Make magical and mouth-watering lifetime memories by designing, creating, crafting, baking, building and decorating a ‘gingerbread house’ for The Gingerbread House Festival 2026.
Your 'gingerbread house' may be:
Any type of building that people can actually live inside
An iconic monument, structure or global cultural symbol
A celebrated mode of transport
A well-known geological formation
An awe-inspiring fantasy/sci-fi creation
Whichever you choose, The Gingerbread House Festival
wants to showcase your unique, spicy-sweet creation.
Inspired by Hansel and Gretel – who discovered a ‘gingerbread cottage roofed with cakes and windows of transparent sugar’ – The Gingerbread House Festival challenges bakers, crafters and creators of all ages and from all walks of life to let their imagination run riot and create something eye-catching and memorable.
Whilst many children enjoy DIY gingerbread house kits – much to the amusement of parents and grandparents as they laughingly try to stick brightly-coloured sweets onto runny icing – The Gingerbread House Festival wants entrants to create unique home-made designs.
The famous Bridge House in Ambleside, The Lake District
Are you ready for an exciting culinary challenge that helps to bond families and friendship groups in the run-up to Christmas?
Why not get every family member involved or organise an intergenerational or even local village or community group competition to find the most original ‘gingerbread house’ to enter into The Gingerbread House Festival? As The Gingerbread House Festival is taking place at the end of November – a relatively quiet time before the hectic Christmas season gets underway – you have plenty of time to put on your thinking caps before donning your baking aprons and grabbing your baking bowls.
We recommend Carr's Flour to make your gingerbread house biscuit.
As long as your 'gingerbread house' is edible, we want to showcase it at The Gingerbread House Festival.
See our videos for inspiration but if you have ever attended a gingerbread house workshop, gingerbread house decorating class or gingerbread house building experience, you may have an edge on other entrants.
You may also find inspiration in the world’s most famous real 'gingerbread house' – The Grasmere Gingerbread Shop – where Victorian cook Sarah Nelson invented Grasmere Gingerbread® in 1854 and which now attracts tourists from all over the world.
The Grasmere Gingerbread Shop is a just a stone’s throw away from the fabulous award-winning Low Wood Bay Resort & Spa which is hosting The Gingerbread House Festival – a delightful family-friendly destination in the Lake District and worth a visit at any time of the year.
As well as displaying fabulous gingerbread houses, The Gingerbread House Festival will include the official Low Wood Bay Resort & Spa Christmas Lights Switch-On (Friday November 20th), Christmas themed activities, food lectures, cookery demonstrations, food & gift stalls and even a gingerbread house for excited children to step inside.
We cannot wait to start receiving your entries but you MUST book in advance. We look forward to seeing you – and your stunning ‘gingerbread houses’ – in Cumbria in November.
Enter Competition NowBooks to help you build your gingerbread house click here
History of Gingerbread Houses click here
History of ginger click here