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The best gingerbread house kits to buy in 2024
Indulge your inner architect with these top-rated kits
Tested by Georgia TurnellGHI Food & Drink Tester
What better way to celebrate the festive season than with a fun family activity that ends in a delicious treat?
Making a gingerbread house is exactly the sort of wholesome activity we aspire to, but then life happens, and suddenly there’s flour all over the worktops, we’ve burnt the biscuits, and the kids have lost interest and wandered off. Sound familiar?
Luckily, these winning gingerbread house kits, tried and tested by the Good Housekeeping Institute, will take care of all the measuring out and baking, leaving you and the gang to get on with the fun bit of assembling and decorating – hurray!
Best gingerbread houses 2024
Our sweet selection contains budget and premium options, and if you’re looking for something a little different, we also have a gingerbread train and an edible Christmas tree kit.
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What is the tradition behind gingerbread houses?
It’s thought that gingerbread houses became popular after the publication of the Grimms’ fairy tale Hansel and Gretel, a story about two children who find themselves lost in the forest, and stumble upon a house made entirely of bread, cake and sugar.
Although the cautionary tale takes a dark turn (the house belongs to a woman who wants to eat children), it sparked the rather sweet Christmas tradition of constructing mini decorated houses.
How we test gingerbread houses
The Good Housekeeping Institute’s panel of experts and consumers tested 10 ready-to-assemble gingerbread houses to find the most impressive, sweet centrepieces.
Firstly, each was assessed on its flavour. We were looking for biscuits full of warming festive spice, flavoursome icing and a delicious selection of decorations. The panels could have either a soft or crispy texture but needed to hold their form well throughout the build!
These are the best gingerbread house kits to buy for 2024.
Score: 89/100
ASDA's handy kit includes six ready-made gingerbread panels for assembling your house, one tube of white icing to hold everything together, and small bags of colourful smarties and sugared stars for decoration.
It proved to be an excellent all-rounder, with well-integrated, warming ginger spice, and just the right level of sweetness. The simple structure was also a doddle to build and includes an easy icing design to follow, to ensure your roof looks just like the picture on the pack.
Available: TBC
Score: 88/100
Much like our winning house, this pack contains six panels and ready-to-pipe icing, but the decorations differ, with sugared holly leaves, snowflakes and multi-coloured sprinkles.
The biscuit base is crisp, with a lightly spongy middle, but it was the decorations that proved a highlight, making this house stand out from the crowd.
A little icing goes a long way (it’s pretty sweet!) but when cut correctly, the piping nozzle allowed us to create delicate designs. Overall, it tastes great and builds well – what more could you ask for?
Available: TBC
Score: 86/100
This was the most expensive kit we tested, but it did feel particularly luxurious (so it's probably best saved for the adults to decorate!). Alongside the pre-made panels, the box includes icing sugar, red food colouring, a piping bag, sugared balls and smarties.
The biscuit itself is beautifully buttery and very lightly spiced, and the variety of decorations made the build extra fun! The biscuits were also perfectly sturdy and slotted together well, and there’s a step-by-step online decoration guide for those who need some inspiration.
Score: 81/100
We can think of more than a few little ones who would be delighted with this edible train kit. It includes seven classic gingerbread biscuits that have to be cut into 28 individual pieces, which may sound complicated, but this one was fun and easy to slot together.
Also provided are iced lebkuchen (a soft German biscuit similar to gingerbread, but heavier on the cloves and cardamon), two bags of gummy sweets and smarties.
It looked amazing once complete, providing a real sense of satisfaction for our testers. Whether you eat it immediately or not is up to you.
Available: November 21st 2024
Tesco Decorate Your Own Gingerbread Christmas Tree Kit
Score: 80/100
Made with classic, chewy gingerbread that has a fiery kick, Tesco’s kit will have you whipping up a festive forest in no time. The pack includes four ready-to-ice Christmas trees (perfect for siblings, or competitive family members!), as well as green icing and coloured sprinkles. The sweet decorations look great and help to tone down the bold ginger flavour.
A real bargain of a kit, it's perfect for a rainy afternoon!
Available: 21st October 2024
Score: 78/100
Lakeland’s take on the traditional gingerbread house comes with five chunky panels, (including a base) as well as smarties, sprinkles, and sugared figurines. Like the Biscuiteers kit (above) you make the icing yourself with the sugar and piping bag included, so it can be as thick or runny as you please.
The biscuit isn’t overly spicy, while the smarties add a welcome pop of colour, but it was the sugared people and dog that really made this festive scene complete.
Score: 70/100
Lidl’s well-priced kit contains everything you need to make a classic gingerbread house, complete with sweets, sprinkles and biscuit figurines. You’ll just need to add your own lemon juice and egg white to create the icing. As for taste, the biscuits are very mildly flavoured, but the jelly tots add a fruity burst of flavour.
Our testers felt the instructions could have been a little clearer, as they only explained how to make the icing, but not how to assemble. That said, it turned out to be easy to construct and looked very cute with the ready-made gingerbread men and Christmas tree.
Available: 5th November 2025
Stacey looks after all food and drink reviews — from coffee pods and veg boxes, to natural wine and tequila. Stacey is also founder of Crummbs, where she’s written nearly 2,000 restaurant and hotel reviews since 2013. Prior to this, Stacey wrote hundreds of in-depth buying guides for the Independent, i newspaper and BBC Good Food, as well as reviewing restaurants and interviewing celebrities in her column at Balance Magazine. Stacey has also appeared in BAFTA-nominated BBC documentary Blood, Sweat & Takeaways, where she investigated South East Asia's food production industry, appearing on both Newsnight and BBC World Service to share her findings. Regularly checking out the latest restaurants, bars and product launches, Stacey also loves experimenting with recipes at home, and is a WSET-certified wine and spirits expert, with over 10 years of experience in the business. You can follow Stacey on Instagram @crummbs_uk
Georgia has been part of the hospitality industry for the last nine years. Her starting point was the world-renowned Le Cordon Bleu culinary school where she gained a Diplôme de Pâtisserie. She has worked at a number of well-known restaurants and bakeries including The Club at the Ivy and Ottolenghi, Notting Hill where she was the head pastry chef. Most recently, Georgia worked at The Clink Bakery inside HMP Brixton, which aims to reduce reoffending through teaching. She is an expert in all things baked goods and holds a WSET level 2 in wine.
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