Your guide to activities and fun things to do with your preschoolers, toddlers and kids in Las Vegas, NV

With the Christmas coming up in less than a week, I've raised the white flag of surrender and asked for some help keeping up with my posts here at Savvy Source Las Vegas. I am pleased to bring you one of my favorite friends from the blogosphere, the one and only San Diego's hottest mom, Red Lotus Mama.

She and her princess built a great gingerbread house and she's happy to share her review with you.
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Growing up creating a gingerbread house was never part of my family's holiday traditions.  It always looked like a fun activity to do and decided to make it a tradition with my daughter.  I am not a baker (or a cook), not because I can't, because I choose not to.  I am a single mom who works full time with a three year old.  Time is not on my side.  Therefore, a gingerbread house kit is how I roll.

I found the Create-a-treat Gingerbread House Kit at my local Target.  It was a little under $15.  Not too bad considering I probably would have spent more if I bought all of the ingredients if I made it from scratch.
The pieces of the house are already carved for you to follow a design for the window, door and roof pattern.  There are four different types of candy with plenty of each if your kid likes to sample as you build (which mine of course did).  It comes with a tray to help you build your house on.  The icing is in a plastic bag you can use as a pastry bag by snipping off a corner.

Since my daughter is only three years old I had to handle icing the house, but I was able to let her kneed the icing bag which she enjoyed doing.  First, make sure you cut a VERY SMALL piece of the corner of the bag so that you can have better control of how much icing comes out.  Second, I recommend you use the icing create the windows and doors BEFORE you put the walls and roof together.  Because once you have the roof on it is not easy to get to the side windows.  Finally, be generous with the frosting ... everything sticks together better with more than less.

Putting the candy on the house is the fun part for your kid (if they haven't eaten all of it before you get to this point).  Of course you have to be somewhat gentle while putting the candy on, but as long as you use lots of frosting to stick the walls and roof together and let it sit for about 15 minutes first your kid can go to town with the decorating.

Click here to see what ours ended up looking like.

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Time required: 30 minutes

Target Ages: 3+
Pros: No mess in your kitchen and easy to assemble.
Cons: If you let your kid sample while building you will end up with a whirling dervish for about an hour after assembly.
Ratings (0-5 Dice: No Dice = don't waste your time and/or money, 5=your kid can't grow up without it)
* Value: 4 Considering everything came in the package (walls & roof, icing, 4 types of candy and display tray) it was a deal, but I did not do any price checking
* Ease: 4 It was quite easy for me to put together and for my 3 year old to help.  Probably would be more fun for a slightly older kid.
* Mess Factor: 4 The only really messy part was the icing, but if you cut a very small hole in the corner you might have better control over it.  Also, with my kid sticking her little finger in she got quite sticky.
* Keep-ability: 2 You can keep this through the holidays, but you should toss it out by New Year's Day.  The pieces are edible therefore perishable.
 
Overall, I rate this with four dice.  I might try another brand next year.  I hear the Trader Joe's gingerbread house kit is really easy too.