Gingerbread houses are adorable! And you can’t deny that they smell exactly how the holiday season is supposed to smell. *sniff sniff*
I have a 3-year-old little girl at home who loves arts and crafts, cookies, and singing Christmas songs. And if you combine all those ingredients together, the perfect holiday activity is making a gingerbread house together! Here’s where you can go to buy yourself some authentic gingerbread houses as well as some less authentic (but still delicious) ones.
Pro Tip: Top up on extra candy at the supermarket. Most kits come with the bare minimum of decorative candies.
IKEA
When it comes to Christmas, IKEA gets pretty festive, carrying everything from decorations to trees. Their food section even has gingerbread house kits available. The VINTERSAGA Gingerbread House kit is affordable and conveniently packaged with everything you’d need. All the parts you need for this minimalistic house come in the box and you take it home to build yourself. IKEA couldn’t be a more perfect place for DIY gingerbread houses.
Find it:
1 Taiyanggong Lu, Dongbahe (northwest corner of Siyuan Qiao), Chaoyang District
朝阳区东坝河太阳宫路1号（四元桥西北角）
Open: Daily from 10am-10pm
Tel: 800 810 5679
No-Brand Gingerbread House Kit
I got a few sets of this kit for a gingerbread house-making party upon the recommendation of another parent. Unlike with the IKEA kits, the gingerbread components in these kits are handmade at this Taobao store’s bakery. The kits arrived at my door within two days. Upon opening my first box, however, I was so upset! One of the gingerbread walls had cracked and some decoration pieces had cracked as well. It wasn’t too big a deal, though, as I sent a quick message to the seller with a photo of the issues and a request to replace my broken pieces and they immediately responded to my request with a brand-new DIY box sent out the very next day. Kudos to their customer service!
The Budget Gingerbread House Kit
If you’ve got a bunch of kids coming over and aren’t looking to blow half your paycheck on kits, then this one is a good option. From their small 6cm kit for RMB 20 to their fanciest 10cm kit that comes with extra colored icing and LED lights for RMB 56, this Taobao shop has got some of the cheapest quality kits online.
The Peninsula Beijing
Finally, there’s the crème de la crème of gingerbread creations in Beijing. The last of this year’s Christmas Santa meet and greet events at the The Peninsula Beijing, on Dec 25, will feature a gingerbread house as the children’s craft. From 3pm to 5pm the kids will get to make a gourmet gingerbread Christmas tree with the hotel’s pastry team, listen to stories read by Santa, watch a cool performance, and take iconic holiday photos with the big man and his elves.
Find it:
8 Jinyu Hutong, Dongcheng District
东城区金鱼胡同8号
Tel: 8516 2888
Got other recommendations for where to get gingerbread house kits? Let us know in the comments below.
Images: Mina Yan, IKEA
