Paper Bag Gingerbread House
A fun gingerbread house craft for kids, this Paper Bag Gingerbread House can be made with paper grocery bags, brown packaging paper or construction paper – and our free printable template removes any frustration from the crafting process.
Paper Bag Gingerbread House Craft
Do you have a family member that buys stuff that they “think you could use” – only to end up with random items in your home that you have no idea what to do with?
Well, that was the case recently for me with a large bulk pack of brown paper grocery bags. I use my own reusable bags for groceries and really couldn’t think of any practical use for those brown paper bags – so they got added to the crafting pile!
The stiff, textured appearance of the brown paper bags lends them perfectly to making these little paper gingerbread houses that actually stand up! You can display these on a mantle, window area, or entrance table. We’ll be making a little village of ours and taping them to the front window for a cute Christmas window display.
It will probably take a couple attempts at folding the house before you perfect it, but after that it will be smooth sailing. You may want to fold the houses for the kids and just let them focus on the decorating. The folding method allows the houses to actually stand up, but if you’re okay with them being flat you can skip the folding and just cut out a house shape from your brown paper.
We kept our craft and free printable template very simple so that you can use it as a base and expand upon it using your own creativity!
Some ideas for embellishing these gingerbread houses further include:
- making fingerprint “light strands”
- adding pom poms
- using foam candy stickers or making your own paper candy embellishments
- add glitter or use glitter craft paper
- add photos of loved ones to the window panes
- use leftover wrapping paper in place of the brown paper for a patterned gingerbread house
More Gingerbread Crafts for Kids
- Popsicle Stick Gingerbread House Craft
- Felt Gingerbread House Craft
- Felt Gingerbread Man Craft
- Gingerbread Cloud Dough
Paper Bag Gingerbread House Materials
- Brown Paper <– we cut a paper bag in half but you can use brown wrapping paper
- Colored Craft Papers
- Pencil
- Scissors <– these are the ones we have and they have lasted for years in our daycare, and unlike some other safety scissors – they actually cut things!
- Craft glue
- Gingerbread House Template
How to Make a Paper Bag Gingerbread House
Cut out a rectangular piece from brown paper. Mine was 8.5 inches X 5 inches.
Keeping 0.5 inches intact on either open ends of the brown paper, fold the 8 inches into half. Fold the 0.5 inch towards the inside and stick it with the other open end of the folded paper.
Fold the paper up (1.5 inches or 2 inches) from any one of the open ends.
Keeping the adjacent side of the folded up part flattened with the rest of the paper, open up the other side and flatten the 2 sides to form corners.
Fold in the 2 open sides of the bottom part towards the middle and make sure that both sides overlap each other. Apply glue on the overlapped parts to secure the bottom side of the paper bag.
Notice the 2 squares on both sides of the bottom part. Create a crease line on both sides of the bag by aligning the 2 opposite corners of the squares (using them as a guide to form perfect creases).
Unfold the last 2 folds made in step 6.
The paper bag is ready. Score the folds on both sides of the bag.
To make the gingerbread house, you’ll have to fold the top open end of the bag from both corners and towards the middle. This will form a triangle top.
Trace the template patterns on some colored craft papers and cut them out nicely. The template includes- roof, doors and windows.
Use craft glue to attach the patterns cutouts on the paper bag. Attach the items on the plain side of the top folded paper bag, keeping the folds on the back side.
One by one, attach the door and windows on the paper bag to complete the gingerbread house paper bag.
Pin this Paper Gingerbread House Craft for your holiday crafting:
Grab your free printable instructions for our paper bag gingerbread house craft – and don’t forget to grab your free Gingerbread House Template:
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Paper Bag Gingerbread House
Use our free printable template to make this paper bag gingerbread house craft for kids! A fun way to put brown paper bags or leftover brown packaging paper to a creative use!
Materials
- Brown Paper
- Colored Craft Papers
- Craft glue
- Gingerbread House Template
Tools
- Scissors
- Pencil
Instructions
- Cut out a rectangular piece from brown paper. Mine was 8.5 inches X 5 inches.
- Keeping 0.5 inches intact on either open ends of the brown paper, fold the 8 inches into half. Fold the 0.5 inch towards the inside and stick it with the other open end of the folded paper.
- Fold the paper up (1.5 inches or 2 inches) from any one of the open ends.
- Keeping the adjacent side of the folded up part flattened with the rest of the paper, open up the other side and flatten the 2 sides to form corners.
- Fold in the 2 open sides of the bottom part towards the middle and make sure that both sides overlap each other. Apply glue on the overlapped parts to secure the bottom side of the paper bag.
- Notice the 2 squares on both sides of the bottom part. Create a crease line on both sides of the bag by aligning the 2 opposite corners of the squares (using them as a guide to form perfect creases).
- Unfold the last 2 folds made in step 6.
- The paper bag is ready. Score the folds on both sides of the bag.
- To make the gingerbread house, you’ll have to fold the top open end of the bag from both corners and towards the middle. This will form a triangle top.
- Trace the template patterns on some colored craft papers and cut them out nicely. The template includes- roof, doors and windows.
- Use craft glue to attach the patterns cutouts on the paper bag. Attach the items on the plain side of the top folded paper bag, keeping the folds on the back side.
- One by one, attach the door and windows on the paper bag to complete the gingerbread house paper bag.
Recommended Products
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Astrobrights Colored Cardstock, 8.5” x 11”, 65 lb / 176 gsm, "Spectrum" 25-Color Assortment, 75 Sheets (80944-01) -
Kraft Brown Wrapping Paper Roll 18" x 1,200" (100 ft) – 100% Recyclable Craft Construction and Packing Paper for Use in Moving, Bulletin Board Backing and Paper Tablecloths
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Westcott Soft Handle Kids Scissors with Anti-Microbial Protection, Assorted Colors, 5" Pointed (14597-030)
I hope your kids love making their own paper bag gingerbread houses – and it helps put some of your brown paper bags or leftover packaging paper to good use!
Check out our full collection of Christmas Craft Ideas here.
