Seal the opening shut using glue. Press and hold shut for a minute to keep it sealed up. Feel free to speed up the process by using hot glue or a stapler if you are prepping several milk cartons at once.

Rub a generous amount of school glue on the paper plate and glue the milk carton to the plate. This will keep the gingerbread house still while little hands work. The paper plate will also serve as the “yard” for lots of decorations. Allow the glue to dry for a few minutes. Again, if you are prepping several milk cartons for this craft, it may be best to use hot glue.

Once the milk carton is stuck to the paper plate, you can begin assembling the house by “gluing” the graham crackers to the sides and top. We use Wilton’s Edible Adhesive to keep the whole craft edible, but if you don’t plan on snacking on the gingerbread house, feel free to use hot glue. Other ideas for an edible “adhesive”: cookie icing, thick frosting, or peanut butter would work well! You will need 7 halves (3 ½ graham crackers) per gingerbread house. Four halves for the sides, two halves for the roof, and one half cut into triangles to cover the front and back just below the roof.

Use a generous amount of edible adhesive to keep the graham crackers in place. Gently press and hold in place until the graham crackers stay on the sides of the gingerbread house. Pressing too hard will cause the graham crackers to crack! Don’t worry if there is a small space between the graham crackers at the corners of the house. This can be filled in while decorating! We used cookie icing, marshmallows, and mini m&m’s.

To cut the graham cracker half into triangles, work diagonally. The trick to making the triangles is to gently saw back and forth all the way through the graham crackers. Do not press or the graham cracker will break unevenly!

Place a generous amount of edible adhesive to stick the triangles to the top portion of the milk carton. Press and hold gently in place for a minute. Again, if you are looking for a stronger/quicker hold, feel free to use hot glue.

Once 7 halves are in place around the milk carton, allow the house to dry and set up for 30 minutes.

Once the 30 minutes is up, it is time to decorate! Cookie icing works very well to “glue” most of the decorations in place on the gingerbread house. Use your imagination and have fun! Pretzels become windows, chocolate pieces can be doors, marshmallows look like piles of snow, and they make some really cute little snowmen, mini waffle cones make the perfect trees, and mini m&m’s make the sweetest rooftops! Powdered sugar can be sprinkled over the scene to look like a fresh dusting of snow! There are so many fun and exciting ways to decorate your gingerbread house.