If you’ve ever dreamed of creating a magical holiday play space, this is the project for you. Today I’m sharing step-by-step how I turned a simple kid’s playhouse into a gingerbread house—a full DIY gingerbread house transformation that’s festive, cozy, and surprisingly budget-friendly.

And yes… the result is just as adorable (and giant) as it sounds.

Why Turn a Playhouse into a Gingerbread House?

I’ve always wanted to makeover an old playhouse into a DIY gingerbread house, especially when my girls were small. Unfortunately, “small kids” also means “zero time, energy, or budget” for whimsical holiday builds.

Now that I’m an empty-nester (and working at a daycare), the time and the audience finally presented themselves…
along with a FREE cedar playhouse!

Upcycling a children’s playhouse into a gingerbread cottage is the perfect holiday project: it’s whimsical, eye-catching, interactive for kids, and surprisingly affordable—especially this time of year when parents are looking to get rid of old, worn-out playhouses instead of storing them for winter.

Quick, go check Facebook Marketplace right now… you’ll see dozens for $50 or less.

Materials You’ll Need 

This post contains links – Amazon, Home Depot, Rona, Temu etc – so that you can find exactly what I used.  For full affiliate disclosure, please see bottom of the page.

To turn a playhouse into a gingerbread house, gather:

• Kids’ playhouse (plastic or wood)

• Exterior paint (gingerbread brown, white, and candy red)

• Spray foam insulation (for icing texture) – I tried a couple of brands and the one linked is by far the best (and cheapest)

• Plastic cups, small sand pails or foam blocks (for gumdrops)

• PVC pipes or pool noodles (for candy canes)

• Large plastic ornaments

• Plastic playpen balls (for faux gumballs)

• Outdoor-rated lights

• nails, screws, hot glue, zip ties, and strong exterior adhesive

Step 1: Prep and Paint the Playhouse

Before you can turn a playhouse into a gingerbread house, start with a clean surface. Wash the playhouse and let it fully dry.
Then sand the entire surface—yes, both wood and plastic. You want something for the paint to grip onto.

You may find your playhouse needs a few repairs (we’re not complaining for this price tag!). I reinforced some corners and removed a few interior pieces to make it more solid.

 

Then:

Paint the Gingerbread Walls

Use an exterior brown paint to create that perfect baked-cookie colour. Two coats give great coverage.

Let’s be real: gingerbread is the same colour inside and out, so I also added two coats of paint to the interior for a more “realistic cookie” effect.

Make your candycane poles

If you were lucky enough to find affordable white PVC then you can skip this step.  There was no such unicorn in my neck of the woods so I had to prime and paint black PVC pipes with 1 coat of white primer and 2 additional coats of white exterior paint.

Add Bright Accents

• Red for the door – my house didn’t have a door on it, so I cut down some 1″ x 12″ select pine and did a glue up to make a piece that would fit the door opening.  To add a little interest to the door, I cut a gingerbread shape out as a peephole using a jigsaw.

• White for window trim

• Red + white stripes for candy-cane posts – the red stripes were made up of red electrical tape.

Painting first gives your DIY gingerbread house a polished base before adding the fun candy details.

 

Step 2: Time to make some candy!

Make your own Gumdrops

There are lots of ways to create gumdrop shapes:

• Cone-shaped styrofoam molds (cut the top off)
• Dollar store bowls flipped upside down
• What I used: inexpensive mini sand pails

Why sand pails?
Because:

• Styrofoam is pricey and doesn’t take paint well
• Bowls would need spray paint (and at $14 a can where I live… nope)
• The pails came already in bright colours
• They were cheaper: 12 for $30

The pails had a small bottom lip you can see in the photo. I sanded it off so they would have a more rounded gumdrop appearance.

 

Then I sprayed each with adhesive and dunked them in glitter.
(Gingerbread houses need sparkle.)

Don’t worry about the bottom lip—spray foam icing will cover it later.

Even being conservative, I saved about $27 using the buckets instead of spray painting bowls in six different colours.

 

All-season gumballs

No brainer here – I picked up 3.15″ plastic ball pit balls from Temu to act as the colourful gumballs covering the rooftop.

DIY Lollipops / coiled candy

I made my cello-wrapped coiled candies from dollar store craft foam sheets.

Cut 2″ wide strips, fold and glue lengthwise, then glue two colours together at one end and roll tightly with a stream of hot glue.

 

Glue two different coloured strips together at one end, and then roll your foam over a hot glue stream to create a coil.

Yes, I made these while the paint dried on the playhouse (in case my manicure doesn’t make it obvious lol)
Yes, I burnt my fingers.

If you want larger lollipops, just add more foam strips.

Wrap in cellophane for the cutest oversized candy effect.

Once all of your lollipops / coiled candies are done, remove any excess hot glue, bandage your scalded fingers, and then wrap each candy in cellophane.

PVC Candycanes

As above, prime and paint your pipes in white, then add red electrical tape for the peppermint swirl.  I picked up my tape at the dollar store, but I had to use 4 rolls, so the amazon link above is a cheaper route.

Cupcakes with sprinkles

To make my window-box cupcakes, I cut up the handles from the mini pails into small “sprinkle-sized” bits.

I slightly over-filled two buckets with the expanding spray foam and then sprinkled each with the plastic bits.

The spray foam that I recommend in my product list near the top of the page REALLY expands… my cupcakes went from this:

to this overnight!

Step 3: Add all your yummy creations

When you turn a playhouse into a gingerbread house, bright candy details and snowy icing are mandatory. This is where my 5-year-old imagination explodes.

Start by applying a bead of spray foam along the peak of the roof.
Let it expand for 10–15 seconds, then press your gumdrops into place.

I tried to keep them level and plumb… but spray foam had other plans. It kept expanding and bumped a couple out of line. It’s fine. Candy isn’t perfect.

Next, use spray foam to create icing scallops across the roof or fill the whole thing for a snowy rooftop. Press the gumballs (ball-pit balls) into the foam.

Confession: spray foam wasn’t strong enough to hold the gumballs long-term. But! It created the perfect nooks to tuck them back into after sanding one side and securing them with construction adhesive.

To attach candy cane pillars, I drilled from inside the playhouse into the PVC with 2″ screws.

I attached the wrapped candies using construction adhesive.

Step 4: Go the extra mile and do the interior!

Most of the interior of my DIY gingerbread house came from the dollar store, with the exception of two small builds.

Use plastic placemats as wainscoting or roof detail:

When I build the door to the playhouse, I also build some shutters for the back wall.  I had a vision in my head of stockings hung by the fire and an open window wouldn’t have given the same cozy feel.

Build a faux fireplace

I used some scrap bits of wood and MDF baseboards screwed right to the playhouse frame to create the look of a fireplace mantle.

After a couple of coats of exterior paint in black, it was ready for the flame idea I thought I’d try.

Create your fire

I forced myself to polish off a container of Lacey cookies (soooo delish) so that I could use the container to create the flame for my fireplace.

I removed the label from the lid with some KrudKutter and then marked out a flame shape which I cut with a utility knife.

I tried using craft paint from the dollar store to paint a flame on the plastic, but the colours I had weren’t right, so I ended up using spray paint for a more realistic flame finish.

The back of the container I painted black so that it would blend in to the back of the fireplace.  The idea here was to use inexpensive twinkle lights or battery-operated tea candles to shine a flame-like light through the plastic.  I needed a place for the tea light to sit that wasn’t on the ground or overly exposed to the elements, so the back of the plastic container was perfect.

I picked up 2 pairs of toddler socks from the dollar store and hung them on the mantle – this is an elf or gingerbread man house, so smaller stockings were just the obvious choice. Duh

Cookies for Santa

I built a small shelf to add to the DIY gingerbread house to use as a place for Santa’s milk and cookies. Because my playhouse turned gingerbread house is available for all of the neighbourhood to see and enter into, I decided to attach the plate and milk jug to the shelf so it would stay in place.

Extra whimsy

• I brought in a small (elf-sized) Christmas tree to set in the corner
• I added a photo of Mom by the mantle

On the back I hung a “This house is under Elf surveillance” sign for security.

These finishing touches transform a simple build into a full candy-themed DIY gingerbread house experience.

Step 5: Add Holiday Lights

A gingerbread house should sparkle at night! Outline the roof with white or multicolored string lights, securing them with zip ties.

Lights instantly elevate your DIY gingerbread house into a glowing holiday display.

Step 6: Weatherproofing Tips for an Outdoor DIY Gingerbread House

To make sure your project lasts all season:

• Use exterior grade paints, spray foam and adhesives
• Seal anything with glitter or MDF with a clear (exterior grade) top coat.
• Secure the decorations with zip ties, screws, or construction adhesive
• If your spray foam has a yellow tinge to it, carefully paint it with an exterior white to keep it fresh and from yellowing further with UV rays.
• if your gumballs come loose of the icing roof, lightly sand one side then apply construction adhesive and press into the “nook” already created in the spray foam.

The Final Transformation

Turning a playhouse into a gingerbread house was not only fun—it created a beautiful, memorable display for my family, neighbours, and every kid at the daycare.

The process is far easier than it looks, and the end result is a full-size, magical DIY gingerbread house your kids can actually walk into and play in.

And honestly?
It might be one of my favourite projects ever.

 

 

 

If you love holiday crafting, this project is the perfect blend of creativity, upcycling, and Christmas cheer.

Gingerbread house at night

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