Best Gingerbread House Kits: The 4 Best to Build This Year

The best gingerbread house kits have delicious candy, tasty gingerbread walls, adhesive icing, and clear instructions. Gingerbread house kits are great because they lay it all out for you—no searching the grocery aisles for the dozen or so items you’d need to make a house from scratch, and here at Sporked convenience is key. We assessed some of the most popular brands on the market to bring you this list of the best gingerbread house kits.

I’m thinking this year I’ll build a gingerbread house with my niece and nephew. I love a good whimsical, wholesome, family-friendly experience to bring some stability to my life. I haven’t built a gingerbread house since the second grade, but after doing some light work on these bad boys, I’ve got the gingerbread bug. I’m also now unfortunately loaded with gingerbread house opinions. Mainly: Most of the gingerbread used to make gingerbread houses tastes bad and is stale. Also, the pre-made icing that comes with many of these kits doesn’t act as glue the way it’s supposed to. Still, I found four that I think are worthy of buying this year. So, enjoy this abbreviated list of the best gingerbread house kits.


Best of the Best

Trader Joe’s Gingerbread House Kit

Trader Joe’s has the best gingerbread house kit by a mile because it’s the most modern. You have to prepare the icing with egg whites and lemon juice, and it really sticks like glue, so you don’t have to worry about your house falling apart. This is a much better adhesive than pre-packaged frosting, I’m telling you. Aesthetically, it looks gorgeous and festive, too, and it comes complete with little gingerbread people and reindeer. And the gingerbread actually tastes like ginger, not some boring, cardboard nonsense. Festive, bright, and delicious, the best gingerbread house kit this year lives at Trader Joe’s. 

Credit: Liv Averett/Amazon

Rating:

9/10

Sporks

Best Theme

Peanuts Gingerbread House Kit

As far as themes go, this Peanuts gingerbread house delivers. It comes with little Peanuts character cookies and little cardboard cutouts. What is missing, though, is a little gingerbread Snoopy house. I mean, come on—it’s right in front of your faces! The gingerbread is kind of stale, but at least the taste is good. It’s bright and sugary, although, the candy decorations aren’t anything to write home about. Still, this has all of the stuff you need to make a gingerbread house, along with some Christmas Peanuts flair. 

Credit: Liv Averett/Amazon

Rating:

8/10

Sporks

Best Chocolate

Nestle Toll House Bee Chocolate Chip Cookie Cottage Kit 

This is more fun than it is tasty, but I do appreciate that the gingerbread walls are made with chocolate chips. The little orange gummies, mints, and candy dots look great, too. The problem with all of these gingerbread houses, though, is that the gingerbread tastes kind of past its prime. Truly, you’d be better off making your own. But, this does provide some convenience and the taste of the cookie dough is certainly better than most of the gingerbread I’ve tried during this taste test. Still, it’s several rungs lower than Trader Joe’s, that’s for sure. 

Credit: Liv Averett/Amazon

Rating:

7/10

Sporks

Best Cute

Crafty Cooking Kits Holiday Dog House

Ah yes, a Christmas gingerbread dog house—what should have been included in the Peanuts gingerbread house kit. This is the best gingerbread house kit for dog people (where my dawgs at???), and who isn’t a dog person? This is small and cute, which makes a good accompaniment to your regular sized gingerbread house. The gingerbread is crunchy and buttery, which I love. Most of the other brands are stale and bland, this is a revelation. I don’t recommend feeding this to your dog, but build it in your dog’s honor. Arf, arf.

Credit: Liv Averett/Amazon

Rating:

7/10

Sporks

Other products we tried: Marketside, Brand Castle Rudolph, Create-a-Treat House, Create-a-Treat Train, Give and Go.

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About the Author

Danny Palumbo

Danny is a comedian, cook, and food writer living in Los Angeles. He loves gas station eggs, canned sardines, and Easter candy. He also passionately believes that all the best chips come from Pennsylvania (Herr's!). If you can't understand Danny when he talks, it's because he's from Pittsburgh.

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  • This was a fun read.

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