Make Your Own Gingerbread 

Almost every time I buy a gingerbread house kit, the pieces are broken. Not only that, but I am confined to only one type of house. What if I want to add a garage or a porch? By making my own gingerbread, which isn't that hard, I am able to create my own shapes and pieces. AllRecipes.com has a quick and delicious recipe for gingerbread if you are interested in making your own.

Use Hot Glue

I'm sorry, but I am not going to hold two pieces of gingerbread together for about 15 minutes, praying that the icing is strong enough to hold them together. To save time and to make my gingerbread house more sturdy, I always use hot glue to stick the pieces together. To insure nobody sees that I cheated by using hot glue, I always cover it with royal icing.

Buy Your Own Decorations

Gingerbread house kits always have the worst decorations in them. They usually come with brightly-colored gum drops, hard candies, gum balls, and some peppermints. If you are trying to make the best gingerbread mansion the world's ever seen, standard decorations won't cut it.

Michael's and Hobby Lobby usually have really cute Christmas-themed candies and cake decor that would be perfect for a new gingerbread mansion. Get creative with the decor, too. Use some powdered sugar for snow and maybe some crushed up Oreos for a dirt pathway.

Personalization

The part about a gingerbread mansion that makes it special is its personal touches. I usually like to put all of my family members outside of my house and maybe add some pets to represent my own. If you don't want to get all mushy gushy, then you can make a themed gingerbread mansion.

You could make a school, a gingerbread dog house, you could use the colors of your favorite football team, or really anything you could imagine.