Where to find a Gingerbread House Kit???

[pumpkinfish]

DH (yes you read that right... ) has been pestering me for the past 3 years to get a gingerbread house kit with full intention of eating it on Christmas. I guess he has always wanted to do this since he was a kid...I dunno . Anyways, I haven't really ventured into any stores yet this season (thank you online shopping!) and want to take him out Saturday to pick one up. Instead of wasting gas and driving around everywhere, anyone have some ideas of where to look or where they've seen them for sale? We'd like a kit so he can "build" it himself.

 

[kritter]

Walgreens has them this week for $7.99 with lots of stuff and they are really nice!!!Good LUck and HAVE FUN!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[jrasmom]

I saw them at Sams Club this past weekend, maybe look online to see if they are available in your local one?

 

[dislal]

Our Walmart has them for like $9.99. I wish I could make it at home so it would be a little cheaper. With three kids all wanting their own I usually tell them no, but last year after christmas we bought three kits when they where 75% off and the kids had a good time with them. Have fun!!!

 

[kaytieeldr]

Walgreen's has one in their sale flyer this week (but it's always possible they'll be sold out by Saturday).

Try your local supermarket, especially if they have an extensive holiday/seasonal section. Example: There's a Shop & Save* near me that devotes about twenty feet of shelving, four shelves high, to holiday items. There's a Stop & Shop* in the other direction with half of both sides of one front-to-back aisle, plus the floor space between the shelves, plus displays at the front and back of the store, is all Christmas stuff. And there's a Shaw's* between the two - both geographically and in their Christmas stock.




*Supermarket chains, but probably not national

 

[hrh_disney_queen]

Walmart, Michaels, AC Moore, Sam's. I have also seen them at Bed Bath and Beyond. Michaels has theirs on sale now for $8.99, if they are not on sale you can use one of their 40% off coupons if you have one from their circular or AC Moore's..

These are a lot of fun, but I am hoping my boys won't miss one this year. We are going to be gone for almost half of December. We have never eaten ours after, so I don't know how good they taste. These cookies were probably baked months ago..

Good luck!

 

[luv2nascar]

AC Moore, Michaels, Walmart, Walgreens, grocery stores
My Kids and I do a house every year but this year I saw they have a train so I was considering that instead
Tip if you've never put one together. Getting the walls to stay up in the hardest part - use full cans of veggies or something to put walls together.

 

[las3888]

I bought ours at Joann Fabrics for $8.99 on sale. Normally they are $9.99. There are often coupons for 40% one item if it's not on sale. I don't know if JoAnn is near you, but that's one option...good luck!

 

[pumpkinfish]

Walgreens has them this week for $7.99 with lots of stuff and they are really nice!!!Good LUck and HAVE FUN!!!!!!!!!!!!

Shoot! And I was just in there today using my $5/$20 coupon. I didn't even bother looking. Thanks for the suggestion

I saw them at Sams Club this past weekend, maybe look online to see if they are available in your local one?

Hmmm...no membership but I could ask my parents!

Our Walmart has them for like $9.99. I wish I could make it at home so it would be a little cheaper. With three kids all wanting their own I usually tell them no, but last year after christmas we bought three kits when they where 75% off and the kids had a good time with them. Have fun!!!

Yeah, he always reminds me when we do the after-christmas shopping and we see them on the shelves. I've already heard him ask me once this season so I think I'll surprise him I hate shopping in our Walmart but it's worth it to make him happy

Walgreen's has one in their sale flyer this week (but it's always possible they'll be sold out by Saturday).

Try your local supermarket, especially if they have an extensive holiday/seasonal section. Example: There's a Shop & Save* near me that devotes about twenty feet of shelving, four shelves high, to holiday items. There's a Stop & Shop* in the other direction with half of both sides of one front-to-back aisle, plus the floor space between the shelves, plus displays at the front and back of the store, is all Christmas stuff. And there's a Shaw's* between the two - both geographically and in their Christmas stock.




*Supermarket chains, but probably not national

Yeah, we really might have to just go store to store "browsing" until I come across one. I really want to keep it a surprise until I have him put one in the cart

Walmart, Michaels, AC Moore, Sam's. I have also seen them at Bed Bath and Beyond. Michaels has theirs on sale now for $8.99, if they are not on sale you can use one of their 40% off coupons if you have one from their circular or AC Moore's..

These are a lot of fun, but I am hoping my boys won't miss one this year. We are going to be gone for almost half of December. We have never eaten ours after, so I don't know how good they taste. These cookies were probably baked months ago..

Good luck!

Yeah, I really hope he doesn't eat it but knowing him he will. Mom, sis, and I made a gingerbread village YEARS ago and finally mom had to throw it away. She would carefully package it up every year but the gumdrops and sprinkles and icing kept chipping off. I was always tempted but never indulged, especially after watching it depreciate every year lol.

AC Moore, Michaels, Walmart, Walgreens, grocery stores
My Kids and I do a house every year but this year I saw they have a train so I was considering that instead
Tip if you've never put one together. Getting the walls to stay up in the hardest part - use full cans of veggies or something to put walls together.

Thanks for the reminder! I know we had some trouble when making that village years ago and I sure havent done anything close to building a gingerbread house since. I'll have to gently give suggestions to him as he puts it together .

Thanks again for the suggestions!!!

 

[HeatherBelle614]

Michael's has them; they're made by Wilton's cake company.

But, they aren't very good to eat. They're more for decor...as I think all of those kits are. We do them every year, but they're not good cookies to eat. Maybe you can get one to put together, and get some gingerbread cookies to eat at Christmas?

 

[Illuminations_Rocks]

I got my Wilton's house kit at Sears, LOL. They had the gingerbread tree, too. About $10.

 

[momxx5]

I always want to make them, but like others have 5 kids, everyone wants one.

I have been giving this some thought. Since we have made them in the past and put them up (after sitting for a while we don't eat them), I was thinking of getting some candy and icing and using shoeboxes for the kids to make them. Everyone can make one. We'll probably do it the week before Christmas because the kids will be out of school then.

Another idea is to use graham crackers and make smaller houses.

 

[java]

You can use the boxes- slap on some "glue" icing. Then use the Graham crackers as bricks- you can cover the entire house. Then use more icing or frosting to stick on the candy-

Easy peasy and the kids spent 2 hours doing this a couple years ago.

But I did buy a kit at Costco today- a GIANT kit.

 

[momxx5]

Java - exactly. I am hoping to get a good 2 hours of "fun" out of it.

 

[Kayleebug]

I bought one at Sam's Club for $10. It is a little bigger than the Wilton ones at Wal-Mart and also had 6 gingerbread man cookie ornaments. The great thing about the one from Sam's is that the icing is already made. You just snip the corner of the bag and decorate. My DD7 and I made ours this past weekend, and it was super easy.

 

[2bearsmom]

Last year I bought a gingerbread kit from Aldi. All 4 of us had fun decorating it. It sat on our dining room table until New Years Day. My then 2yr old loved sneaking (well he thought he was being sneaky) in there eating the candies off. Little by little there was a pretty bare looking house left on New Years! But the boys had fun decorating it. I meant to buy some after Christmas when they were super cheap to have on hand for a rainy/boring/snowed in day for something fun to do.

 

[hrh_disney_queen]

I always want to make them, but like others have 5 kids, everyone wants one.

I have been giving this some thought. Since we have made them in the past and put them up (after sitting for a while we don't eat them), I was thinking of getting some candy and icing and using shoeboxes for the kids to make them. Everyone can make one. We'll probably do it the week before Christmas because the kids will be out of school then.

Another idea is to use graham crackers and make smaller houses.

My DS made these little graham cracker houses in 1st grade, so they are pretty easy. They turned out really cute. Just make sure that the icing you use is Royal Icing. Other icings don't get hard..Royal Icing is just like cement. You can buy a can of meringue powder in the cake decorating aisle of Walmart.

 

[Mickey527]

I have seen ready made royal icing at AC Moore near the baking items. That is the easiest but like the last poster said you can make your own with royal icing powder and water.
Use plastic bags with the corner snipped off to decorate, it is cheaper than making or buying decorating bags. Just make sure you snip the holes small, just enough to squeeze out some icing, otherwise it will drip all over. Royal icing has to be kept covered or it will harden. So use a bowl that you can drape a moist paper towel over. This works better than putting on a lid, it keeps it from drying out better.
I used to make little houses out of graham crackers every year for the kids to decorate. I made them at night when the kids were sleeping and they decorated them the next day. Simply cut the graham cracker in half so it is square, and cut one square in half in a triangle shape for the roof support. If you have some small milk cartons they work great for support for the house while the frosting is drying.
Kids really don't want to make the house, they just want to decorate it and eat the left over candies. And of course mine always squirted that frosting into their mouths. YUCK.

 

[greenchief]

Just did ours for the first time ever tonight!! Bought the generic kit at K-mart. When we were still in the store I found a Wonka kit, tried to talk my daughter into getting that one instead, she said no she doesn't like the taste of bottle caps candy that comes in that one. But they had fun tonight

 

[madge]

I got ours at Cracker Barrel. Pre-assembled house, which I prefer to the start from scratch kit. My kids favorite part is putting the candy on, anyway. LOL