Make Memories Year Round with Candy Cottage

I can’t believe the summer is just about over. Not only is it back to school time but the stores are also displaying Halloween decorations and candy.

I happen to love Autumn. Not only is the weather cooler and the outdoors comes alive in an array of beautiful colors, but it’s also the start of the holiday season – Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas (Hanukkah) and New Years.

I love to decorate for the holidays. I also love to do holiday related things with my family, such as decorate the Christmas, baking cookies and decorating gingerbread houses.

Decorating gingerbread houses is a great family activity, just like decorating Easter eggs. I have never made my own gingerbread house. I’ve always used kits where the house is pre-baked, you just have to assemble and decorate it. My family has also made mini-houses out of graham crackers.

FYI… Marshmallow Fluff makes great “glue” to hold house pieces together.

Imagine making gingerbread houses for other holidays. How would you decorate an Easter house? Or how about a spooky Halloween house? Perhaps you could make a tropical house for summer. The possibilities are endless.

I think one of the reasons why more people don’t enjoy making gingerbread houses is because they are not easy to make, bake and assemble. What if making one was as easy as 1-2-3, would you make the houses more often and perhaps year round?

I received to review a fabulous product called Candy Cottage. It’s one of those products that makes you wonder why no one thought of it sooner.

Candy Cottage is a plastic house that assembles in about a minute or two. There are four walls, a roof and a base. Once assembled all you need to do is decorate it.

It’s hard to tell from the photo but it’s a decent size house. It’s made out of plastic.

Once assembled you simply need to spread frosting (or what ever you commonly use) on the house then decorate it with candy, cereal, crackers or whatever comes to mind.

My kids and I made one using watermelon flavored frosting because it was colored green and my kids wanted a green house. You can use any frosting you want (chocolate, vanilla, strawberry, store bought, home made…).

The messy part (as with any gingerbread house) is getting the frosting on. Once frosted you can begin decorating.

I picked up a variety of candy for the house. I tried to buy things I thought my kids WOULDN’T eat, but it turns out the liked it all. That is usually the problem when we make houses – the kids eat the candy before we finish. LOL!

I lucked out and found some gummy flowers which I thought were perfect for this summer-time home.

You can find inexpensive candies at your local dollar store. Or you can stock up on after holiday sales.

Here is our finished product.

I had wanted to make another house but it’s been crazy between trying to squeeze as much summer as we can into the final days of the season, getting the kids ready for back to school and some other things.

My family is planning on making a Halloween house. I’ve already been checking out Halloween candy to see what we can use. I’d like to find something “spooky”. I was thinking marshmallow PEEP ghosts (have one pop out of the chimney and one coming out of a window) and maybe some gummy spiders if I can find some. For that house I’ll use a dark chocolate frosting so I can make it dark and creepy. I would love to get those Candy Corn Pumpkins to put around the house too.

Candy Cottage can be enjoyed year round. Use it to celebrate the holidays, seasons, a birthday, wedding or even “just because”. It’s a great activity the entire family can do together or you can do it with your child/grandchild for some fun bonding time.

Here are some great ideas from the Candy Cottage website.

How adorable are these houses? I love the “Crab Shack” one. That would be fun for a backyard barbecue. The pink one (pictured above) is a castle (the top part was cut off in the photo). You can see the entire house on the Candy Cottage website.

The house is pretty sturdy and can handle a lot of candy.

I love that it has a base. Not only does it add to it’s sturdiness but it also serves as a platter/tray so you don’t need anything to put it on.

Candy Cottage comes with a idea booklet too.

The Candy Cottage can be used over and over and over again. It washes off well. All you need to do is wash it, dry it off and put it back in it’s box for the next time.

Here’s ours after we disassembled it (removed the candy, washed off the frosting). Once it dried I put it back in the box.

Candy Cottage sells for $29.99. It can be purchased online or at several retail locations around the country (there is a store locator on the website).

Candy Cottage would make a great gift or rainy (or snowy) day activity.

For more information visit www.CandyCottage.com. They even sell party packs where you can buy a 4-pack of mini houses for party guests to decorate and keep (they make great party favors!). Party packs are only $19.99.

For inspriation be sure to check out the Candy Cottage Facebook page.

What do you think about Candy Cottage? Are you inspired to create your own one-of-a-king house?

Mini Cottage – Part of the Party Pack.

Kimberly

*I received a free product sample in order to do this review. There was no compensation. The opinion expressed are my own and not influenced in any way.

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