yeah i made one and it came out beutiful o complications what so ever.

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It was probably the three year old. I did two this year - one with friends with school age children, and one with my 3 year old. The one I did with my friends went together perfectly. The roof wouldn't stay on the one I tried to do with my 3 year old, because he kept scooping icing and candy off :P. I finally just attached the roof with straight pins and made another batch of royal icing so we could finish the gingerbread house. It was fun both times, probably because the first had no problems.

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Never use the frosting that comes with the kits - never. Mix a batch of Royal Icing, and use that. And when working with kids, remember, you can never have too much Royal Icing.

Joy of Cooking Royal Icing

http://www.joyofbaking.com/RoyalIcing.html

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We bought a $16 kit at Whole Foods that included only a bag of gingerbread mix and "icing mix" which was just powdered sugar. Talk about disappointing. We had to cut our own shapes......no templates, no decorations. What a waste!

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We did one with 5 kids ranging from 5 - 12. Everyone participated and all had great fun. Has anyone sprayed it with lacquer so it will keep?

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I'm thinking the problem was going with a kit. My mom had a cast iron mold that we used to bake our pieces, and royal icing held the thing together. Never had any problems at all. Royal icing might stick better than superglue.

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I made one with my younger sister, and we put it together with a hot glue gun, making it inedible, but really, they are mainly for looking at (and it was a year old).

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We've used both kits and homemade. The best and easiest kit was probably Trader Joe's, but you have to get it early. We've used the one sold at Costco the last two years and they have been great, right down to the Royal Icing. No problems, however, I ALWAYS assemble them for the kids and let them decorate once the icing sets up. With one of the kits (I think it was Wilton) the roof caved in on my son, he was devastated, until we went and got a bunch of his army men and made the house under attack. Sometimes you just have to improvise.

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