Spice Up Your Family Fun With A Visit To Gingerbread University

Where:  Whether you celebrate Chanukah, Kwanzaa, or Christmas,  a visit to nearby Gingerbread University in Riverhead is sure to become a sweet addition to your family's holiday traditions.  Located up on Sound Avenue in a cozy shop filled with all things ginger, Gingerbread U has lots to see and lots to do. 

What:  In the two back rooms, kids of all ages were busy "gluing" candy  onto pre-baked houses and using sticky icing to make icicles and garlands on gingerbread roofs when I visited last Saturday.  Even the smallest children in every family were happily adorning houses or super-sized gingerbread men, gingerbread girls, and specialty shaped cookies with candy decorations supplied by Gingerbread U.  (You can book a private party there, too.)

Why:  Help your children get into the holiday spirit the old-fashioned way - by spending some good quality family time with each other.  For the $29.95 you'll spend on a house (which comes complete with everything you need to decorate it) you'll have had the gift of time spent together as well as the gingerbread treat you create. Jumbo cookie kits are less at $ 17.50, and offer the same priceless gift of shared good times.  Or, you can buy a kit and take it home.  I ordered 2 different candy house kits from the website to send as holiday gifts to far-off family. 

Spend a few minutes in the brand new Gingerbread Holiday Festival rooms to see some of the entries into Gingerbread U's first Gingerbread House Decorating Contest.  You'll be amazed at what you can turn gingerbread into! The kids will delight in the gingerbread carousel complete with high-stepping gingerbread horses, and there's a lovely gingerbread Chanukah House on display, too.  See the Ginger Express Train as it rolls by a haunted gingerbread Spooky House.  Look for the gingerbread soldiers standing at attention nearby.  The gingerbread cathedral wasn't complete when I was there, but it promised to be a spectacular sight when finished!  

Helpful Hints:

• MAKE A RESERVATION!  They're busy at this time of year. (727-7309)
• Bring a camera to capture the kids' confectionary capers.

Want to know more about gingerbread?

• Read about the history of gingerbread here.
• Lots of gingerbread trivia here.
• Learn how to make the original, medieval recipe for gingerbread here. It's more like candy and less like cake - looks very yummy!!

Teach your children the joy of giving a homemade gift:

Have the kids help make a gift for someone special in their lives - a favorite teacher, neighbor, daycare giver, or anyone who deserves some thanks just for being there!

• Measure out the dry ingredients for spice cookies and layer them in a Mason or other large clean dry jar.  (Recipe attached to article.)
• Add a square of festive cloth and a ribbon to the sealed jar - see photos for visual cues. Add a gingerbread cookie cutter or a wooden spoon for a special touch!
• Attach a recipe card. (Print some from the PDF attached - use card stock for a more durable card, but paper works fine, too.) 

Flavor your holiday season evenings:  Long after the sweet smell of gingerbread fades away, you and your children can bring back  delightful memories of your ginger-ific junket with a great book. Just stop in to the the Riverhead Free Library's children's room and pick up some of my favorite gingerbread stories to share together:

• Maisy Makes Gingerbread by Lucy Cousins
• Gingerbread Baby by Jan Brett
• The Gingerbread Cowboy by Janet Squires
• Gingerbread Friends by Jan Brett 
• The Gingerbread Pirates by Kristin Kladstrup
• The Gingerbread Doll by Susan Tews
• Hansel and Gretel by Cynthia Rylant
• Gingerbread For All Seasons by Frederick H. Terry *

* Not available at the library, but it is for sale at Gingerbread U