The 5 Best Gingerbread House Kits to Buy in 2022 (& 2 NOT to Buy!)
Read which is the best gingerbread house kit to buy in 2022.
Find your home sweet [gingerbread] home! 🏠🍬
Want the perfect gingerbread house kit to build a beautiful & edible centerpiece for the holidays? I’m sharing the 5 best gingerbread houses to buy and 2 you shouldn’t! They’re easy to build, unique, & affordable!
Here are the best gingerbread house kits we tested:
- Candy Land Gingerbread House Kit – $22.53 (Best Foolproof)
- Oreo and Sour Patch Kids Cookie House Kits – $25 (Best for Teens)
- Wilton Holiday Town Mini Gingerbread Kit – $18.98 (Best for Groups)
- Target Store Cookie Kit – $12.99 (Best for Moms)
- Favorite Day Classic House Gingerbread Kit – $12.99 (Best Traditional)
Here are the worst gingerbread house kits we tested:
*Note that each kit was tested based on quality, buildability, style, and affordability. None of these gingerbread house kits were tested for taste.
1. The Candy Land gingerbread house kit was the easiest to assemble out of all the gingerbread houses we tested.
Best Foolproof
Candy Land Gingerbread House Kit – $23.84 (regularly $29.83)
I had pretty low expectations for this gingerbread house kit since it has such lousy Amazon ratings, but it ended up being one of our family’s favorite ones! What really sets it apart from every other set we tested is the unique white tray which makes assembly a cinch, even for a six-year-old!
It also came with plenty of candy for decorating and cardboard Candy Land characters you can cut out from the back of the box. Needless to say, my Candy-Land-loving six-year-old was thrilled with the outcome of this masterpiece. 😍
Here’s what I loved about this gingerbread house kit:
- The foolproof tray
- Plenty of colorful candy for decorating
- Icing works well
- Cardboard characters
- Novelty appeal
- Kid-approved
Cons:
- The priciest of all the ones tested
2. This novelty two-pack of gingerbread house kits is fun for teens and quick to decorate.
Best for Teens
Oreo and Sour Patch Kids Cookie House Kits – $25 ($12.50 per house)
I immediately knew my pre-teen boys would love these cookie house kits since they really love Oreos and Sour Patch Kids. 🙌🏻 Plus, they’re on the smaller side so they don’t require too much of their attention span and are quick to decorate.
Perfect for those kids who are too cool for overzealous decorating. 😉
I will say, the candy decorations are very minimal so these sets may not be for you if you like to go overboard, or unless you have extra candies laying around to spare. My kiddo did end up using some extra candy as you can see, but my oldest was satisfied with his minimal house and still had fun. Needless to say, for just $12.50 each, I still think these are worth it for any teen!
Here’s what I loved about these gingerbread house kits:
- Both houses come in their own box
- Unique from your traditional gingerbread house
- Quick to assemble and decorate
- Novelty candies
- Affordable
- Teen-approved
Cons:
- Minimal candy. My oldest son who is almost 12 didn’t mind though.
- Doesn’t come with a piping bag but we made it work by cutting the corner of the bag.
- My son struggled with assembly and thought the icing was too runny. I didn’t find this to be the case with the Oreo house and assembled it quickly and easily so this may not be younger kid-approved.
3. You’ll get the most bang for your buck with this 8-house village set that comes with piping bags and the best icing that actually works.
Best for Groups
Wilton Holiday Town Mini Gingerbread Kit – $18.98 (JUST $2.37 per house!)
If I could only buy one kit from our entire list, it would most definitely be this adorable village! When considering all factors, this one checked off all the boxes and had many extras all of the other ones didn’t. What really stood out to me the most was how well the icing worked to assemble each house and this even proved to be true when testing it on some of the other houses with larger and heavier pieces! It also came with 8 piping bags which made the decorating possibilities endless.
Plus, if you’re using this with a group, there are enough accessories and materials for everyone to do their houses together.
I also liked the candy pieces and sprinkles in this set the most as it felt the most cohesive and aesthetically pleasing. At just $2.37 per house, you seriously can’t beat the bang for your buck! 🤩
Disclaimer: Do NOT attempt to break the gingerbread pieces by hand – they will not break evenly!
Here’s what I loved about this gingerbread house kit:
- Very affordable
- Includes 8 houses
- Variety of cute house structures
- Includes nice quality piping bags
- 3 different icing colors
- Favorite candy decorations of all
- Best icing that actually works
- Kid-approved
Cons:
- They require a sharp kitchen knife to separate. If you take your time cutting on the lines and have a hard surface, this won’t really pose an issue.
4. This easy-to-build kit is perfect for Target lovers and is most likely to end up looking just like the box.
Best for Moms
Target Store Cookie Kit – $12.99
There’s nothing not to love about this adorable gingerbread house and if you love Target, this should be your must-have gingerbread house kit! I’m someone who is always extremely disappointed with the outcome of my gingerbread houses and find they typically look nothing like the box.
However, this kit was so easy and so fun to sit down and do. It even shows you exactly where to add the different colored icings and I liked how this one had a cookie base as the tray. Assembly was also a cinch and the icing worked well.
As a Target-loving mom, I couldn’t have been more thrilled with the outcome!
Here’s what I loved about this gingerbread house kit:
- Unique and cute design
- Adorable Target dog and cart figures are included and are already assembled
- Cookie as the base
- Easy to decorate
- You get to decorate this house before and after you build it
- Easy to assemble
- Kid-approved
Cons:
- The icing bag split at the top while kneading. I cleaned it up and taped mine so it ended up being fine.
- The cart figurine is fragile. Mine did break when my son was messing with it so I could see this easily arriving broken. For the sake of photos, I super glued it back together and it was fine.
5. Target’s classic take on a gingerbread house had some of the best variety of candy pieces and comes with a roof helper.
Best Traditional
Love sticking with tradition? This gingerbread house will be exactly what you’re looking for with its timeless style and cute included candies. My 10-year-old did such a fantastic job of putting this together all on his own and he didn’t even need the roof helper.
Although, the roof helper is handy to have which none of the other kits include, and could save you time on assembly.
What really stood out to me about this gingerbread house kit, aside from the roof helper, is how smooth and even each piece was. I also really loved the detailing on the roof and the cobblestone-like chimney. It’s all about the details!
Here’s what I loved about this gingerbread house kit:
- Traditional style with tasteful details
- Good variety of candy pieces
- Included roof helper
- Smooth and even gingerbread pieces
- Kid-approved
Cons:
- The icing wasn’t the best out of all the kits and we did spend the most time waiting for it to solidify completely before decorating.
Here are the two gingerbread houses I don’t recommend buying:
You’ll need a hefty mortgage insurance policy on this mansion…if you buy it.
My handy guy had the task of testing out this gingerbread house which was by far the biggest of all the ones we bought. The candies overall were really cute and it was the only gingerbread house that came with fondant.
Unfortunately, one of the roof pieces came broken which was an immediate bummer. Luckily we didn’t plan to eat it so super glue saved the day!
All was going somewhat well during the build until it came time to do the roof…
Since this gingerbread mansion is on the bigger side, that means the pieces are heavier. The entire house ended up collapsing once my guy started putting together the roof so that was sad for all the effort put in thus far.
Since he was adamant about getting this house put together he took the time to scrape off every piece of icing and ended up super gluing it together, but it was still a struggle since all of the pieces are pretty awkward and don’t line up well. Once it was finally standing he had little effort for decorating, hence the half-decorated house. 😅
Unless you want the biggest gingerbread house and have the patience to do it, I wouldn’t recommend this as one of the best to buy.
The cuteness of this gingerbread house won’t make up for the sheer disappointment on your child’s face once they see it put together.
Out of all the gingerbread houses we tested, this one was the biggest letdown. I will say, the candies are super cute and are a whole vibe! When unboxing it my daughter was so elated with the cuteness of everything that it’s hard not to love if you’re a pink, unicorn-loving kiddo.
However, even with a ton of super glue, this gingerbread house was horrible to put together.
For starters, the front and back aren’t nearly as tall, skinny, and pointed at the top as the photo makes them seem. Also, the sides were too wide and the roof was too narrow to assemble correctly and every single piece had a wonky curve to it making it difficult to match up. One of the roof panels even came with a defect. 😕
As you can see, my daughter was incredibly disappointed with the house after we super glued it together. 😂 And she even said, “What?!?! This looks nothing like the box mommy!”. 😭😆
I tried to salvage this house since my daughter loved it so much so I glued a stray piece of cardboard to fill the gap on the roof and gave her some extra candies from other houses and she made due. Nonetheless, she’s six so she was still thrilled with the end result, but I’d never recommend this Target buy to a friend. 😂
Have you made a gingerbread house already this season? Share your favorite kit in the comments!
I love this post. My family builds gingerbread houses every year, and I’m always searching through reviews to find one. Thanks.
You’re so welcome, Jen! I’m so thrilled this post could help you! Happy decorating! 🤩
For the past 2 years, my 3 children have made the Wilton houses I bought at Sam’s Club. Best pro here is that the house is preassembled, so all their attention can go into the decorating. The icing works well, and there is a nice variety in candies. We often have a hard time getting the gingerbread people and tree to stand up and end up rigging something up behind them and piling on the icing to glue them down. https://www.samsclub.com/p/wilton-deluxe-gingerbread-house-kit/P03006817?xid=plp_product_1
Thanks so much for the recommendation!
We have 4 kids and I end up being a total cheapskate and buy one of the “villages” that comes with 4 or 5 houses and split them among all of my kids. I just can’t pay for individual bigger houses that will just end up in the trash. I do buy extra frosting and candies so there are plenty to go around and choose from. Plus, our oldest has celiac so she can’t do the packaged ginerbread houses anyway. She ends up constructing her own out of gluten free graham crackers. This year I bought this kit from Joann’s which is currently only $7.99 for 5 houses! It was 40% when I bought it so still a great deal! And we’ll have 2 extra houses for friends or cousins to join us! Bonus, because they are smaller they don’t take up a lot of room to display when you’re finished. https://www.joann.com/stir–gingerbread-mini-village-kit/19108851.html
What a great deal, Sara! I’ll have to keep my eyes peeled for these. Thank you for sharing!
I like the gingerbread houses that are all ready assembled because we always struggle with that part. Plus you can go right to the fun part- decorating. Walmart has been my go to place the last couple years but I was just there yesterday and they only had a small townhouse. I’m going to have to search now as my daughter is going to have a gingerbread house decorating party with her friends.
Hey, Sara! Target has a cute pre-built gingerbread house. I haven’t tested it myself, but it has 5 stars on Target so it may be a great one to consider. 😊
Thank you! I will check them out!
The sour patch and oreo houses are also at Five Below for $5. They also have a tollhouse cookie one.
Thanks for the tip, Crystal!
We do a family gingerbread house competition each year with our 3 teens. It gets to be expensive but a wonderful memory. I search high and low to find the exact ones for each of us. Dad got a Batman one (Walmart), mom got Target store (Target), teens got Harry Potter castle, Friends Central Perk set, and a Reese’s set for my Reese’s lover (all at Walmart)! It cost about $80something, but the memories and laughter: priceless!
What a fun family tradition, CJ! Thanks for sharing with us! I hope this year is the best one yet!
Things have come so far! I remember making one from scratch when my oldest daughter was about five. We made the dough, cut it out, baked it, made the icing and assembled. It was fun shopping for all the candies and decorating. I took loads of photos because it was so labor intensive. Great memories!!
Thanks for all the reviews! There are some really nice looking kits available.
That sounds so fun, Tina! Great memories for sure! My stepdad is a retired culinary chef and he does the same thing. ☺️ For years, he’s kept a family tradition to bring a huge gingerbread house to every kid’s classroom in our family when they’re in kindergarten or first grade and everyone decorates it together. We’ll be doing my daughter’s and my nephew’s first grade classes in a couple of weeks, I can’t wait!
What a sweet man!! Those memories will be great for everyone involved :)!!