Wilton Pre-baked Giant Gingerbread House Kit

I thought I could trust the company to send a very nice GIANT gingerbread house for my family to decorate. Unfortunately it arrived in many broekn pieces. It looks like the manufacturer (Wilton) broke the pieces when it was wrapped. The shrink warp was so tight that the ends were curve up and looked to have caused pressure on the pieces. I don't blame Amazon shipping as it was well packed with bubble wrap in a very large box. Too bad, too much money for this item especially when it arived borken...if I wanted a broken gingerbread house I could have made it myself!

This Giant Wilton Gingerbread kit was purchased at a local craft store with a 50% off coupon, so it was a great price for a large, substantial, house. The kit pieces were all intact and very well wrapped and there was plenty of royal icing mix and candy pieces to decorate it beautifully. I had candy left over. I have a knowledge of cake decorating so the detail work was much easier for me to do than it would be for a raw beginner. However, anyone with patience can do this. I'd never done a gingerbread house before, and there are a couple of tips to offer other newbies:
1. Use a $1-$2, white, smooth, ceramic 16x16" tile purchased from Home Depot as the base! It works absolutely fabulous, won't bend, provides a white "snow" look that works very well with the white royal icing. Much, much better than multiple cardboard layers or foamcore (which has to be purchased separately at a craft store).
2. Plan on taking 2 days minimum! Don't mix the frosting until you have...Read more

This was in pieces when it arrived, the candy was stale, and whatever was left fell to apart when trying to put it together. Just a sad sad gingerbread house :( I bought the Wilton one because I wanted the best, got anything but.