There are a few ways to glue a gingerbread house together, but if you want a solid bond and you’re not concerned with keeping everything edible, you might have thought about using hot glue.
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Hot glue can be used to glue a gingerbread house together, but it makes the pieces where it touches inedible.
The glue will stick to gingerbread that has a clean surface, and it creates a very strong bond that makes a structurally sound gingerbread house.
I tried attaching pieces of a gingerbread house together with hot glue, and I was surprised at how fast it bonded! You can’t eat it, but it does make a structurally sound, strong little house.

Starting with a gingerbread house kit.
I started with a gingerbread house kit, which came in a single piece with scored sections that needed to be broken apart.
Do this carefully so that there are fairly flat edges, they’ll line up better later.
You can bake your own gingerbread, but make sure that if you do, the pieces need to be very square so that the glue can fit them together well.

Break the pieces carefully to keep them flat on the edges.
When you break the kit pieces apart, you should try to do it as precisely as possible to make sure that the edges are as flat as they can be.
This will help them fit together better when they’re glued.
If you have to remove rough edges. you can use a grater to gently rub the rough edge off.

Start gluing the pieces together.
I used a low temp glue gun because that’s less of a risk for burns.
Test out the pieces before gluing by holding them up to see which edges fit together best.
Take the front of the house and put glue on one edge of the back of the front.
Only glue one edge at a time to keep the glue from cooling off too quickly.

Attach the first side wall.
Place the first side of the house onto the line of glue, making sure to line up the bottom edges.
Hold it in place until the glue cools off and holds the pieces.

Glue on the second wall.
Attach the second wall the same way that you did the first one.
Make sure that it’s parallel to the first wall so that the next piece will fit against both of them.

Test for sturdy walls.
Stand the house up and make sure that the walls are straight and that the house isn’t wiggly. If it is, use a knife to gently pry the pieces apart and re-glue them.

Attach the first part of the back.
Put one line of glue against one of the back legs of the walls. Only do one at a time to prevent the glue from cooling off.

Attach the back wall.
Press the back wall section against the glued wall, leaving the second edge unglued for now.
This will let you adjust the position of the walls if you need to before attaching the final piece.

Glue the last wall seam.
Put a strip of hot glue on the spot where the last two pieces will connect. Press them together and hold until the glue cools off and holds the house, but adjust them slightly if you need to before the glue cools off.

Remove glue drips.
If there are any drips that fell on the gingerbread surfaces, pry them off gently and cut them off.
The hot glue will peel off pretty easily if it’s only on the surface of the house.
Use scissors to cut them instead of pulling them to prevent ripping the seams.

Attach the first roof section.
Working quickly, put a strip of glue on each of the two upright walls, and across the top of the side wall.
Press the first roof section onto the house, lining up the top edge with the top of the pointed roof.
Pay attention to whether there are any imprinted designs in the roof if you’re using a kit.
At this point, the wall might not touch the roof under the eaves, but don’t worry about that right now.

Glue on the second roof section.
Working quickly before the glue cools off, glue a line all the way around the rectangular section on the walls.
Press the second roof section to the walls, lining up the top edge to keep the peak of the roof continuous.
If there’s a gap that’s okay, you can fill it in.


Check the seams.
Pick the house up and check to see if there are gaps in the seams anywhere.
There might be slight gaps under the roof where it touches the wall, so fill in with a little extra glue if there’s a hole there.

Fill in all the gaps.
Fill in the gaps all over the house with hot glue. If you need to fill some more than once that’s okay too.
Make sure that there aren’t any gaps and that the glue is attached all over to the house and to itself.
If there are any large gaps that are really obvious, you can cover them with candy or icing later!

Add decorations.
The house is now ready to decorate, you don’t need to allow for any drying time.
Any visible glue can be covered with royal icing or candy, so don’t worry if the seams aren’t 100% even.
Gingerbread houses that are built with hot glue should be considered for display only, don’t give them to people and say they can eat them!