Tonight is the first of five gingerbread house decorating parties I'll host this year. When I'm doing parties for groups of kids (like my daughters' Girl Scout troops and classes), we've discovered over the years that it's important that each kid gets EXACTLY the same candies. Counting the jelly beans may be a pain in the rear, but it prevents a lot of fights. That means I need individual bags of the sorted candies, too. Most years I just use a plastic baggie, but this year I was inspired to transform a plain brown paper lunch bag into a cute little gingerbread house goodie bag.
Yeah, this makes even me feel like an over-achiever, but I love it! These bags of candies are going to be a huge hit with all the kids I'm baking gingerbread houses for, but I think they'd make fabulous packaging for giving small gifts or homemade cookies to the neighbors. The idea for this gingerbread house bag was sparked by this darling paper bag house by Unify Handmade. I just customized the idea for my gingerbread obsession. ;-)
Materials to make Brown Lunch Bag Gingerbread House Packages:
- brown paper lunch bags
- green and red scrapbook paper
- 1.5" long oval punch
- scissors
- white paper
- white marker
- glue gun
Use a white paint pen to draw a simple door and window on the front of a brown paper lunch bag. Fold the top few inches of the bag down, toward the back of the bag.
Cut a rectangle of white paper (I just used printer paper) the width of the bag, and about five or six inches long. Precision isn't terribly important. Use scissors to cut a scalloped edge on one end of the rectangle of white paper. Fold the white paper on the non-scalloped end, and glue over the top of the folded paper bag.
Use the oval punch to make red and green ovals out of scrapbook paper, then cut the ovals in half to create the gumdrop shapes. Glue the gumdrops to the base and ridge line of the paper bag house. Add a little glitter if you'd like (I always like).
Isn't it absolutely darling? I can't wait to give these to the kids!
Like more creative packaging ideas? ME TOO! Check out my Pinterest board dedicated to the topic.
And are you thinking about making a real gingerbread house this year? Check out my new e-book with all of the recipes, tips, techniques you'll need, and five different gingerbread house templates: