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There’s something delightfully analogue about gingerbread during the holidays. Gingerbread houses have more than 200 years of history, popularized after the publication of Hansel and Gretel, and we still build the quaint, seasonal dwellings with much of the same materials as in the days of yore: spiced cookies, icing, and candies that would have appealed to hungry German children in the early 19th century.
Canonical among the world’s sweetest holiday traditions, nowadays Germany tends to keep its gingerbread in individual cookie form, but Europe still boasts the world’s largest gingerbread town: Bergen, Norway’s annual Gingerbread Village. Stateside, gingerbread is one of the festive and flavorful ways that domestic hotels are celebrating the holidays, with sweet and spicy constructions at notable properties such as the Fairmont San Francisco, Charleston’s Hotel Bennett, and Asheville’s The Omni Grove Park Inn.
Perhaps you’ve dabbled in a gingerbread kit at home, or participated in a local contest, but if you’re looking for a glimpse of some serious gingerbread architecture this season, professional and amateur alike, here are lauded gingerbread displays around the United States worth checking out.
Walt Disney World (Orlando, Florida)
Courtesy of Disney
Sporting the nickname “the most magical place on earth” comes with certain responsibilities, and during the holidays, one is gingerbread. Fortunately, Walt Disney World takes that responsibility seriously, with a number of gingerbread displays and eats throughout its parks and resorts. In 2025, grandiose gingerbread structures such as castles, carousels, and creatures can be found in five resort lobbies: Disney’s Contemporary Resort, BoardWalk Inn, Beach Club Resort, Animal Kingdom Lodge, and Wilderness Lodge. Additionally, EPCOT’s Festival of the Holidays in Communicore Hall features a gingerbread rendering of its iconic Spaceship Earth. Throughout the parks, gingerbread treats abound, occasionally in traditional cookie form but also as brownies, eggnog, and cake.
Museum of the City of New York (New York City)
Photo by Brad Farwell for MCNY
Despite being an “amateur” competition, the gingerbread structures at the Museum of the City of New York, rightfully depicting New York City landmarks and icons, are fastidious feats of cookie construction. The 2025 display features immediately recognizable NYC structures such as the Statue of Liberty, Brooklyn Bridge, and Chrysler Building, plus lesser-known landmarks such as the Hotel Chelsea, Governor’s Island Soissons Landing ferry terminal, and — improbable but impressive — Newtown Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant. A bagel and coffee rendered in gingerbread will make you long for a snack, but you won’t be entirely sure whether you’re craving something sweet or savory. Amy’s Bread at the Museum has traditional person-shaped gingerbread cookies for sale, as well as bagels, so you’re covered either way.
Plant Riverside District (Savannah, Georgia)
Courtesy of Plant Riverside District
It’s fitting that Savannah, Georgia’s Plant Riverside District rolls out the gingerbread for the holidays, as the district was founded on a similar principle of reimagining various resources into something greater than the sum of its parts. In the Power Plant Building lobby through the month of December and constructed by the District’s team of award-winning pastry chefs, a full-sized model of a festive Christmas Market booth is on display, complete with an antique, gingerbread cash register. Visitors to the Plant Riverside District can actually go inside the gingerbread booth, for a taste of what Hansel and Gretel may have experienced.
Peddler’s Village (Lahaska, Pennsylvania)
Courtesy of Peddler’s Village
Peddler’s Village is a boutique outdoor shopping center in Lahaska, Pennsylvania, with over 65 vendors. Quaint at any time of year, the picturesque volume gets dialed up during the holidays with an enchanting light display and an annual gingerbread competition that dates back to 1984; another (mostly) “amateur” competition whose constructions are nonetheless aspirational. With over 125 entries this year, you can gaze upon traditional gingerbread houses on view and those whose structures were submitted in the “incredibly unusual, 3-dimensional gingerbread creation” and “nostalgic lights and silent nights” categories for especially imaginative approaches to the medium.
South Street Seaport (New York City)
Courtesy of The Seaport / Museum of Architecture / Jenny Peysin Architecture
Who better (besides pastry chefs) to construct gingerbread houses than actual design professionals? Now in its 9th year, presented by the Museum of Architecture in partnership with The Seaport, New York’s The Gingerbread City showcases gingerbread creations made by several NYC architects and designers, often depicting local landmarks in gingerbread form. For those who really want to get their hands on the medium with professional supervision, workshops are available on weekends through Dec. 22, with additional availability through Jan. 4.
Gingerbread Lane (multiple locations)
Courtesy of Gingerbread Lane
With professionally assembled, sometimes record-breaking gingerbread villages in Washington, D.C., New York, Houston, Boston, and San Francisco, Gingerbread Lane brings the powdered sugar to the people. An annual tradition with over 25 years of history, a timeline on its parent website indicates that organizers start shopping for candy on Dec. 26 for the following year’s construction, chasing after-Christmas sales. You can also “own” a home on Gingerbread Lane; at the conclusion of each regional display, organizers give away the gingerbread houses to those willing to wait in line for their piece. As they’ve been under construction for most of the year, however, eating any of the gingerbread homes is not encouraged.
Springfield Museums (Springfield, Massachusetts)
In Massachusetts, Springfield Museums boast one of the most unique annual gingerbread competitions, with the amateur competitors’ entries on display to the public throughout December. In line with its science museum setting, the 2025 gingerbread theme is Jurassic Gingerbread. If visions of a Tyrannosaurus Rex are more likely to dance in your head this season than sugar plums, this is the display for you. Think Jurassic-era dioramas, fossils, and full dinosaur skeletons all rendered in the sweet and spicy stuff.
Pamela Vachon
2025-12-17 15:27:00