Making a template for a gingerbread birdhouse is pretty simple because you can use the basic pattern for a small house and add a few details that are different.
For this one I used the interlocking template with no notches house pattern as the basis for the main part of the house, and added a perch and some birds.
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This house is pretty basic to assemble, but I do recommend that you make a cardboard template and put that together before you cut the actual gingerbread out. I printed the pattern out incorrectly to begin with (in landscape, not portrait) and it cut the pieces off!
Making the cardboard mockup showed my mistake and I was able to reprint it and cut the pieces out correctly.
The front and back of the house are the same shapes, but the front has a hole and a little hole for a perch.
The pattern has a small round hole so that you can insert the perch into it, and the pattern gingerbread piece would be flat. You can use a candy cane in the round hole to make the perch, or use the cutout piece and fill the hole in with royal icing or melted chocolate then let it dry into place.
The strongest would be the candy cane in a hole that was right around the same size so that it would fit tightly in it.
For an article about putting a small gingerbread house together, click here.
After assembling the house and letting the perch dry, you can attach the birds onto the house.
For the mockup I put one on the roof and one on the perch. For a real gingerbread house you would have to balance the birds onto the house until they stood up straight.
The easiest way to attach things together with something edible is to use melted chocolate. It sets up quickly and holds very strong. It would work to attach the birds to the house in a standing position but you’ll need to be patient and hold them there while the chocolate hardens!
Some tips for assembling the gingerbread birdhouse:
- Use the pattern pieces for the birds or you can use a cookie cutter.
- Decorate the birds with lightweight things like icing or fondant so that they won’t be too heavy to sit on the perch.
- Cut the holes in the front of the house before baking, and try to make the perch hole the size for the item that you want to put into it for the perch.
- If you want to assemble the house with a pole to make it look like it’s sitting on a tall pole, you could use a cake plate that has a footed stand, or build a stand made from wooden boards and a pvc pipe or thick wooden dowel if you want to get really fancy.
- Because the front of this house has the perch sticking out of it, either decorate it before adding the perch, or decorate it before assembling the house.
- Add the birds last after the house is decorated so that they can be attached to the house and they won’t be jostled.
- You can also add a little shredded wheat cereal coming out of the hole like they’ve put straw and nesting material in there.
Click here to print the pattern:
