It is SO FUN to make Valentine Cookie Houses. Made with wafer cookies, frosting, and your choice of fun Valentine's candies, it couldn't be easier!
We usually make a big batch of Valentine's Trail Mix to eat and share, but this one is a fun activity for the littles to do. Is it perfect? No. Neat? Also no! But it's super easy and relatively cheap to do 2-3 houses, it was under $10 in materials for my 3 children to do one house each. It's a great cheap Valentine's craft to do with kids.
Sooo many possibilities with a Valentine's "gingerbread" house. You could go all pink wafer cookies, all white, use chocolate frosting, vanilla frosting. The CANDY possibilities. Any Valentine candy you want will do here.
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What To Expect
- Taste: Usually the pink & white wafer cookies are strawberry and vanilla flavored, and we used strawberry frosting for our houses. The candy has it's own unique taste, so use your favorites!
- Ease: Kids between the ages of 2-4 may need a little help with the frosting, but older kids will probably be fine doing it independently with supervision.
- Time: It takes as long as you want, usually 20-30 minutes for kids to make the Valentine houses and decorate them.
🛒 Key Ingredients
- Wafer Cookies - we used strawberry and vanilla for their colors.
- Frosting - pink (strawberry) or white (vanilla) is delicious, but chocolate would also be amazing!
- Candy - we used conversation hearts and Valentines sprinkles, but you can go as fancy or as simple as you want.
See the recipe card below for full information on ingredients and quantities.
✏️ Substitutions & Variations
- Valentine M&M's would work well!
- Hershey heart-shaped chocolates would be super cute.
- Pink yogurt melts (for babies) are also an option.
- Frosting! You can use any flavor you wish. We liked the pink for Valentine's Day, but vanilla or chocolate would be delicious.
🧑🍳 Instructions
- Step 1. Place an empty sealable sandwich bag or piping bag into a cup and spread the edges over the top of the cup. Spoon frosting into the bag and seal. Snip the tip of to pipe the frosting.
- Step 2. Pipe lines of frosting in a square on a paper plate or frost one long edge of the wafer cookies and begin placing in a square shape on the plate.
- Step 3. Pipe frosting along the top edges of each cookie to begin a second level. You can go as tall as you'd like, but beyond 2 or 3 cookies high isn't very stable.
- Step 4. Begin the roof by piping frosting along the inside edges and ends of wafer cookies and place them side by side lengthwise leaning against each other.
- Step 5. Pipe dots on the roof where you want to place each piece of candy.
- Step 6. Place candy on roof at intervals. Best not to pick heavier candy for this part so it doesn't weigh down the roof.
📌 Top Tips & Hacks
- Go simple. You can use allll the candy you want, but too much will weigh down the roof and might make it fall over.
- You can frost the edge of the cookie and then dip it in sprinkles to make it easier to put the sprinkles on!
- I would only stack 2-3 cookies (horizontally) high for the walls, any taller and it becomes unstable.
❓Frequently Asked Questions
You can buy the wafer cookies and frosting ahead of time, and as long as you mind the expiration date they'll be fine. I usually buy them all a few days in advance.
Usually up to 3 days at room temperature, but the cookies may soften a bit from the frosting. Best to make them and eat them within a day or two.
Frosting! I use a store bought frosting for these to make them super easy, but you can always make your own.
🩷 More Easy Valentine's Recipes
Did You Try This Recipe? ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Make sure to leave a star rating and a comment below the recipe card. I love hearing from you, and it is so helpful to other readers! Better yet, share it with family and friends. Thank you!!
📝 Printable Recipe
Valentine Cookie House
Equipment
- 1 paper plate or cake cardboard disk
- 1 sandwich bag or frosting piping bag
Ingredients
- 1 (16oz) can frosting of choice
- 1 (8 oz) package strawberry wafer cookies
- 1 (8 oz) package vanilla wafer cookies
- 1 package conversation hearts
- optional: Valentine's sprinkles
Instructions
- Place an empty sealable sandwich bag or piping bag into a cup and spread the edges over the top of the cup. Spoon frosting into the bag and seal. Snip the tip of to pipe the frosting.
- Pipe lines of frosting in a square on a paper plate or frost one long edge of the wafer cookies and begin placing in a square shape on the plate.
- Pipe frosting along the top edges of each cookie to begin a second level. You can go as tall as you'd like, but beyond 2 or 3 cookies high isn't very stable.
- Begin the roof by piping frosting along the inside edges and ends of wafer cookies and place them side by side lengthwise leaning against each other.
- Pipe dots on the roof where you want to place each piece of candy.
- Place candy on roof at intervals. Best not to pick heavier candy for this part so it doesn't weigh down the roof. Place sprinkles on where desired.
Notes
Nutrition
Hi, I'm Sara!
Registered Nurse by day, food blogger by weekend. Perfect dip tester & snack quester. I love short walks on the beach and long naps. Sharing my love for food, one bite at a time.
Sara says
This is one of our family's favorite things to make for holidays, and they get eaten a lot quicker than gingerbread houses! I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as we do! Please leave a comment here and share your feedback with a star rating. I really enjoyed creating this recipe and post for you!