Love Shack

It’s Valentine’s week here on the KC and like I said yesterday some of the things I will be sharing this week won’t necessarily be recipes but some fun and cute love themed ideas. Today is one of those no recipe days but a fun and uber cute Valentine’s craft that actually involves food! => A Love Shack, or Valentine’s gingerbread house.

Eric and I started a tradition of doing gingerbread houses together at Christmas the first year we were together. We have used preassembled kits, kits with the house walls made but we have to assemble, and we have even made our own gingerbread houses from scratch (those were hilarious!). But the last two years in a row we have been so darn busy during the holidays we could barley breathe let alone see straight enough to make a gingerbread house.

And since I am a girl who thrives on traditions this was quite upsetting to me! Then last year I saw Peabody post a gingerbread house decorated for Valentine’s Day and I knew that my poor little lost Christmas gingerbread house tradition could be saved!

A ‘Love Shack’ was the answer! So AFTER Christmas I snatched up a clearance gingerbread house kit for about a buck and carefully saved it for Valentine’s Day.

Last week Eric and I peacefully sat down and decorated our Love Shack with lots of red, pink, and white candy. And we had fun. And our house turned out pretty darn cheezy and cute. I LOVE IT!
This activity was pretty cheap because the gingerbread house kit was on clearance and came with a few bags of candy in green, red, and white colors, so we used the red and white pieces. We then used specific Valentine’s candy like conversation hearts and pink M&Ms. Besides specific Valentine’s candy there are a few other candies that already come in Valentine’s colors. Here are a few of my candy/decoration suggestions for a Gingerbread Love Shack:

Roof:

Vanilla Wafers
Frosted Mini Wheats
Pink and White Frosted Animal Crackers
Square Cereal (ie: Life, Chex, etc.)
White Chocolate Covered Pretzels

Other Valentine’s Decorations:

Conversation Hearts
Valentine’s M&Ms
Pink and Purple Nerds
Strawberry/Cherry Twizzlers or Twizzler Pieces
Big Red Gum
Red Gum Drops
Good and Plenty
Hot Tamales
Cherry/Strawberry Jolly Ranchers
Valentine’s Candy Corn
Heart Shaped Gummy Candies
Red Hots (cinnamon candies)
Peppermints/Peppermint sticks
Cherry Lifesavers

Have I forgotten anything? What are your favorite red or pink colored candies?