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Have you made a gingerbread house yet? Why not mix it up and build a Planes Hangar instead! Are your kids home for the Christmas break? Are they driving you nuts? Yeah mine too. Don’t get me wrong, we’re having lots of fun, but without the regular routine, I’ve heard probably a million times in the last 2 days –
- I’m bored!
- We have nothing to do.
- You won’t let us do anything!
Well, we had to remedy that asap! Really though children, you have a room full of toys and dress ups, I’m sure you can find something to do – am I right?! Earlier last week, I was walking the aisles of Walmart since it’s too cold to go outside, and I found the Planes Fire and Rescue toys on Rollback! Woot Woot! I know the kids are going to get new toys on Christmas, but that’s not until Thursday and we needed something to break up the monotony of days spent indoors.
My lightbulb dinged, so I grabbed a couple of the Planes:Fire and Rescue Character Assortment die cast set ($4.97 each!). I thought how fun would it be to make our own hangar – it’s like a doll house but for planes!I get home and I’m pulling out the cardboard to make this cool vision in my head, when in walks Mark and says something like “Why don’t you make it out of gingerbread?”.
I knew I married this guy for a reason. So I put my cardboard away and started making the gingerbread – which soon became apparent I was terrible at! Seriously, ya’ll my ideas were failing left and right, and my beautiful vision was dimming. That’s when Mark stepped in and I stepped back with the camera, and the vision in my head became a reality plus some!
We didn’t want the kids to know what we were doing, so we sent them to the other room and turned on the Disney Planes Movie.
We didn’t want the kids to know what we were doing, so we sent them to the other room and turned on the Disney Planes Movie.
First you’ll want to make some gingerbread. We doubled this recipe from Food Network. Follow the recipe up until rolling it out. Before you roll the dough, split it into three portions. Roll out on the back of 3 cookie sheets, or if you have a cookie sheet without a lip use it like normal. Bake according to directions. When it comes out of the oven, you’ll want to start cutting your shapes while it’s still hot! Otherwise it will harden and be impossible to cut.
Sheet 1 you will cut it in half width ways. Then round the tops. Measure the sides to make sure they are an even length all around. On one side cut out the doorway for your planes. Cut the cut out in half to attach as doors to the opening.
Sheet 2 you will just cut in half, and trim the edges to be the same height as your front and back pieces. These will be your side walls.
Sheet 3 is your roof tiles. Trim the edges, then cut in strips width ways. Let all the pieces dry sufficiently, about an hour or 2. Save all the trimmings, and crush finely for ground covering to complete the scene.
While Mark was busy with the gingerbread making and assembly I cut out the Planes: Fire and Rescue logo from the packaging. It made quite the nice little touch to our finished hangar.
Once the pieces are sufficiently cooled, it’s time to start assembling. We’re big chocolate lovers, so we decided to go with some good old chocolate frosting for glue. Any type of frosting will work, though royal icing will stick the best, we just used a creamy frosting. Watch this quick slide show of the assembly process.
The final touch before presenting this to the kids was the gumdrop propeller. Mark saved one edge from the sheets of gingerbread and carved it into a propeller. We added some frosting, sprinkles, and a gumdrop nose.
Finally it was done. My vision of awesome was complete! So although I am most definitely NOT an engineer, Mark saved the day and made the kids some of the happiest ones around.
Presenting the kids with their Gingerbread Plane Hangar with the new Disney Planes toys was a blast, and the exact kind of break we needed. They had fun flying Dusty over the chocolate pretzel forest, landing him on the roof, and attempting to eat the roof.
Need a last minute Christmas gift? Also on Rollback at Walmart are:
- Disney Planes Flight to the Finish Speedway
- Disney Planes Fire & Rescue Die-Cast Vehicles, 3-Pack
- Disney Planes Fire & Rescue Deluxe Talking Vehicle Assortment
- Disney Planes Character Assortment die-cast set
By the end of the day our Plane Hangar didn’t look too much like a hangar anymore. The gumdrop propeller had been replaced with a half eaten Santa, and the roof “caught fire” and collapsed on the poor characters. It’s all good though, because the Disney Planes are all pretty tough!
If you’re looking for some last minute fun before Christmas, and haven’t made gingerbread houses yet, I suggest you mix it up and try the Gingerbread Hangar instead.
What will you be doing to entertain kids this week? Share with me your holiday plans!
