Every year my kids and I make a gingerbread house together. We have a lot of fun coming up with a special theme and then creating our gingerbread house. Last year, we based our gingerbread house on one of our favorite movies as a family, Disney/Pixar’s UP. Right off the bat, we all knew this would make for one adorable and fabulous gingerbread house, but we also knew it was going to be a bit of a challenge recreating the balloons. You can’t have an UP inspired gingerbread house without the famous balloons! Well, with some trial and error we were able to bring it to life and I’m excited to share it with you.

DIY UP Gingerbread House Instructions

The balloons, of course, are gum balls. The structure to hold the gum balls was made of hard pretzels that were “glued” together with confectionery-coated white chocolate that was melted to a sticky state.  I originally tried regular white chocolate and they did not stick to the smooth surface of the bubblegum well.  The pretzels had quite the infrastructure that resembled tree trunks which gave the gum balls support to attach together.  Then it was just a matter of adding on and on until the desired amount made the shape of a balloon. Use your imagination to decorate the rest of the gingerbread house and give it your own creative signature. It’s so much fun to make it your own!

For more great Christmas ideas, check out my board on Pinterest.

Warm regards,
Megan