Mother and I Made a Super-Cute, Haunted, Holiday Insta Gingerbread House: Here's How

Nov 1

It wasn’t toooo long ago that the Bakery Bling team sent me two cookie house samples to trial: COZY COTTAGE and HAUNTED HIDEAWAY Designer Insta-Houses™. That’s a brand way to describe a delightfully modern twist on what we’d describe as a gingerbread house.

Getting our spooky on, Mother and I made the adorable, easy and fun Haunted Hideaway holiday house last week.

Here’s how it went:

First, we unpacked the bright, eye-catching, easy-to-carry box.

Guaranteed if you show up toting these fashionable display caddies, you’ll be a certified party sprite. (Smile).

The gift box is decorated with colorful images and text of what’s inside, along with those easy-to-follow directions.

Opening the box was like unwrapping a gift. We marveled at each of the well-wrapped ingredients.

We laid everything out on the kitchen island. And put the glittery sugar in small bowls, ready to sprinkle later on the completed House.

Bakery Bling claims the Insta-House kits are “Ideal for little hands.”

I’d add they are also ideal for older hands that may have lost some of their flexibility.

The kits are no doubt “a family-fun activity, perfect for kids of all ages.

There is no baking or mixing required to build Bakery Bling’s Instagram-worthy, designer cookie houses using their new, innovative patent-pending, plastic insert used for the “house” as base, that makes constructing the gingerbread cookie house uncomplicated and easy.

The cookies adhere to the plastic house using the brightly colored icing that comes ready to go.

While we read the instructions, we chose to watch the YouTube video as Bakery Bling suggested. That too, was fun to watch and gave us an even better idea of how to get blingy.

Mother cut open the wrapped ingredients.

We started with the sides and decorated the windows, as instructed.

My advice for using the icing to decorate, especially for the detailed or smaller elements such as the windows seen here, is to be certain not to cut the icing bag too much ~ they suggest you keep it small to start and cut again later.

I misjudged a wee bit on the first cut. Also, massage the icing bag, as instructed. Mother did. A fair amount. But I think we needed more massage (who doesn’t?!) in order to more evenly divide or spread out the thickness.

It was a bit watery for the windows, where we started.

But luckily, this is a haunted house so honestly, the drippy windows were artfully creepy! In the end, it all looked great.

We went to lunch while the first parts dried and came back later to add the final accessory elements of witches legs, a clown, a dog head (?!), doors and bats! So cute!

According the Bakery Bling, “Kits are available at Costco, Walmart, Bed Bath & Beyond, and other familiar locations during the 2022 holiday season and feature a pre-baked cookie house with clear inner support, royal icing, Bakery Bling’s signature glittery sugar, and sweet, edible decorations. Each kit comes with assembly instructions and a video tutorial to help you build cookie houses like the pros. Using their ingenious cookie house technology, the end result will look just like the box and can be assembled in seconds.”

While assembly takes more than seconds ~ and we wanted the fun to last even longer ~ the main point is that it’s simple, straightforward, and a delight to make. This is a great experience to do with kids of all ages. Bakery Bling takes all the hard work out and offers a new kind of holiday baking tradition for you and your family and friends.

I can see Bakery Bling parties for most every holiday: there are a super-cute variety of designs available, including Christmas and spring bunny, snowmen, Day of the Dead, Puppy Love, and Unicorns. Sweet….

Who came up with this winning idea?

I learned that for Bakery Bling founder Lauren Brooks, “it all started with a hint of glitter and a dream. (She had me at Glitter! So glamorous.Love that!)

The momtrepreneur of three turned a line of cocktail rimmers (a business beauty after my own heart!) into a sensational baking empire complete with luxurious Glittery Sugar, Designer Cookie Kits, Insta-Houses and Cake Decor for every occasion. All products are 100% edible, kosher, nut-free, and made in-house at the dazzling 100,000 sq ft Bakery Bling HQ right here in the fabulous USA.”

Bakery Bling has also been featured in many major media, including Better Homes & Gardens, Bloomberg, and Bake Magazine, and recently spotted on Kylie Jenner's TikTok