As the festive season dawns, many are faced with the delightful dilemma: to build a gingerbread house from scratch or opt for a pre-made kit? On one hand, crafting from scratch might cost between $25 to $100, largely influenced by whether you already own baking tools and basic ingredients.
On the other, a pre-made kit ranges from $10 to $50, offering convenience at a set price. For those already equipped with baking essentials, going the homemade route can be more cost-effective.
However, for many, especially beginners or those without the necessary tools, a pre-made kit typically presents a more economical choice. Here is the break down of the costs of building a gingerbread house
The Cost of Building From Scratch
1. Ingredients: The main components of a gingerbread house include gingerbread dough, icing, and a variety of candies and decorations. To make the dough, you would need:
Flour
Butter
Brown sugar
Molasses
Eggs
Ginger, cinnamon, and cloves
Baking soda
Most kitchens might already have some of these ingredients. However, if you’re buying everything afresh, the cost could add up, especially if you’re opting for organic or specialized ingredients.
2. Tools and Equipment: You’d need a rolling pin, baking sheets, parchment paper, and possibly cookie cutters or templates for the house pieces. Again, these might already be in your kitchen, but if not, there’s a one-time investment involved.
3. Decorations: This is where the expenses can vary significantly. If you’re someone who likes to go all out with candies, chocolates, gumdrops, sprinkles, and more, the cost can quickly accumulate.
The Cost of a Pre-made Kit
A typical gingerbread house kit comes with:
Pre-baked gingerbread pieces
A pack of icing
Assorted candies for decoration
The advantage here is convenience. Everything you need is in one box. The downside is that you might be paying for that convenience, and there’s less room for customization.
Comparing the Costs
Quality and Quantity: Building from scratch means you can control the quality of ingredients, making it potentially healthier and tastier. However, buying in bulk or purchasing only what you need can lead to cost savings or overspending, respectively.
Customization: Creating your gingerbread house gives you the freedom to design it as you wish. This flexibility might lead you to spend more on unique decorations, whereas a pre-made kit limits you to the decorations provided.
Time is Money: Making a gingerbread house from scratch can be time-consuming. If you value your time or if the process becomes too labor-intensive, a pre-made kit might be more cost-effective in the long run.
Experience: The joy of mixing, baking, and constructing can be a rewarding experience, especially when shared with loved ones. This experience might outweigh any potential savings from buying a kit.
Why you should consider building a gingerbread house from scratch – the emotion and traditional benefits
Building a gingerbread house from scratch with family and kids goes far beyond the mere act of creating a decorative piece; it’s an experience steeped in emotion and connection. Let’s delve into the profound emotional aspects of this cherished tradition.
Bonding Over Baking: Starting from mixing the dough to placing the final candy, the entire process allows families to collaborate, fostering closeness. Each step requires coordination and teamwork, making it a journey of collective effort.
Nurturing Creativity: For children, in particular, crafting a gingerbread house can be a canvas for imagination. Whether it’s deciding the color of the icing or the placement of candies, such choices encourage kids to express themselves, boosting their confidence.
Memory Making: Each gingerbread house becomes a tangible memory of a specific year and the moments shared. Many families remember past holidays by reminiscing about gingerbread houses they’ve created, evoking a sense of nostalgia.
Teaching Patience and Persistence: As anyone who has tried to balance a gingerbread wall can attest, it’s not always smooth sailing. These moments teach children (and sometimes adults) the value of patience, perseverance, and the joy of overcoming challenges.
Celebrating Achievements: The moment when the house stands firm, adorned with decorations, is a moment of collective pride. It’s a testament to the family’s combined effort and is celebrated as a shared achievement.
Instilling Traditions: Building a gingerbread house can be a cherished annual ritual. Such traditions give children a sense of continuity, connecting generations and imparting a sense of belonging.
Whether it’s cheaper to build your gingerbread house depends on various factors, including the ingredients you use, the tools you already have, the decorations you choose, and how you value your time. If you’re looking for a custom, hands-on experience and have the time, building from scratch might be the way to go. If convenience and saving time are top priorities, a pre-made kit might be the better choice.
Regardless of the route you choose, the most important thing is to enjoy the process and the festive spirit that comes with it!
It is the holiday season and that means, its time to make and decorate gingerbread houses. Building gingerbread houses has been a holiday tradition for hundreds of years and is great past time for family and friends. But, Before you start rounding up the kids and grand kids for this fun holiday activity, here are some of the most important gingerbread house tips from our expert bakers to help get you started.
1. Baking Fresh Gingerbread vs Using a Pre-Made Gingerbread Kit – The Most Important Decision
Now, before you start decorating your gingerbread house, it’s important to figure out which route you will take, either baking your gingerbread from scratch or purchasing a pre-made kit. There are many advantages and disadvantages to both.
Baking You Gingerbread
The benefit of baking your gingerbread houses is that you have more flexibility in design and control of how your house will look and feel. This allows you to make a smaller or much larger gingerbread house.
Generally speaking, making your own gingerbread house, if done correctly, will lead to a more stable house compared to most kits which could have broken gingerbread. This means, making your gingerbread house will be an easier feat and more enjoyable. Lastly, once its time to eat your gingerbread house, it will taste one hundred times better than any store-bought kit.
The main issue of making your own house is that it requires more time and preparation. You must purchase the proper baking ingredients for your gingerbread house. This can add a few more hours to the process, which could be an issue; especially if you have younger and eager decorators.
Also, you will need to make sure you have the proper molds or templates for the gingerbread house walls, doors and base ready to go. If you have more time and patience, we highly recommend making your gingerbread. If you have children who just want to decorate and enjoy the activity, think about getting a kit.
Using Gingerbread House Kits
In short, gingerbread house kits are the best option for kids and those who just want to decorate. All the supplies are included and the gingerbread is pre-made. The only issues are that some kits can have broken gingerbread pieces and the candy and gingerbread have a tendency to be stale.
2. Choosing a Theme – Where to find Inspiration
Choosing a theme is a very important step to think about before you start decorating and constructing your gingerbread house. The most popular and common decoration ideas can be found by doing a quick search on Google, Pinterest or this article about the most popular gingerbread decorations ideas. Why it’s important to find a theme before decorating is ensure that you have all the needed supplies, plus this will shape how you will make your gingerbread house (if it’s from scratch)
Common gingerbread themes include:
Winter wonderland
Classic Gingerbread House
The Log Cabin
Christmas themes with green, red and white accents.
3. Finding a Template or Pattern Before You Create (Recommended)
There are many gingerbread templates and patterns that are available online. Once more, do your best to choose a template that will fit your gingerbread theme before you bake your gingerbread. These templates can range from the popular Victorian style pattern to the more classic style gingerbread house. Each template should come with walls, doors, roof and window outlines for you to follow.
4. Selecting Candy and Decorations Ahead of Time
Once you have your theme and template chosen, its time to think about the candy and decorations that you would like to use. The most common gingerbread house candies include Hershey kisses, m&ms, and dots. To make sure your candy fits the theme you may want to choose specific colored candies.
For example, a class gingerbread house would include, red, green and white. In this instance using red M&Ms, green dots and white royal icing would be encouraged. For more advanced themes, like a log cabin, keep to darker more rustic looking candies and decorations like Hershey kisses.
Additional decorations like Santa and reindeer cutouts can also be added to give the gingerbread house a special touch. These cut out and edible decorations can take your gingerbread house to the next level by adding more of a holiday theme that cannot be done with traditional candy.
5. Building A Gingerbread House with Proper Foundation
Before you start constructing, know that a gingerbread house with the best foundation will make the activity. This means that before you start putting your gingerbread walls up, do your best to have thick royal icing on hand, plus thicker gingerbread to make the house more stable.
6. Decorating Walls and Doors Before You Build
Most beginner gingerbread house makers, decorate after the house has been built. This is one of the most common mistakes in gingerbread houses. To get a cleaner and better design, we highly recommend that you decorate each piece of gingerbread individually, on a flat surface. This allows for now just a cleaner design, but a more cohesive looking house. This tip is highly recommended if you have children decorators. It tends to be easier for them to build their houses this way compared to when the house is already built.
7. Additional Structural Support
Once you start putting up the walls and doors, an easy trick is to use any type of canned food as a way to prop up your gingerbread. While it’s propped up, use additional icing to make sure the doors, walls and roof stick. Make sure you hold gingerbread together for 15 seconds after you apply the frosting
8. Using More Than Enough Frosting
We will say this one more time, use more icing on the corners of each piece of gingerbread before you connected them is highly recommended. Make sure to make plenty of icing ahead of time.
9. Being Patient
Patience will pay off when building and decorating your gingerbread house. For the best outcome, take your time while decorating and constructing. It can be difficult to re-decorate a piece of gingerbread, so take your time. Which leads us to our next tip.
10. Bake Additional Gingerbread
Have additional pieces of gingerbread on hand if you are baking. Do you best to have at least an additional set of gingerbread as a back up just in case there are any broken pieces. You can store your fresh gingerbread in a tin container for up to 7 days as a back up.
11. Keeping the Tradition Alive
Lastly, keep this holiday tradition alive. This is a great opportunity to bring family and friends together. By making gingerbread houses an annual tradition, you will be able to have a set day every year to rekindle relationships.
Choosing the best gingerbread house kit should be easy. But after reviewing many kits, we found out that some leave us disappointed. Stale gingerbread, missing pieces, and horrible tasting icing; these are things to watch out for when choosing your kit.
If you are looking for simple, DIY, easy, large, or mini gingerbread house kits, there are many options. There are multiple options if you’re looking for a more advanced or themed gingerbread house, but they are a bit more costly.
We reviewed these gingerbread house kits for size, kid-friendliness, affordability, taste, and the amount of time it takes to build the gingerbread house.
Here is a review of the best gingerbread house kits to buy in 2022
Gingerbread House Kit Review Comparison 2022
For specific information about the top rated gingerbread house kits, jump to the section which best fits your needs below:
The Wilton gingerbread house classic gingerbread house kit that comes with high-quality gingerbread, pre-made frosting, and decent tasting candy. Everything is ready to build out of the box with this gingerbread house, so this is perfect for kids. This gingerbread house is a bit pricey side at $30 per kit.
2. Wilton Dazzling Bling Gingerbread House Kits – Best Ready to Decorate
The Dazzling Bling Gingerbread House Kit is the newest from Wilton. Wilton took the traditional gingerbread house and made it modern with sparkling gold stars and shiny gray metallic ball decorations. With a small amount of frosting, this gingerbread house is a perfect centerpiece for a party. The kit is a medium size and would be great for kids and adults. Overall, we are happy to see Wilton make these more modern kits to keep their gingerbread kit line fresh and not stale.
3. Wilton’s Mini Gingerbread House Kits
Wilton takes the cake for a well crafted and mini gingerbread house kit. But, wow, this gingerbread house was tiny. The gingerbread quality is what you would expect from Wilton, but everything is just smaller. The size of this gingerbread house is about the size of a medium-sized apple. There are less candy, less frosting, and less gingerbread compared to other kits. While this gingerbread house is a great little buy, you complete the kit significantly faster than you would anticipate. If you have a younger child, this may be a better purchase with their shorter attention spans.
If you are creating a house with a child of 7+ years or above, we’d recommend the larger gingerbread house.
4. Disney Crafty Gingerbread House Cooking Kits
If you or your gingerbread crafters are Disney fanatics. The Disney Crafty Gingerbread House Cooking Kit excellent spin on the classic gingerbread house. This kit comes with all the traditional goodies such as gumdrops, ready to use frosting, candy beads and Mickey-shaped candy pieces. As a bonus, this piece comes with a candy cane fence as well. But be warned, while this is a fun version of our loved simple gingerbread houses, this is a small kit for the cost. Also, some Amazon reviewers stated that kits have arrived with many broken or missing pieces. If you can pay more, this is a great Disney themed kit.
5. Best Small Gingerbread House Cookie Cutter Kit Ann Clark
Are you interested in building your gingerbread house from scratch? This gingerbread house cookie cutter kit will help you achieve just that. These gingerbread cookie cutters will help you make cute and small simple gingerbread houses in a few hours. The best part about these cookie cutters is that there is no limit to how many houses you can make. Amazon reviewers said they had gingerbread house parties for their kids and friends.
Also, If you are more cost-conscious, this may be the best bet for you. Obliviously, the downside is that you have to provide ingredients, but if you are thinking about making more than five houses – this would be the best option.
6. Starbucks Gingerbread House Kits
If you are a Coffee lover, the Starbucks Gingerbread House Kit is a must buy this holiday season. The kit comes with everything you can need to make a Starbucks shop replica. The kit comes with gumdrops, frosting, candy bites, candy canes, and a Starbucks coffee marque.
The Starbucks gingerbread house is medium in size, which is suitable for children above the age of 7 years or older. But, this kit is more for adults who can appreciate the coffee theme. The Starbucks Gingerbread House kit would make a great holiday gift for any coffee lover friends and family.
8. Best Wonka Gingerbread House Kit
What makes the Wonka Gingerbread House unique is the candy. The gingerbread kit contains classic Wonka candy such as Nerds, Sweet Tarts, Runts and Bottle caps. These are most likely to be eaten that placed on the Gingerbread house.. The Wonka gingerbread house also contains the basics: pre-made gingerbread and frosting plus a setup tray that will help create a stable gingerbread house. Most of the Wonka Kit reviews are all positive, but it’s more expensive than the others for its size. It is also a little smaller than average and costs about $20. If sweets and Charlie and The Chocolate factory nostalgia is what you want, this kit is right for you.
9. Create-a-Treat Large Gingerbread House Kit
The Create-a-Treat Large Gingerbread House is one of the largest gingerbread house kit on the market. It’s has a simple design and includes gingerbread, icing, and candy. There has been a couple of Amazon reviews saying that the gingerbread house came broken. This seems to be a trend with the larger gingerbread houses. The reason is with the larger and more fragile gingerbread pieces; there is a higher chance that it may break during shipment; so be warned. The cost for this kit is reasonable at about 20 dollars. And it should provide about 1-2 hours of decorating fun.
10. Best Frosty the Snowman Gingerbread House Kit
This classic Frosty the Snowman gingerbread house kit is not only easy to assemble but is very nostalgic. The kit includes pre-baked gingerbread house molds and a variety of colorful candies for decorating. And, yes, of course, it includes Frosty the Snowman himself as a gummy. There were quite a few Amazon reviewers that said that the gingerbread molds were delivered broken. Although, many said it was easily fixable gluing together with the frosting.
11. Candy Cottage Gingerbread House
The Candy Cottage Gingerbread House is one of our favorite gingerbread house kit out there. The versatility of it solely being a gingerbread house mold that is washable and reusable, makes it a fun activity to use for any holiday. The kit is quite large, so we would recommend buying extra frosting for this one. This kit allows for a lot of customization. Of course, the price for this kit is high because it can be used multiple times, but it is worth it!
12. Mini Village Gingerbread House Decorating Kit
The Mini Village Gingerbread house kit is perfect for the family or a child since there are four individual houses ready for decoration. The houses are quite small, with the tallest being 4” high. All of the houses are different shapes and sizes, which is perfect for the different personalities of your little ones. The kit includes the standard gingerbread pieces, frosting with the bag and tip, cardboard bases, and festive candies. We believe that the price is worth it as long as you have a larger group of Gingerbread crafters.
13. Best Gingerbread Doghouse Decorating Kit
For all the dog lovers out there, the Gingerbread Dog House is perfect for you. While this is a unique design, It did end up being smaller than expected, but still charming house theme nonetheless.
The kit included small bone sprinkle decor and six gingerbread panels with red and white frosting for decorating. This kit will only take an hour to make, so its a relatively quick activity. But, if you have a dog in the family, this is a must to create and showcase.
14. Wilton Pre-Assembled Mini Gingerbread House
Another small gingerbread house kit, the Wilton Pre Assembled Mini Gingerbread House kit is perfect for toddlers due to its size and ease of creation. It comes with the popular colorful candies, but what makes it stand out is gummy Santa Clause, which is a hit with the kids.
We felt that the kit needed a bit more candy, but that wasn’t a big problem for us since we like to add different candies anyway. The frosting and gummies were tasty.
15. Best Gluten Free Gingerbread Kits
If you or a family member has celiac disease, allergies, or specific dietary restrictions, which involves gluten, This Gluten-Free Gingerbread house kit is probably the best. The kit did receive high reviews from the small number of reviews; 4 out of 5 stars on Amazon. Besides the less than perfect photo on the review page, the kit did get some bonus points since the GF gingerbread and frosting tasted better than expected.
Similar to most gluten-free products, this kit was a little more expensive than others, but only by two to three dollars. Check out this gluten free kit on Amazon.
17. Wilton Gingerbread Train Kits
If a traditional gingerbread house seems a bit stale for you, try the Wilton Gingerbread Train Kit. This is a larger kit, weighing about 1.76 pounds out of the box. The gingerbread train kit comes with easy to assemble pre-baked gingerbread pieces and different types of candies that include: candy canes and gumdrops.
This kit comes with a lot of candy, but we would recommend buying more candy just in case you’re feeling generous with the decorations. The gingerbread train kit also comes with two different kinds of icings; green and white. The review for this kit is a bit mixed. The kit is mainly for intermediate gingerbread makers above the age of 10. For any children under the age of 10, this gingerbread kit may be a bit difficult.
Overall, we recommend this kit for the above average gingerbread maker who is looking for a unique gingerbread kit this year kit this year.
18. The Best Graham Crackers Gingerbread Mix
This Graham Cracker Gingerbread Mix kit has received so many great reviews on Amazon; it was impossible to ignore. This gluten-free gingerbread mix can make up to 100 graham crackers in a single batch which is plenty for an afternoon of gingerbread house making. The gingerbread house mix is non-GMO, vegan, and one of the best for anyone with food allergies.
For individuals who have any food sensitivity such as celiac disease, this is a must. Here is the best part about the gingerbread mix; it’s one of the tastiest gingerbread mixes on the market.
The gingerbread mix comes in 19oz cans, which is a lot for the average gingerbread house building session. Since this gingerbread house mix is gluten-free and non-GMO, it is a bit more expensive. Other than price, we highly recommend this product for anyone with gluten or food allergies.
19. 3D Gingerbread House Cookie Cutter Set
One of the largest baking sets, the 3D Gingerbread House Cookie Cutter Set comes with ten non-stick stainless steel molds. The set comes with molds for your walls, doors, windows, roofs, chimney and even design molds for stars and circles ornaments. The result of using this gingerbread cookie cutter set is a 17cm by 13cm house. What’s nice about this set is that it can be re-used for other holidays like Halloween or Valentine’s Day.
20. Mini Village Silicone Gingerbread House Baking Kit
One of the best-reviewed baking kits on Amazon, the Mini Village Silicone Gingerbread Kit comes with three molds. Two of the molds are used for making the gingerbread houses; used for making the walls, windows, roof, and base. It also has a decorative pattern for Christmas trees and gingerbread men.
The other mold is actually for mini house molds; perfect to make small chocolate houses as desserts for Christmas party. What makes this kit unique is the simplicity and how easy it is to clean. The result using this kit is a gingerbread house that’s 6” x6” x7” tall. Overall, a great combination of a gingerbread house kit and molds for holiday treats
21. Gingerbread House Manor Kit
The Gingerbread House Manor Kit is an excellent interpretation of the classic gingerbread house design. The kit comes with all the standard gingerbread house basics like gingerbread, candy and royal icing; but his kit comes with an additional two gingerbread men. If you are looking for a unique gingerbread house, we would highly recommend checking out the gingerbread house manor.
22. Gingerbread Light House Kit
The Gingerbread Lighthouse Kit by Wilton is another unique theme. While the kit may look challenging to make and decorate, its reasonably easily. The main difference between this kit vs. the other traditional gingerbread house kits is the size and shape of the gingerbread. If you are thinking about a nautical theme for the holiday season, this would be the best choice.
23. Santa Workshop Gingerbread House
If you are looking for an easy and festive gingerbread house kit, the Santa Workshop by Wilton is one of the best. The Santa’s Workshop is smaller than other gingerbread house kits because it only comes with four pieces of gingerbread. It also has an open concept to showcase Santa and his elves. What is unique about this kit is the custom holiday candies such as Santa, elves, Santa’s sack and presents.
24. Super Mario Gingerbread Castle Kit
For any gamer, the Super Mario Gingerbread Castle is a must. The castle comes with classic Super Mario characters, stars and coins. The gingerbread castle measures 7.25 in. long x 4.8 in. wide x 6 in. high and comes with a mushroom cookie.
The castle is medium size compared to traditional gingerbread house kits and overall, is good quality. But the main reason to purchase this kit is the nostalgia factor.
25. Cozy Fire Place Gingerbread Kit
This holiday season, cuddle up with this Cozy Fire Place Gingerbread Kit. Create a picturesque decorated gingerbread living room with stockings hung above brick fireplace and a colorful Christmas tree. This is a smaller gingerbread kit, but is a cute centerpiece idea for the dinning room table.
26. The Peanuts Christmas Gingerbread House Kit
One of the most popular Christmas figures of all time, now has his own gingerbread house kit. The Peanuts Gingerbread Kit, is a fun interpretation of the classic gingerbread house, but with all of your favorite characters included. The kit comes with cardboard cut-outs of Charlie Brown, Snoopy, Woodstock and the rest of the peanuts gang. This kit keeps the Charlie Brown tradition alive and is recommended for the more nostalgic individual.
27. Ninja Gingerbread Cookie Kits
One of the more recent and popular gingerbread kits, the Ninja cookie kit is fun take on an old baking tradition. The gingerbread kit comes with your standard mix, decorations and icings. But the ninja cookie molds are what makes this kit so special and fun. There are 4 karate action molds that can be used on your cookies. We would recommend to try and decorate them all.
28. Good Cook Gingerbread Cookie Cutter Set
The Good Cook gingerbread house cutter set is for those who want to make their gingerbread from scratch. The main unique feature of this kit is that is comes with a pattern roller. The gingerbread pattern roller will allow you to create fun patterns on your gingerbread. In addition, the kit comes with recipes and seven piece and molds.
29. The Grinch Who-Ville Gingerbread House
Celebrate the Christmas season with the Grinch. One of the most iconic Christmas characters now has his own gingerbread house kit. The Grinch Who-ville Gingerbread House kit comes with cut-outs of the Grinch, Max and Who-Ville characters. In addition to the cut-outs, the kit comes with the standard pre-made gingerbread and frosting.
30. The Oreo Holiday Chocolate Cookie House
The most popular gingerbread cookie house of 2021 is the Oreo Holiday Cookie House. The kit brings the gingerbread house tradition with an Oreo twist. The Oreo Cookie Kit Contains, chocolate cookie pieces, Oreo cookies, pre-made frosting and candy. We anticipate this kit being the best seller of 2021 and would be of the best choices.
31. Disney’s Frozen Gingerbread House Kit
Disney’s Frozen has been one of the most popular Disney movies in history. Now, kids can make a one of a kind Frozen themed gingerbread house. The Frozen gingerbread house kit comes with pre-made gingerbread and frosting, sprinkles and everyone’s favorite snowman, Olaf. So, if you want to build a snowman and an amazing Frozen gingerbread house, this kit is perfect for you.
32. Gingerbread Truck Kit
One of the newest gingerbread house kits of 2021 , gingerbread house truck is a small and unique take on the traditional gingerbread house. The truck comes with pre-made gingerbread truck pieces, a Christmas tree, candy and frosting. This is a fun kit for any car lovers.
33. Holiday House Gingerbread Cookie Kit by Crafty Cooking
The Pre-baked and ready to decorate Holiday House Gingerbread cookie kit by Crafty Cooking is one of the newest gingerbread houses of 2020. The unique selling point to the gingerbread house kit is that it comes with Perfect Build Connector Clips to ensure that your house stays up when building. Perfect for kids and beginners.
34. Best Oreo Mini Chocolate Village kit
The Oreo Mini Chocolate Village kit is a new take on last year’s very popular, oreo gingerbread house. The Oreo Village kit comes with 5 mini houses, which makes it great for small groups of kids. All gingerbread in this kit is pre-made from oreo cookies with custom window and door designs.
35. M&M Holiday House
The M&M holiday House is another new gingerbread cookie kit. Its another gingerbread house that comes with the “Perfect Build Connectors” to assist with making your gingerbread house. And of course, what makes this kit unique is the amount of M&M candies it comes with.
36. M&M Gingerbread Stadium Cookie Kit
The M&M gingerbread stadium cookie kit is a cute idea for all football fans. The kit comes with mini football goal posts and M&M cutouts wearing their football gear. A very interesting concept from MARS candy company for this holiday season.
37. Gingerbread Train by Create a Treat
This Train Gingerbread Holiday Cookie Kit is a higher end gingerbread house kit for those who are looking for something different this year. The kit comes with two parts, the main train and the caboose. Both come with peppermint wheels and candy dots to make it very festive. We feel that this kit would be best for centerpieces for any small holiday get together.
38. Minions Holiday Gingerbread House Kit
The Minions Holiday Gingerbread House Kit is great for anyone who loved the Minions movie. It is your standard gingerbread house, but with many fun Minion cookie characters and Christmas décor cut-outs. This kit seems to sell-out fast, I would consider checking other locations if Amazon does not supply it.
Different Kinds of Gingerbread House Kits
There are three kinds of gingerbread house kits which you can buy online:
Pre-made
Pre-built
Baking
Below are the details about each kit:
Pre-Made Kits
Pre-made kits comes with the gingerbread pieces already made. This allows you to construct the gingerbread house yourself with the pre-packages frosting and candy decoration. Most gingerbread house kits come pre-made and these kits tend to be more edible than the others. These are the most common and cheapest of the three kits.
Pre-built kits
A pre-build gingerbread house is already constructed. No need to use frosting to connect the walls or base, its already intact. These kits are well suited for younger kids who just want to decorate and not fuss with the creation of the house. However, these kits are not great for eating. The gingerbread and frosting are hard and bitter. Overall, pre-built kits are the least time consuming.
Baking Kits
Baking Kits come with molds and cutters to create your gingerbread house kit. These kits are by far the most time consuming and expensive. You must purchase gingerbread house mix before you can add it to the molds, then bake, set to cool and then construct the kit. Most of these kits do not come with candy or frosting as well, so those need to be additional purchased. While this does add extra time to the gingerbread house creation process, this is by far the best tasting out of all the kits. Fresh gingerbread filling your house during the holidays, who doesn’t want that?
When thinking about which type of kit is best for you, think about who will be creating the gingerbread house and how much time you have. Those two factors will guide you to the right choice this holiday season.
Where Else to Buy Gingerbread Houses?
You can purchase gingerbread house kits from these top retailers:
Amazon
Target
Walmart
Safeway
Bed Bad & Beyond
Trader Joe’s
Costco
Party City
Michael’s
Not only do these retailers offer pre-made kits, but all the needed materials if you want to build your gingerbread house from scratch.
While, these are great places to buy your kits; these stores tend to be very crowded and overwhelming during the holiday season.
We have encountered a lack of quality gingerbread accessories and kits in store due to high demand for these products. From a convenience standpoint, we believe that using Amazon, especially with two day shipping for Prime members, is the best way to buy your kit.
What is a Gingerbread House Kit?
A gingerbread house kit is pre-made box that includes all needed elements to make a fully decorated and edible gingerbread house.
Some kits come with a booklet filled with gingerbread house decoration ideas for inspiration. In some instances, you may find small pieces of plastic that are used to place your gingerbread pieces together as you frost them to make the walls or base of the house.
Other gingerbread house kits, you may find gingerbread cookie mix to build your house. In this case, its customary to have molds and other tools associated with shaping your gingerbread house located in the kit. Usually, you will receive everything you will need to make a gingerbread house in the kit. However, you may need to make more icing or purchase more candy.
When Can You Eat Your Gingerbread House?
Once you’ve made your gingerbread and you’ve set it out as holiday decor; it’s time to eat it. Most gingerbread house kits are completely editable. While they are editable, we strongly recommend that you review all the ingredients.
Individuals who suffer from gluten and food related allergies should be careful before eating any of the pre-made gingerbread because they can potentially contain wheat and other materials.
Taste wise, pre-made gingerbread kits tend to taste a bit stale. However, a freshly made gingerbread house will taste delicious.
After you build your gingerbread house, there is a 2-2.5 week window where the gingerbread house is safe to eat; if kept in the proper conditions. We recommend that you keep your gingerbread house in a pantry or in general, a cool climate-controlled room.
Safety Tips for Gingerbread Houses & Covid-19
Due to covid-19, we recommend that before you create your gingerbread house kit, that you take these precautions:
Clean your workspace: clean the area where you are creating you gingerbread house kits.
Wipe down your kits: always best to sanitize your gingerbread kits and the inner packaging of candy.
Social distance yourself: If you are having parties outside your normal group, consider spreading out or building your gingerbread houses outdoors.
Meet Our Team
This piece was produced by the internal BGB team which is made up of expert bakers with over 10 years of experience. We strive to produce the best articles to help our visitors have a happy holiday.
Looking for gingerbread house clipart to spruce up any holiday presentations, documents or decor? We have compiled different holiday gingerbread themed clipart, from black and white to candy-coated gingerbread houses.
Here are over thirty free clipart images for you to use.
Simple Gingerbread House Clipart
Festive Gingerbread House Clipart
Candy Gingerbread House Clipart
Colorful Gingerbread Clipart
Red Gingerbread House Clipart
Holiday Variety Clipart
Black and White Gingerbread Man
Making Gingerbread House Clipart
Gingerbread Village Clipart
Blue Gingerbread Clipart
Gingerbread Cookie Clipart
Gingerbread and Gumdrops Clipart
Gingerbread men and trees
Gingerbread Holiday Variety Clipart
Gingerbread and Desserts
Gingerbread Christmas Cookies Clipart
Classic Gingerbread and Mistletoe
Gingerbread House with Candy Roof
Family Making Gingerbread Houses
Gingerbread Men and Houses Clipart
Simple Color Gingerbread House Clipart
Holiday Gingerbread Clipart
Classic Holiday Themed Clipart
Gingerbread Santa and Reindeer Clipart
Gingerbread Clipart with Boarder
Gingerbread & Holiday Desserts Clipart
Classic Gingerbread with Colorful Windows and Roof
Old Style Gingerbread House Clipart
Blue Themed Gingerbread Cookies & House
Black & White Stencil Gingerbread House Clipart
Black and white classic gingerbread house Clipart
Black and White Decorating Gingerbread House Clipart
Harry potter has been one of the most influential films of the last twenty years. Its popularity has now made its way into the holiday traditions. Every Christmas, Harry Potter gingerbread houses are becoming more common.
Whether they are handcrafted or professionally made, the Hogwarts Castle and the Hogwarts Express train tend to me the most popular. However, there are new gingerbread creations every year.
Here are the newest and most common Harry Potter gingerbread houses.
Hogwarts Gingerbread Houses
Diagon alley
An iconic wizardly alley filled with shops, restaurants and where Harry Potter is introduced to his wand; Diagon Alley gingerbread houses are starting to become more popular.
Harry Potter House Cookies – Slytherin, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw or Gryffindor
Which Hogwarts House do you belong to? Take a look at these great Slytherin, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw or Gryffindor house cookie photos and make one this holiday season.
Hogwarts Express Train
This handmade gingerbread Hogwarts express train is simply incredible. The amount of details created by the frosting, plus the mini Harry, Hermione, Ron and Hagrid figures are beautifully crafted.
Harry Potter Gingerbread Men & Women
Continue the holiday tradition of baking gingerbread men and women by creating a Harry Ron and He Hermione gingerbread figures.
Wondering, where you should purchase your gingerbread house this Christmas? Walmart sells a large variety of gingerbread houses from October to the end of December.
You can find many different themed kits, ranging from classic gingerbread houses to a modern gingerbread manor and even a large gingerbread house village.
Also, Walmart offers a ready- to-decorate gingerbread cookie set which comes with pre-made gingerbread men.
The Pros of purchasing a gingerbread house at Walmart
Great selection of gingerbread house and cookie kits
Many gingerbread house decorations and themes to choose from
An incredible baking section for additional gingerbread house candy
Gingerbread house kits at different price points
Free pick up for online purchases
Good return policy for any issues.
Lay away for any kits out of
The Cons of purchasing your gingerbread house at Walmart
During the holidays, Walmart can be crowded.
They may have a lower gingerbread house selection than advertised
Walmart Gingerbread House Kit Review
For our review, we purchased the Wilton gingerbread house manor and Wilton ready to decorate gingerbread house kit.
These gingerbread houses came with the all of the standard materials:
The kit from Walmart had no issues and was easy to set up.
Overall, the gingerbread house only took 30 minute to make and came out great. Most of the gingerbread houses are very kid-friendly and easy to make. Besides the long line at Walmart, we felt that purchasing our gingerbread house was there was great. We highly recommend it.
