Gingerbread Village Made from a Colorful Christmas Village
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There is something so sweet about a tiny Christmas village all lit up on a winter night. When I spotted this colorful dollar-store village, I knew it had good bones; it just didn’t fit my style. A little paint and a steady hand turned these bright plastic houses into a soft gingerbread village that looks good enough to eat. In this article, I will show you the before-and-after photos, plus the simple steps I used to give each tiny house a cozy iced-cookies makeover.
Dollar Store Christmas Village
The first step to making a gingerbread village is to purchase inexpensive Christmas village pieces from your local dollar store. I had several colorful village pieces leftover from making a White Christmas Village.
Spray Paint Small Christmas Village Pieces
Although I chose to spray paint the colorful village buildings, you could certainly paint them by hand.
Spray painting went quickly because I didn’t spend time trying to achieve full coverage. Basically, I was trying to cover up those cheap, bright colors.
Helpful Supplies for Making a Gingerbread Village
This supply list is simple and relatively inexpensive. You may already have many of the supplies at home, as I did.
- Your favorite white paint, spray, or acrylic.
- Brown paint to resemble the color of gingerbread.
- Glitter, if you plan to add snow.
- Paint pens. We used Sharpie brand fine paint pens and a Sharpie Brush Tip Marker.
- Assorted paint brushes, depending on how you plan to embellish your gingerbread village.
Dollar Store Christmas Village Houses
I purchased the house on the left to illustrate the difference. The house on the right was spray-painted white, and then painted brown with the paintbrush shown in the supply list.
Christmas Village House to Gingerbread House
These are the identical houses; on the left is the original colorful Christmas Village house. On the right is the brown house embellished with the paint pens. Isn’t the gingerbread village house adorable?
The tree is green glitter over wet paint from the paint pen.
How to Embellish a Gingerbread House With a Paint Pen
This Sharpie paint pen is the traditional type where you have to prime the tip to make the paint flow. It was very easy to embellish the brown house with this paint pen. You can go heavy-handed and add a lot of white, or use less, as you will see in the after photos.
This craft project was done over our Thanksgiving get-together. This house was painted and embellished by my daughter, Jamie. She really liked this Sharpie better than the typical paint pen. It has a semi-soft brush-like tip. Even though the original paint pens were marketed as “fine” tip, you can see that the tip is much narrower. Personally, I love the “dots” she added.
The soft-tipped Sharpie pen applied enough paint to enable the glitter to be used. A large tray and paper plates help corral the glitter. However, I may be finding glitter for months.
DIY Gingerbread House Village
Isn’t the Christmas Village-Gingerbread Village adorable? Just think, I never have to make another wasted gingerbread house again.
Eli made the church, Jamie made the two in the foreground, and I painted the two on the small risers in the back. There was another one for Eli, but he chose not to do it. Crafting with two of them makes me so incredibly happy. We did several projects while they were here for Thanksgiving. Fun times.
I will be displaying this sweet DIY gingerbread village on my fireplace through the holidays. Are you inspired to drop a few bucks to make lasting memories with your family?
Eli did a very snowy church, I love it! The house on the right is the one that Jamie embellished less, but it’s equally fabulous. Don’t you agree?
Who would guess this gingerbread village started as a handful of dollar store Christmas houses? A few coats of paint and some simple “icing” details gave them a whole new life.
If you have a mismatched village tucked away, or you spot one on a thrift store shelf, keep this idea in mind. Pin this project, share it with a friend who loves gingerbread decor, and start building a sweet little town of your own this Christmas.
