Who's Nibbling at My (Trader Joe's) Gingerbread House?!

In case you miss out on one of the gingerbread house workshops (at the Bay Area Discovery Museum, for example) this Holiday season and still want to get in on the action, you can head down to your local Trader Joes and pick up one of their bargain priced gingerbread house kits.

For $7.99 you get a nice quality, German-made gingerbread house kit that includes the house parts, base, a tree, and enough chocolate buttons, gumdrops, and pink and white candy sprinkles to decorate a house worthy of being devoured by Hansel and Gretel. Speaking of them, the kit also comes with a little sugar Hansel and Gretel and a witch, as well as a little candy cat (or is it a pig?) that sits on the rooftop or anywhere else you like.

They also throw in a half-pound box of powdered sugar with which to make the royal icing that glues the thing together. You supply an egg white, lemon juice, and imagination. It's also helpful to have a pastry bag to pipe the icing, although a garden-variety ziplock bag with one of the edges snipped off makes a dandy substitute. It's not the most architecturally complex gingerbread house we've seen—it looks kind of like a Tahoe A-frame—but it's a lot of fun to put together. Just watch out for little nibblers who try to eat the candy and cookies before they have a chance to go on the house!

For those who may not be so architecturally inclined, there's the companion giant gingerbread man kit. At $3.99 a pop, you can afford to get a few of these German-made confections to decorate this year. Each gingerbread guy comes with a bare (naked?!) gingerbread body, prepared icing, and a bunch of decorations similar to those in the gingerbread house kit—chocolate buttons (serving double-duty as eyes or whatever), and a bunch of those pink and white candy sprinkles. There are enough chocolate buttons included that little helpers can have a few snacks to satiate their sugar craving without having to munch on the gingerbread man himself.

With only one piece to decorate and nothing to carefully glue together with sticky icing, these are probably the better choice for younger children or grown-ups who don't have the coordination or patience to assemble the gingerbread house. Either one is a worthy addition to your family's Christmas traditions. The gingerbread house makes a nifty holiday table centerpiece, and the giant gingerbread men lend themselves to all sorts of decorative ideas. Of course you could also just eat them, too; it's your choice.