How To Host A Gingerbread House Party
Oct 31, 2024, Updated Aug 06, 2026
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I’ve hosted a gingerbread house party every December for more than fifteen years, and it’s still my favorite party of the whole year. This is everything I’ve figured out in that time, from what to buy to how to set the table to how to get everyone home without a single collapsed roof.
There are two parties I throw no matter what. A pumpkin carving party in October and this one in December. I’ve done it every way there is, from baking houses from scratch to buying kits to setting out pre-assembled houses, and I have opinions about all of it.
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The single best decision you can make is to assemble the houses before anyone arrives. Building is fiddly and slow and it’s where the frustration lives. Decorating is the fun part. Let your guests do the fun part.
Make your own icing. The tubes in the kits are stiff, there’s never enough, and they’re the reason houses fall apart. A batch of homemade gingerbread house icing takes seven minutes and it changes everything.
And put every house on something with a lip before the party starts, so guests can carry them home without holding their breath.
Invitations
Email is easiest and nobody minds. I love Paperless Post for this, and they always have sweet gingerbread designs.
Send them earlier than you think. You need an actual head count because you’re buying one house per guest, and that’s not a number you want to guess at three days out.
Your Gingerbread Party Timeline
Three weeks out. Buy your houses. They sell out by early December, so this is the one thing you can’t leave late.
Two weeks out. Send invitations and get a real head count.
One week out. Buy the candy. Hit the dollar store and be generous.
The day before. Assemble the houses and let them dry overnight. Make the icing and fill your piping bags.
The morning of. Roll out the kraft paper, fill the candy bowls, set a house at each place. Twenty minutes and you’re done.
Where to Get the Houses
This is the question I get asked most, so let’s start here.
Pre-assembled houses are the shortcut, and I use them without apology. Walmart and Costco carry them too, and they sell out by early December, so buy them the week they appear.
Kits are cheaper, and you assemble them yourself the day before. Perfectly good, just build in more time.
From scratch is the prettiest option and the most work. If you’re going this route, here’s my gingerbread house recipe and I’d bake the panels a full week ahead.
A local bakery will sometimes bake houses for you if you ask in November. Worth a phone call if you want something nobody else will have.
Supplies You’ll Need
Gingerbread houses, one per guest. Buy one or two extra. Someone always breaks a roof.
Homemade icing in piping bags. I make a double batch for eight people and I’ve never had leftovers. Tie a ribbon around each bag and suddenly it’s part of the decor.
Candy, and more than feels reasonable. Plan on about a cup and a half of assorted candy per person. Small pieces work best. M&M’s, sprinkles, mini marshmallows, gum drops.
Small bowls for the candy. I love these colorful ones.
Cake platters to add height to the middle of the table.
Napkins and wet wipes. Icing gets everywhere. This is not a tidy activity and that’s part of the charm.
Something to send them home on. More on that below, because it matters more than you’d think.
Setting the Table
The candy is the centerpiece. You don’t need flowers.
- Run all the bowls of candy down the middle of the table so everyone can reach.
- Set a finished house and a ribbon-tied piping bag at each place, like a place setting.
- Roll kraft paper down the length of the table first. When the party’s over you roll it up with all the sprinkles inside and throw it away. Best cleanup trick I know.
- Small twinkle lights, bottlebrush trees, and a few ornaments and you’re done.
Put a house at each seat before anyone walks in. Watching people find their spot and immediately reach for the icing is the whole reason I host this.
Sending Them Home
Assemble each house on a sturdy base before the party. Cardboard works, and heavy cardstock trays with a two inch lip are even better. One of my readers buys hers at Hobby Lobby, which is a great tip.
Cellophane bags over the top, tied with ribbon. It keeps the candy from sliding off in the car, and it makes the whole thing look like a gift.
Send them home the same day. Royal icing sets hard but a fresh house is still fragile, and a house that sits at your place until tomorrow is a house that never gets picked up.
Eden’s Party Tips
Assemble everything the day before. I cannot say this enough. Walls need fifteen to twenty minutes to set before a roof goes on, and no party has that kind of patience.
Hit the dollar store for candy. Same gumdrops, a fraction of the price, and you can be generous with it.
Make a playlist. Christmas music is doing more work at this party than any decoration.
Add awards at the end. Prettiest roof, most candy used, most creative. It gives the afternoon a finish line, and people love photographing their house with a ribbon next to it.
Offer alternatives. Not everyone wants a full house. Set out a few gingerbread trees or mini gingerbread houses for little ones or anyone who’d rather do something quick.
With small kids, host in the morning. Ten or eleven, before anyone’s tired. An afternoon sugar party with four-year-olds is a different experience entirely.
Keep the decorated houses out afterward. Mine go on the kitchen shelves and stay through Christmas. They’re the best decoration in the house because someone I love made each one.
Best Gingerbread House Candy
Anything small and colorful works. These are what I buy every year:
Gummy bears, M&M’s, sprinkles, gum drops, mini marshmallows and snowman marshmallows, jelly beans, Smarties, peppermints, Red Vines, and cinnamon sticks and star anise for the grownups who want something a little more elegant.
What to Serve
Keep it easy. Everyone’s hands are covered in icing and nobody wants a plated dinner.
Set out a cheese platter, ham and cheese sliders, and baked brie with olives. A few Christmas appetizers and you’ve covered it.
For drinks, a hot chocolate bar or a hot chocolate charcuterie board is the prettiest thing you can put out, with hot chocolate or peppermint hot chocolate for the kids. For the adults, a gingerbread martini, a gingerbread Moscow mule, or a bowl of peppermint punch.
And something sweet that isn’t a house, because the houses are mostly for looking at. Gingerbread cookies or gingerbread cake are perfect. If you want more ideas, here are 60 easy party appetizers.
Gingerbread House Party FAQs
The day before. Walls need fifteen to twenty minutes to set before the roof goes on, and the whole house should dry overnight before anyone touches it with candy.
About a cup and a half of assorted candy each. Buy more than that. Leftover candy is not a problem.
Six to eight around a standard dining table, since each person needs room for a house, a piping bag, and elbows. More than that and I’d set up a second table.
Buy them unless you love the baking part. Pre-assembled houses from Target or Costco save you an entire day. If you do want to make them, here’s my gingerbread house recipe.
No. It’s stiff, there’s never enough of it, and it’s why houses collapse. Make a batch of gingerbread house icing instead. Seven minutes, three ingredients, holds like glue.
Some of my favorite versions of this party have been all grown-ups with cocktails and no children anywhere. Same setup, better drinks.
Something sturdy with a lip. Cardboard, a cake board, or a heavy cardstock tray. It has to survive the car ride home.
They can be, but royal icing dries rock hard and doesn’t taste like much. I treat them as decorations and put out real desserts alongside.
More Christmas Ideas
Christmas
Gingerbread Martini Recipe
Christmas
Moist Gingerbread Cake Recipe
Christmas
Fluffy Gingerbread Buttercream
If you’re planning the whole season, here’s my guide to Christmas cookies, my favorite Christmas cocktails, and how I put together Christmas Eve dinner. You’ll find everything else in my Christmas collection.
Hosting one this year? Leave a comment and tell me your best tip. After fifteen years I’m still learning new ones from you.
You can also FOLLOW ME on FACEBOOK and PINTEREST to see more delicious recipes, cocktails, desserts, and parties!
Where did you buy the ginger bread houses in the cardboard and wrapped in silicone paper?
I bought those at Target but I wrapped them in the cellophane bags 🙂
Can you tell me what size cellophane bags you used?
Thank you!
Try these 40″ inch https://amzn.to/47JntgO
hello! where did you find the cellophane bags for the gingerbread house? im having a party and would like to have something they can take home
Dolaina that style of houses already comes wrapped in those cellophane bags. I buy trays at hobby lobby that people can carry home in. the trays are made out of a good card stock heavy duty with about a 2 inch lip all the way around.