your requirements and preferences.
We hope you enjoy holiday with your family to the fullest and showcase the little house to guests with confidence!
Hope this article help you to storing a gingerbread house.
Best of luck!
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