How to transport a gingerbread house
I searched for a guide to carrying a gingerbread house and found none written for it. What I did find is a few useful facts from build guides, which are below. The part I can add is the size. If you know the inside size of the box or the car space you have, the table shows the biggest house of the classic shape that fits it, and a link opens that house in the generator.
What the sources say
- A baker on Bake at 350 moved houses to an event. The post reports that 11 houses survived a 30-minute drive in a car "with no issues". Those were kit houses, glued with wood glue, so they were not meant to be eaten. Wood glue is not food safe. The roofs were held up with cans while the glue dried, and each house was fixed to a foil-wrapped piece of cardboard.
- An NPR and WGBH test of sturdy houses says icing "even after it dries, it often isn't strong enough to hold the structure together". Its testers built a cracker house, sealed weak spots with melted gummy bears, shook the table to simulate an earthquake, then "chucked it from a few feet up" and found "only slight damage" at the roof eaves. Of melted caramel, gummy candies and marshmallow it says "They become this [...] strong, cementlike substance." The glue guide goes through the edible options.
- A chef quoted by The Takeout says to let the structure dry fully before you add decorations, so it can bear their weight.
None of these says how long the glue has to cure before a drive, so I would not trust a house that was built the same day.
The biggest house that fits your box
The house here keeps the classic shape (6 × 8 × 4 in walls, 45° roof, 1/2 in overhang) and is scaled up until it fits. I leave 3/4 in of board on every side of the house and count a board 1/2 in thick under it. The box sizes are examples I picked, not products. The same math is used on the contest size limits page.
| Inside of box | House (wide × deep × wall) | Outer size with roof | Dough in the pieces | Template |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 12 × 12 × 10 in | 7 × 9.25 × 4.5 in | 7.71 × 10.25 × 8 in | 1,367 g | Open |
| 14 × 14 × 12 in | 8.5 × 11.25 × 5.5 in | 9.21 × 12.25 × 9.75 in | 2,003 g | Open |
| 16 × 16 × 14 in | 10 × 13.25 × 6.5 in | 10.71 × 14.25 × 11.5 in | 2,761 g | Open |
Outer size is across the eaves × along the ridge × peak height, without the board. Dough is the pieces only, with no icing, candy or board. All figures are my arithmetic.
The same in centimeters
| Inside of box | House (wide × deep × wall) | Outer size with roof | Dough in the pieces | Template |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 30 × 30 × 25 cm | 17 × 22.5 × 11 cm | 19.1 × 25.5 × 19.5 cm | 1,207 g | Open |
| 40 × 40 × 30 cm | 24.5 × 32.5 × 16 cm | 26.6 × 35.5 × 28.3 cm | 2,464 g | Open |
Here the board border is 2 cm and the board is 1 cm thick. The cm house uses the cm defaults, a 1.5 cm overhang and 0.6 cm dough.
My packing advice
These are my suggestions, untested.
- Fix the house to its board before the trip (the Bake at 350 houses sat on foil-wrapped cardboard), and carry it by the board.
- Add the heavy decorations at the destination if you can. The Takeout chef says the structure should be dry before it carries them, and a roof loaded with candy has more to lose on a bump.
- Put the board on a flat, non-slip surface in the car, such as the floor behind a seat or a trunk with a rolled towel on each side.
- Plan a spare piece of each kind. The dough guide shows what the extra costs.
Print the house for your box
Open the classic house in the generator, or use the Open links above for a house that fits a box. A bigger base board is covered in the board size guide, and the assembly guide covers the icing and drying time. If the house is for a class or party, the party supplies list plans the rest.