Gingerbread House 2026

Preview: written before the show opened

Nobody knows the 2026 theme yet. ArkDes reveals it on 14 October, the day entries open, and bakers hand in their houses at the main entrance on 20 and 21 November. Last year's theme was love: 151 houses, and the public vote went to a beehive that floats.

Anyone can enter, in three categories: children up to 12, everyone else who bakes, and architects, designers and professional bakers. A jury judges each house on construction, form, edibility and how it takes on the theme. ArkDes treats it as architecture in dough, and has run the show for over 30 years. If your own pepparkakshus is sagging by the second Advent, note that the jury here marks construction.

You get a vote too: it opens on 27 November and closes at 18:00 on 9 December, and over 6,500 people voted in 2025. Winners are announced on 12 December. Entry is free.