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Search Michaels for a gingerbread house kit and you get eight pages of results. Most of them are wood, ceramic, foam, paper and diamond art. Only a handful are made of anything you can eat, and the Christmas gingerbread house Michaels sells under its own aisle sign is smaller than most people picture.
We have not built a Michaels kit in our own kitchen, and where that matters below we say so. What we have done is read every edible kit listing on michaels.com on 29 October 2026, count how many of the search results are food, price the decorating supplies in the same store, and set all of it against the dated Walmart, Target and Costco pages we keep and every gingerbread house kit we have rated.
When we say the Michaels gingerbread house kit, we mean the boxed edible kits Michaels sells, mostly from a New York baker called Cookies United, plus the Halloween cookie houses that share the shelf in October. If you are a parent on a craft run with a child in the cart, you want to know which box is food and whether it will stand up. If you are organising a class or a group of cousins, you need enough houses without paying $15 a head. And if you are a crafter who wants a gingerbread house that lasts longer than a week, Michaels is the best store for that, and we will show you which kits.
By the end you will know what Michaels sells this year and how to tell food from craft in five seconds, exactly what is in the box and who cannot eat it, what it costs per ounce and per builder against other stores, and which supplies to pick up while you are there. We have grouped all of that into four parts: what is on the shelf, what is in the box, what it really costs, and which kit to buy.
Start with the question most people have first.
Does Michaels Sell Gingerbread House Kits in 2026
Yes. On 29 October 2026, Michaels’ Gingerbread Kits aisle online, under Christmas Baking, listed four products. Three are sold by Michaels itself and made by Cookies United. The fourth is a marketplace listing from an outside seller.
| Gingerbread Kits aisle, michaels.com, 29 October 2026 | Price | What you build | Gingerbread? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cookies United Christmas Gingerbread House Kit | $14.99 | One small house, about 4 by 3.75 by 4.5 inches built | Yes |
| Cookies United Chocolatey Cookie Mini Village | $19.99 | Five tiny houses, each under 3 inches long | No, chocolatey cookie |
| Cookies United Gingerbread Cookie Decorating Kit | $14.99 | Eight flat cookies, gingerbread men and snowmen | Yes, but not a house |
| Gingerbread House Making Kit, sold by Adults & Crafts | $60.00 | One house, shipped by the seller | Yes |
Prices were read for a California store. Michaels prices and stock vary by location and change through the season.
The Christmas house is the one most people mean. It was marked “New,” Michaels showed 268 in stock at the store we checked, and the listing put it in the main aisle. The $60 kit is a different animal: an outside seller ships it, it had a 1.0 star rating from two reviews, and the listing is marked as a coupon exclusion. Unless you have a specific reason to want it, the Cookies United box does the same job for a quarter of the price.
What you will not find is a Wilton kit sold by Michaels itself. Searching michaels.com for Wilton gingerbread returned only a marketplace “Wilton Prebuilt Gingerbread Kit” at $24.99 from an outside seller. If you have your heart set on Wilton’s own house kits, Michaels is a supplies stop for Wilton, not a kit stop.
Most of Michaels’ Gingerbread House Kits Are Not Food
Here is the thing nobody tells you before you search. We counted the first 40 results michaels.com returned for “gingerbread house kit,” sorted by best match, on 29 October. Seven were edible. The other 33 were wood houses to paint, ceramic houses, LED light-up decor, diamond art, paint by number, foam stickers, a crochet kit, a bead box and a $129.99 miniature diorama.
Of those seven edible results, only two were gingerbread houses: the $14.99 Cookies United Christmas house and the $60 marketplace kit. The rest were chocolate cookie houses, OREO kits and the flat cookie decorating kit. Google’s shopping panel for the same search showed the same pattern, one edible kit beside seven craft kits.
Craft kits are not a mistake. They are what Michaels is for, and a wooden house that comes out every December is a lovely thing. The problem is buying one when you wanted an afternoon of icing and sweets, and the product photos make that easy to do. We call the fix The Edible Filter:
- Look for the brand. Cookies United and Create-A-Treat make food. Creatology, Make Market, Artist’s Loft, Recollections and Ashland make crafts.
- Look for the words wood, ceramic, LED, diamond art, paint, foam or diorama in the name. Any one of them means you cannot eat it.
- Look for an allergen line. Every edible kit lists one, such as “Contains: Soy, Wheat, Milk, Eggs.” A craft kit lists batteries, paint pots or small parts instead.
Say you are in Michaels on a Saturday with a five year old who has spotted a gingerbread house on the end cap. Turn the box over. If it says “Requires 2 AA batteries,” it is the $7.99 Creatology light-up wood house, which is a fine thing to paint together and a very bad thing to bite. If it says “Contains: Soy, Wheat, Milk, Eggs,” you are holding dinner’s dessert.
Every Edible Kit Michaels Listed, With Price per Ounce
Price per ounce is the fairest way to compare kits across stores, and Michaels makes it harder than most. Its Christmas gingerbread house listing gives the built size but no weight. The two Halloween cookie houses do print weights, and they are half price this week.
| Edible kit on michaels.com, 29 October 2026 | Price | Weight | Price per ounce | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cookies United Christmas Gingerbread House Kit | $14.99 | Not printed | Cannot be worked out | 4 by 3.75 by 4.5 inches built |
| Cookies United Chocolatey Cookie Mini Village | $19.99 | Not printed | About $4.00 a house | Five houses |
| Cookies United Gingerbread Cookie Decorating Kit | $14.99 | Not printed | About $1.87 a cookie | Eight cookies, no house |
| Magical Chocolate Cookie House Kit, Halloween | $9.99, regularly $19.99 | 20.5 oz | About 49 cents, 98 cents at full price | 5.7 by 5 by 5.7 inches built |
| Create-A-Treat OREO Spooky Castle, Halloween | $9.99, regularly $19.99 | 22.9 oz | About 44 cents, 87 cents at full price | OREO cookies and creme icing |
| Haunted Chocolate Cookie Kit Home Kit, Halloween | $9.99, regularly $19.99 | Not printed in search | Unknown | Chocolate cookie house, going by the name |
| Gingerbread House Making Kit, marketplace | $60.00 | Not printed | Unknown | Outside seller, coupon exclusion |
Size tells the rest of the story. Built, the Christmas house is about 4 by 3.75 by 4.5 inches, which is roughly 67 cubic inches of house. The Halloween Magical Chocolate Cookie House is 5.7 by 5 by 5.7 inches, about 162 cubic inches, so it is close to two and a half times the size, for $5 less while the sale lasts. The catch is that it is a chocolatey cookie, not gingerbread, and it comes with spooky candy rather than Christmas sweets.
The OREO castle is a Create-A-Treat kit, and if OREO houses appeal, the wider Create-A-Treat range covers the Christmas versions sold elsewhere.
What a Michaels Kit Really Costs Your Table
Pick a kit and the number of builders. This works out how many boxes you need, the cost per person, whether the coupon applies, and what the same table would cost at Walmart or Costco.
Prices read on michaels.com on 29 October 2026 for a California store, and from our Walmart and Costco pages. Prices, stock and coupons change often and vary by store; the 30% code applied online to regular price items sold by Michaels, not to sale items or marketplace sellers. For planning only, not a price guarantee. Nothing you enter is stored or sent anywhere.
What Is in the Cookies United Christmas House Box
Going by Michaels’ listing, item 10825827, the box holds:
- Pre-baked gingerbread pieces for a classic house shape
- Pre-made icing, ready to use
- Fruity gummies
- Christmas candy sequins
- Candy jewels
- One decorating bag
- A simple start tray, which Michaels says makes building easy
The listing says “everything needed included” and “no baking required,” and for a small house that is close to true. A start tray is a moulded base with slots that hold the walls upright while the icing sets, which takes most of the risk out of the first ten minutes.
This box has barely changed in four years. In December 2022, TODAY described the Cookies United kit at Michaels as having gingerbread pieces, icing, candy jewels, fruity gummies and a start tray, and listed it at $9.99, down from $12.99. In 2026 it is $14.99. TODAY called the 2022 kit “Michael’s-exclusive”; the 2026 listing does not say whether it still is.
Who makes it matters more than you would think. Cookies United is a bakery company that sells gingerbread house kits under its own name and under licences. The same maker’s name appears on the Candyland gingerbread house kit sold at Walmart and Kroger, so if you have built one of those, you already know the gingerbread and icing style.
What the Box Does Not Include
The good news first: you do not need eggs, an oven or a mixer. The icing is pre-made. The gaps are smaller things, and Michaels is the one store where every one of them is in the next aisle.
- A second piping bag and a tip. One decorating bag means one colour at a time and a snipped corner for every line. A pack of disposable bags and a small round tip make fine lines far easier.
- Something bigger to build on. The start tray holds the house, not a garden. A 10 or 12 inch cake board gives you room for a path, trees and snow.
- More candy. Sequins, jewels and gummies cover a 4 inch house, but children always want more. A jar of sprinkles goes further than a bag of sweets.
- Stiffer mortar. Pouch icing is made soft so it stays squeezable for months on a shelf. A few spoonfuls of powdered sugar stiffen it, or a little meringue powder turns it into proper royal icing.
Picture a class party where the teacher has bought one Christmas house kit per table. Each table has one decorating bag, four children and one colour of icing. The fix costs a few dollars: a pack of disposable bags means every child pipes at once, and nobody waits.
Who Can Eat It: Allergens on Michaels’ Kits
The short answer: every Cookies United kit Michaels listed carries the same note. Each contains soy, wheat, milk and eggs, and each is processed in a plant that also processes peanuts, tree nuts and sesame. The Halloween Magical Chocolate Cookie House carries the same lines.
| Kit | Contains | Shared plant warning |
|---|---|---|
| Cookies United Christmas Gingerbread House Kit | Soy, wheat, milk, eggs | Peanuts, tree nuts, sesame |
| Cookies United Chocolatey Cookie Mini Village | Soy, wheat, milk, eggs | Peanuts, tree nuts, sesame |
| Cookies United Gingerbread Cookie Decorating Kit | Soy, wheat, milk, eggs | Peanuts, tree nuts, sesame |
| Magical Chocolate Cookie House Kit | Soy, wheat, milk, eggs | Peanuts, tree nuts, sesame |
Read from Michaels’ product pages on 29 October 2026. Check the box you buy; packaging can change between seasons.
Those nine names line up with the FDA’s list of major food allergens, which added sesame as the ninth in 2023. The “contains” line is the required declaration; the “processed in a plant” line is the maker telling you about shared equipment. For a child with a peanut, tree nut or sesame allergy, that second line is the one that rules these kits out.
That is the biggest practical difference between Michaels and Walmart. Walmart’s own Freshness Guaranteed kit says it is made in a peanut and tree nut free facility, which no Michaels kit claims. For a dairy or egg allergy, none of the Michaels kits work either, because milk and eggs are ingredients, not traces.
Cookies United has also told customers it is moving away from artificial colours across its whole line, according to a letter on the Cookies United website. It gives no date beyond “the coming months,” so if colours matter at your table, read the ingredients on the box rather than assuming either way.
Coupons, Sales and When Michaels Kits Get Cheaper
Michaels is a coupon store, and a gingerbread kit is one of the easier things to use one on. On 29 October 2026, Michaels’ savings page showed two coupons, both expiring on 1 November 2026:
- 30% off any one regular price item, in store only
- 30% off all regular price purchases, online only, with the code shown on product pages
The Cookies United Christmas house and the Mini Village were both at regular price, and both product pages showed the 30% online code. That makes the Christmas house about $10.49 and the Mini Village about $13.99, which is $2.80 a house. The Halloween kits were already half price, and the code covers regular price items only, so it does not stack on them. The $60 marketplace kit is excluded outright.
Two patterns are worth knowing, and both come from what we could see rather than any promise from Michaels. First, the kit does go on sale: in 2022 it was $9.99 against a $12.99 regular price. Second, the coupon on the page changes every few days, so a kit that is full price on Friday may have a coupon on Sunday. These prices and coupons were read on one day for one California store; check michaels.com before you go.
The fork is simple. If you need gingerbread for a specific day, buy the Christmas house with whatever percentage coupon is live, because a $4 saving is not worth an empty shelf. If any cookie house will do, the half price Halloween houses are the best value per ounce in the store right now, as long as you swap the spooky candy.
Can a Half Price Halloween Kit Pass for a Christmas House
Yes, with about ten minutes of work and a jar of sprinkles. A commenter on an Ottawa Reddit thread suggested the same trick when a parent could not find a Christmas kit: buy the Halloween house Michaels had in stock and swap the candy. On 29 October the Halloween houses at Michaels were half price and the Christmas house was not, so the swap is worth knowing.
Here is how to turn the Magical Chocolate Cookie House or the OREO castle into a December house:
- Set aside the spooky candy mix and anything orange or purple. Keep the candy jewels and the white icing.
- Pipe white icing thickly along the roof edges and let it drip a little, so the dark cookie reads as a snowy cabin rather than a haunted one.
- Cover the roof in a Christmas sprinkle mix. Michaels’ PME Sweet Street Candy Cane and Jolly Holiday mixes were $9.99 each.
- Add a green tree or two piped onto the board, and a red candy on the door.
Two things to check first. The Halloween kits are chocolatey cookie, so if the smell of gingerbread is part of your tradition, this does not replace it. And a kit bought in October has to sit for weeks before a December build, so read the best by date on the box before you buy one this far ahead.
One more aisle warning. Michaels also sells small “gingerbread” pieces that look edible and are not, such as the Ashland Mini Frosted Gingerbread Cookie Decoration Set at $4.79, four tiny frosted cookies made of calcium carbonate and polyresin and marked for decor use only. Keep it off the roof of anything a child will eat.
How Michaels Compares to Walmart, Target and Costco
Against the other stores we cover, Michaels is the most expensive place to buy gingerbread by weight and the best place to buy what goes on it.
| Store and kit | Price | Weight | Price per ounce | Stands out for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Costco Woodland Gingerbread House Kit | $13.99 | 62.8 oz | About 22 cents | Biggest house per dollar, arrives built, membership needed |
| Walmart Freshness Guaranteed kit | $9.94 | 35.3 oz | About 28 cents | Lowest price per ounce of the kits you build yourself, peanut and tree nut free facility |
| Trader Joe’s Gingerbread House Kit | $9.99, last posted | 26.4 oz | About 38 cents | Crisp German gingerbread, add an egg white |
| Michaels OREO Spooky Castle, Halloween | $9.99 on sale | 22.9 oz | About 44 cents | Cheapest Michaels kit by weight this week |
| Target Winter Manor | $28.49 | 54.6 oz | About 52 cents | Big box with clips and extras |
| Walmart Candyland kit, Cookies United | $15.86 | 29 oz | About 55 cents | Same maker as the Michaels kits |
| Michaels Cookies United Christmas house | $14.99, about $10.49 with the code | Not printed | Unknown | Small, simple start tray, easy for little hands |
If price per ounce is all that matters, Walmart’s own-brand house kit gives you a full size house for less than the Michaels Christmas box costs. If you want one large house with plenty of extras, Target’s 2026 Winter Manor is the bigger box. If you want the most house per dollar and do not mind that it arrives built, Costco’s 62.8 ounce cabin is hard to beat. Michaels wins on two things: a small, simple house that young children can actually finish, and an aisle of decorating supplies none of those stores carry in the same depth.
The Decorating Aisle: What Michaels Stocks That Grocery Stores Do Not
This is the real reason to go to Michaels. A grocery store sells the kit; Michaels sells everything that turns a kit into something you photograph. When we checked Target for our Target page, its site search did not return meringue powder at all. Michaels listed three meringue powders.
| Item on michaels.com, 29 October 2026 | Price | What it does on the house |
|---|---|---|
| Satin Ice Meringue Powder, 4 oz | $8.99 | Makes royal icing that sets rock hard, the best mortar for walls |
| Wilton Meringue Powder, 16 oz | $34.99 | The same job in a bigger tub, for bakers who build every year |
| Wilton White Royal Icing, ready made | $13.99 | Royal icing without mixing |
| Wilton 12 inch Disposable Decorating Bags, 12 count | $7.99 | One bag per colour or per child |
| Celebrate It Disposable Decorating Bags | $6.99 to $26.99 by pack size | The store brand version, in bigger packs |
| Wilton Large 4 Piece Tip Set | $6.99 | Bigger openings for snow, borders and icicles |
| Wilton 1M Open Star Tip | $3.99 | Fat rosettes and shrub shapes |
| Wilton 9 Piece Starter Decorating Tip Set | $21.49 | A full set for a family that decorates every year |
| Satin Ice Food Color Gel, 0.61 oz | $4.99 | Strong colour without thinning the icing |
| PME Sweet Street sprinkle mixes, such as Jolly Holiday or Candy Cane | $9.99 | Roof tiles, paths and snow sparkle in one jar |
| Makery 10 inch Iridescent Cake Boards, 3 count | $5.49 | A base with room for a garden |
| Makery 12 inch Silver Glitter Cake Boards, 3 count | $5.99 | A bigger, sparklier base |
Pickup stock varied a lot. At the store we checked, the Satin Ice 4 ounce meringue powder, the PME sprinkle mixes and both cake board packs showed stock for pickup, while several Wilton tip sets showed as unavailable for pickup and available only for delivery. Check your own store before you drive.
What you add depends on the kit. For the small Christmas house, a pack of disposable bags, one sprinkle mix and a 10 inch board is plenty, about $23 before any coupon. If you are building a homemade house from a recipe, the meringue powder is the item that matters most, because royal icing made with it is what holds a full size house together.
There is a fork here worth naming. If you already own a kit from Walmart, Costco or Trader Joe’s, Michaels is where you upgrade it. If you do not, the small Michaels house plus $10 of supplies makes a nicer finished piece than a bigger kit with nothing added.
How to Build the Small Christmas House So It Stands
The start tray does a lot of the work, but soft pouch icing is still the weak point. The best single habit for any small kit is to decorate the walls while they lie flat, then stand them up.
- Lay every piece out on the cake board and check for cracks before you open the icing.
- Snip a small corner off the decorating bag and fill it. If the icing slumps off a spoon, stir in powdered sugar a spoonful at a time until it holds a peak.
- Pipe doors, windows and trim onto the walls while they are flat, and press on candy jewels and sequins while the icing is wet. Leave them for 30 minutes.
- Run a thick line of icing along the bottom and side edges of each wall and set them into the start tray, pressing the corners together.
- Give the walls at least 30 minutes, then ice the top edges and set the roof on. Fill the ridge with icing; it becomes snow.
We have not built this exact kit, so its own instructions may differ, and the start tray may let you skip some of the waiting. The principle does not change: anything you can do flat, do flat, and give the icing longer than you think.
Picture the walls going up at four in the afternoon with icing straight from the bag. The front wall slides out of its slot and takes a side wall with it. Lay both walls flat, scrape the icing off, stiffen what is left with powdered sugar, and stand them again with a mug against each one. Thirty minutes later the house is solid and the roof can go on.
Which Michaels Gingerbread House Kit Fits Your Table
The Michaels gingerbread house kit suits a small, quick build better than a showpiece, but the right box depends on who is building and whether the house will be eaten or kept. Decide those two things before you search, and the craft kits stop getting in the way.
Which Michaels Kit Fits Your Table
Michaels sells edible kits and craft kits under the same search. Three questions, and this names the box to look for.
Built from michaels.com listings read on 29 October 2026 for a California store. Prices, stock and coupons change and vary by store. For planning only. Nothing you select is stored or sent anywhere.
For young children, the small Christmas house is the right size
A 4 inch house is finished before a young child loses interest, and the start tray holds the walls while small hands press on sweets. One parent on a Raleigh Reddit thread said the kit they picked up at Michaels was “fine and cheap,” which is about the right expectation. For young children, buy the Christmas house, a pack of disposable bags so they get their own, and let an adult do the walls and roof while the children decorate.
For a group, buy houses, not one big box
On an Everett Reddit thread, a parent looking for three houses for three children got Costco as the top answer, because Costco’s houses arrive built. At Michaels the group answer is the Mini Village: five small houses in one box for $19.99, about $4 a builder at full price. Picture a class of twelve: three Mini Village boxes cover everyone with three spare houses for breakages, at about $42 with the 30% code. If the group insists on gingerbread, it is one Christmas house each, and past ten or so builders it is worth looking at buying kits by the case instead.
For a keepsake, skip the food and buy a craft kit
This is where Michaels beats every grocery store. A $9.99 Creatology wood house to paint, a $7.99 light-up version for ages 6 and up, or a $2.99 Make Market mini LED house will come back out every December. Say you want a gingerbread house a grandparent can keep on the mantel: paint the wood kit in brown and white, add glitter glue for snow, and it lasts for years. If you would rather make one from scratch, a cardboard gingerbread house is the same idea for almost nothing.
Is It Worth Buying
The Cookies United Christmas house is worth buying for young children, with a coupon. It is small, simple and well matched to a short afternoon, and at about $10.49 with the online code it is fair money. At $14.99 with no coupon, it is an expensive way to buy a 4 inch house, and Walmart’s own kit gives you more gingerbread for less.
The half price Halloween houses are the best value Michaels has on the shelf right now, as long as chocolatey cookie is fine and you swap the candy. The $60 marketplace kit is not worth it on what the listing shows.
The real value at Michaels is the decorating aisle. Whatever kit you build this year, a pack of piping bags, a jar of sprinkles, a cake board and, for homemade houses, a tub of meringue powder are the four things that make the finished house look like the picture on the box.
Build Your Gingerbread House with Best Gingerbread Houses
Michaels’ kits are a few entries in a much longer list. We have put 31 gingerbread house kits side by side and graded each one on how well it holds together, what it costs and how much decorating it leaves for you to do. If you want to see where Michaels lands against everything else on the shelf this year, our full list of rated gingerbread house kits has the whole table.