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Gingerbread Houses: Love them or Hate Them? (And the one that I like best)

We make a gingerbread house every year.  Or a gingerbread something.  One year we made a nativity.  I'm going to let you in on a secret.  I LOATHE making gingerbread houses.  My husband LOVES making them, which is why I buy them in the first place.  To him, it isn't Christmas without being covered in sticky icing and wondering why the walls won't stand up.

This year my mom gifted us with an A Frame gingerbread house from Trader Joe's.   I silently rolled my eyes while dreading the moment we would be making this deceptively easy confection.  But here's the thing, it wasn't deceptively easy.  It was ACTUALLY EASY (insert gasps). 

This is now my favorite gingerbread house kit (which means that I will probably NEVER find it again).    Since I loved it so much I thought it would be fun to share it with you.  Pros, cons, and cute pictures.


When you open the box this is what you see:

I was surprised by how simple it looked.  The only thing that I wasn't expecting was needing to make the icing myself.  The kit comes with a box of pre-measured powdered sugar.  To make the icing I had to beat one egg white until stiff and add a few drops of lemon juice to the mixture.  This makes the icing taste terrible BUT it is basically glue.  

The making of the icing was a plot twist and my husband had to protect the rest of the supplies from the 2 year old while I made it, but it wasn't a big deal.

The set up was so simple and the A Frame design made it very easy to stay together.  Even with 5 sets of hands working on the house, we didn't have one collapse (this was a historic moment in the Rapp family.  The house always falls at least once).

The kit came with these adorable little people and a small dog to put in the yard of the house.  
The favorite character was the grandma with her little walking cane.  There were surprisingly no fights over who got to put the people in the yard.  I call that a win.  

This house came together in less than 10 minutes (after the icing was made and that was only 2 minutes or so)

Here is the finished product: 

My overall review of this Trader Joe's GingerBread House is this:  I would recommend this gingerbread house for any family.  It was easy and fun for all of my kids (ages 15-almost 3).  I never once wanted to curl up in a ball wishing I had never laid eyes on this gingerbread kit.

Here is photographic proof of how much I like this gingerbread house kit










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