Quick look: 40809 Festive Gingerbread House
Posted by Huw,
40809 Festive Gingerbread House is one of five retail Christmas sets being released on October 1st (including the Gingerbread AT-AT), and the latest in a long line of 'edible' houses, including the largest of them all, 10267 Gingerbread House.
This one is not as substantial as that, but it's sizeable nonetheless, and is nicely detailed.
It doesn't seem right building Christmas sets in the middle of September, when it's still warm and sunny outside, but here we are...
The tasty looking building has two fronts: one with a rounded bay window and a front door, the other a small porch over another door.
It can be displayed closed as shown above, or hinged open to look like two houses side-by-side.
The four rooms within are sparsely furnished, with just enough details to convey their function.
On the ground floor of the left-hand house (as viewed from the back), there's a table and chair, and a miniscule kitchen shoehorned into a 1x4 area. Kudos to the designer, then, for managing to fit a cooker with hob, drawers, cupboard, and a sink with a tap into the space.
The right-hand ground floor room has a fireplace, chest of drawers, and a chaise lounge. The stained-glass windows on the front and sides add a lovely splash of colour.
Upstairs, there's not a lot of room for internal details due to the sloped roof, but, nevertheless, one room has a bed and a chest of drawers; the other, a desk and chair, and a pile of presents.
The rooms are more cohesive and make more sense when the building is closed than when it's open.
A Santa minifigure accompanies the house which utilises the torso that was introduced for the character in 2021, and dual-moulded legs. I presume he's visiting the premises rather than living in it, although there's no chimney for him to gain access, only a thin flue.
The house is bigger than you might think, but it feels quite expensive, at £34.99 / $39.99 / €39.99. It is nevertheless an attractive display model that will look delightful on your mantelpiece over the festive period.
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31 comments on this article
I like the duplex-setup. I'd quite like to make an entire street like that, something you could put up on a shallow shelf to spruce the place up a bit.
After over two hours only one single comment....that must be a new record, right?
Not that I have anything interesting to say about this set......next!
this could have been so much more functional if it didn't have the central door in the back...
Bigger than you'd think, 8c ppp - but it "feels quite expensive"?
Should it be smaller? Less detailed and thereby need to use fewer parts?
"It doesn't seem right building Christmas sets in the middle of September, when it's still warm and sunny outside, but here we are..."
I agree, but most of the stores in my area are already pushing aside the Halloween decorations and getting the shelves lined with Christmas decorations and other items.
Cute set, love the details. The "doll house" style is great for this.
Thanks to multiple uses of ‘chaise lounge’ on Brickset, I’ve learned that some English speakers use it instead of ‘chaise longue’. I get that one can lounge in a chaise longue, but it still seems wrong. To me it’s either a lounge chair or a chaise longue, the hybrid makes me cringe.
I've already digitally reverse engineered the set and made it better. I added another floor to it and removed the candy stuff, among other things. Sadly, since I can't get into Bricklink (still!) I can't buy the parts to make it in the real world yet. (Hopefully LEGO fixes the glitches soon and I can order once more... and yes, I've a running thread with LEGO CS about this!)
I preferred 40139, it was smaller and sweeter, on several levels...
This is actually quite a good set. A lot of the festive sets are either a hit or miss.
Cons:
- It's not edible
@dudeski said:
"Thanks to multiple uses of ‘chaise lounge’ on Brickset, I’ve learned that some English speakers use it instead of ‘chaise longue’. I get that one can lounge in a chaise longue, but it still seems wrong. To me it’s either a lounge chair or a chaise longue, the hybrid makes me cringe. "
The earliest documented uses of "chaise lounge" date back over 200 years, so it's not likely to go away at this point.
So... if Darth Vader lives in a comfy ginger bread AT-AT, why is Asajj Ventress absent from her ginger bread house? Maybe there is some cruel story behind it, involving two kids an oven and a real bargain in real estate trading for Santa Claus?
Santa's magic, he doesn't need a chimney
I bet someone will turn this into a Millennium Falcon…I bet ya!
@Reventon said:
"I bet someone will turn this into a Millennium Falcon…I bet ya!"
Sure, why not? I mean, it’s still going to look like a house (matter of fact, it’s going to look like _that_ house), but I’m willing to call it the Millennium Falcon for a day or two.
@daniellesa said:
"I preferred 40139, it was smaller and sweeter, on several levels..."
I still remember putting a battery-powered tea light in that. It didn't work as well as I'd hoped, as some bricks were too translucent to limit the light coming out to the door and windows.
@jenbr said:"Santa's magic, he doesn't need a chimney"
If you've seen The Santa Clause, you know how that works.
@tmtomh said:
"Bigger than you'd think, 8c ppp - but it "feels quite expensive"?
Should it be smaller? Less detailed and thereby need to use fewer parts?"
Why not some bigger pieces without lowering the part count or the size? They could use bigger pieces for the walls and use the other part count for more interior details, making the price more reasonable.
I like this cute little gingerbread house...
Gonna buy it so that the Gingerbread AT-AT can smash it and nougat Darth Vader can get Santa!
No I'm not the Grinch, but this was the first concept I thought off, with these two new sets :-)
But yeah, gonna buy it and display it with the gingerbread AT-AT as a fun Christmas display!
I don't really get the idea behind the set. Normal house with Santa, I understand. gingerbread house with a gingerbread man, I understand. But gingerbread house with Santa? Is this Bad Santa III, where Santa breaks in and eats the gingerbread man?
Very cute. Nice idea to have it folding for alternate display options.
So, with the last 4 reviews being Xmas sets, I trust the next 2 will be covering the cheapest and the most expensive (40812 and 41843)!
looks like a 20-25€ set or a GWP
@ClutchPowers7306 said:
" @tmtomh said:
"Bigger than you'd think, 8c ppp - but it "feels quite expensive"?
Should it be smaller? Less detailed and thereby need to use fewer parts?"
Why not some bigger pieces without lowering the part count or the size? They could use bigger pieces for the walls and use the other part count for more interior details, making the price more reasonable. "
That's not a bad idea, as long as you don't end up with sets full of POOPs and SPUDs.
@tmtomh said:
"Bigger than you'd think, 8c ppp - but it "feels quite expensive"?
Should it be smaller? Less detailed and thereby need to use fewer parts?"
I was thinking the same thing: how can it be 'bigger than you'd think' and have a below average PPP, but still feel 'quite expensive'? Honestly, it feels right on par with comparable sets of this general size. Pick a lane! Not even anyone in the comments complained about the price, which is a rarity!
Really need to add a Christmas Tree, chimney, and missing the cupcakes, candy canes from 40139?
I feel like a gingerbread man (or woman) minifigure would have made a lot more sense.
But still, this is a really cute set!
@sjr60 said:
"Very cute. Nice idea to have it folding for alternate display options.
So, with the last 4 reviews being Xmas sets, I trust the next 2 will be covering the cheapest and the most expensive (40812 and 41843)!"
Yes they will
@Huw said:
" @sjr60 said:
"Very cute. Nice idea to have it folding for alternate display options.
So, with the last 4 reviews being Xmas sets, I trust the next 2 will be covering the cheapest and the most expensive (40812 and 41843)!"
Yes they will"
Excellent!
@ToysFromTheAttic said:
" @tmtomh said:
"Bigger than you'd think, 8c ppp - but it "feels quite expensive"?
Should it be smaller? Less detailed and thereby need to use fewer parts?"
I was thinking the same thing: how can it be 'bigger than you'd think' and have a below average PPP, but still feel 'quite expensive'? Honestly, it feels right on par with comparable sets of this general size. Pick a lane! Not even anyone in the comments complained about the price, which is a rarity!"
I took it as it feels expensive at the asking price because there's nothing noteworthy or exciting about it really. In other words, it's $40 of "meh."
@Vesperas said:
" @ToysFromTheAttic said:
" @tmtomh said:
"Bigger than you'd think, 8c ppp - but it "feels quite expensive"?
Should it be smaller? Less detailed and thereby need to use fewer parts?"
I was thinking the same thing: how can it be 'bigger than you'd think' and have a below average PPP, but still feel 'quite expensive'? Honestly, it feels right on par with comparable sets of this general size. Pick a lane! Not even anyone in the comments complained about the price, which is a rarity!"
I took it as it feels expensive at the asking price because there's nothing noteworthy or exciting about it really. In other words, it's $40 of "meh.""
Many commenters above disagree with that notion, writing they think it's a 'cute' set. Which I guess it is. Also, not every set can be noteworthy. If every set would be noteworthy, by definition, none would be.
Sure, you won't find this one on any Best Of lists, but it's fine for what it is and it looks festive. That's all it needs to be, and it does the job. Would be better with a reindeer or Mrs. Claus, though. Or those gingerbread minifigs.
The retail price feels reasonable for what you get -- unless if you're still comparing current prices to those of pre-pandemic sets. But that's ancient history by now, so that's pointless.
@ClutchPowers7306 said:
" @tmtomh said:
"Bigger than you'd think, 8c ppp - but it "feels quite expensive"?
Should it be smaller? Less detailed and thereby need to use fewer parts?"
Why not some bigger pieces without lowering the part count or the size? They could use bigger pieces for the walls and use the other part count for more interior details, making the price more reasonable. "
Sure, but bigger pieces use more plastic and cost more money. Not to mention, we both know exactly what reviews and AFOL comments would say if they used, say, large panel parts for the walls and removed the windows as a result - people would say it looked terrible and Lego had cheaped out.
It costs a certain amount of money to manufacture, package, and distribute a set of a certain size and scale. We can of course argue about how much or how little profit Lego should make, but it seems strange to have that argument about an 8c ppp set.
@Vesperas said:
"I took it as it feels expensive at the asking price because there's nothing noteworthy or exciting about it really. In other words, it's $40 of "meh.""
I took it that way too - which is why I posted my response: "It's too expensive not because it feels small, undetailed, or unfinished, and not because the ppp is bad but simply because I personally am not excited about it." That's a dreadful standard to use for gauging price/value.