I don’t know if I’ve mentioned it before?

But my mother has a group of friends that are out of a Hallmark Movie.

They call themselves the Babes, and they have been friends with my mother for as long as I can remember.

This incredible group of women has been there for all of life’s milestones for me. They’ve hosted my baby showers and listened to my stories and hosted my bridal showers and attended my wedding, watched my children grow up, and let me cry on their shoulders at my father’s funeral.

I can’t imagine life without the Babes.

And so this year, I wanted to do something special to honor them.

This week I hosted a dinner for my mother and the Babes and their daughters.

It was the first annual mother/daughter Babes dinner.

I served three different types of soup, with an apple walnut salad and a charcuterie board. I set the table with vintage Christmas plates and monogram stockings, full of napkins and silverware and then I wanted to add a gift for each of them at their place setting.

So I took this plain gift bag.

And transformed it into this.

A gingerbread house bag.

It was so easy to make (I can show you the step-by-step below).

And are you wondering what I put inside it?

//gingerbread pan //

I took this gingerbread village pan.

You can see it here.

You know how much I love it—I’ve shared it here before (along with the larger gingerbread house that you can see here).

It’s so easy to make this village. I just took a standard gingerbread box recipe and followed the instructions. One box is all you need for the entire village. There are six houses in this village and we had 12 people attend the dinner so it worked out perfectly.

Here’s what the little houses look like after they come out of the pan.

One quick tip – if you use this pan, I spray Pam inside of it and then coat the Pam with a layer of sugar.

Then, after the houses are finished baking, I let the pan cool for about 10 minutes and flip it over on a piece of parchment paper. The house is literally just fall out and you have your own gingerbread village.

Next, I wrapped them individually in parchment paper and tied the package with a ribbon and added it to the bag with tissue.

That’s it!

A homemade gingerbread village along with a handmade gingerbread bag.

The bags were so easy to make, and here’s the step-by-step.

How To Paint a Gingerbread Gift Bag

supplies:

craft bag

water-based white markers

ruler

imagination

1. Draw the outline of the house

One quick note. I love using water-based markers like this one. SO MUCH BETTER than oil-based. They dry almost instantly and don’t leave any smudges so you can draw the bag more quickly.

You can see them here.

I always start when drawing a bag like this with the outline of the house.

When I drew all of the 12 gingerbread bags for the Babes, I thought it would be fun if each house were different.

None of my gingerbread house bags were alike. Each one was unique and special – just like the Babes.

I say that because I wanted to stress how fun these bags are to make, and you just have to use your imagination and create a design. That’s fun to you.

Truth?

I just kept drawing and adding little squiggles and scallops and dots until I thought it looked cute.

But the start of each of the bags was a basic outline like this.

You can use a ruler to draw if you want to be super precise, but I just hand-drew everything (please act surprised when I tell you I like to wing it when I draw things).

You can see here that the edge of the house is drawn in, along with the roof. Don’t forget to draw the edges of your house along the outside of the bag. It just makes it look so much cuter.

2. Add the scallops

Now that the roof is drawn in, I started each of my houses by adding scallops at the top.

I just started with one row of scallops (kind of like a loop).

Then I added another row of scallops that was offset to create the look of a gingerbread roof.

3. Finish the roof

Just keep drawing the scallops until the entire roof is filled in.

Later (you can see it in the picture at the end) I went back and added scallops along the outside of the roof because I thought it looked cuter.

I also added a large set of scallops at the bottom of the roofline, too.

4. Add doors and windows

Now that your roof is done, it’s time to add a door and windows.

Here, I added two sets of windows on either side of the door.

I also added an arched door to this bag.

When I drew all of the 12 bags, I mixed them up. Sometimes I added a square door, sometimes I added one set of windows. Sometimes the windows were arched.

The possibilities are endless.

5. Keep adding details

Now, here is the truly fun part.

You can see that I went back and added all of the details.

Here are some of my favorite details to add:

• Scallops over the windows
• Panes on the windows
• Dots around the windows indoors
• Scallops around the roof
• Swirls over the door
• An arched window inside the door
• A kick plate on the door
• Little swirls at the corner of the house

And that’s it. Your bag is finished and ready to add your tiny house to.

One last note.

I made the house ahead of time and put them in the refrigerator, and when I went to take them out.

Someone had already taken a bite out of one of the houses.

So I’m adding a PSA here.

If you have a gingerbread eater in your house, make sure to label the gingerbread houses are not for the general public.

It will help keep your houses safe.

PS If you are a Babe and you are reading this blog (the Babes are avid blog readers and supporters), just know how much I adore you.

I wish everyone could meet you so they could see how special and wonderful and caring and amazing and thoughtful and inspirational you are.

The world needs more women like you.

Love you Babes.

PS In the excitement of the dinner and that amazing night? I didn’t get a single picture. I’m so sorry. I was so busy living in the moment I forgot.

disclosure: affiliate links are used in this post.

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