Set Review - #10267-1: Gingerbread House - Creator Expert - Winter Village

LEGO has a few lines where they repeat the theme at specific times each year. The Winter Village is one of those themes with 2019’s set being released on 1 October 2019. #10267-1: Gingerbread House retails for $99.99 in the US. It contains 1,247 pieces which works out to be $0.068/piece. As of late, LEGO has been discounting these sets at their end of life time period which is usually after 3 years (but not always). You can look for deals at other retailers too so be on the lookout!

Here’s the box. The front of the box shows the full set while the back of the box shows the back of the set and some of the play features. The box also notes that you get a light brick with the set which seems to be pretty standard for the Winter Village buildings.

The contents are 10 parts bags. The bags are labeled 1 though 5 and there are 2 bags each. You also get a 16x16 white plate. Additionally, there is a sealed package with the instructions and a small sticker sheet. The instructions contain 2 booklets. The first is for the first set of bags and includes everything not attached to the gingerbread house. The second is the build for the house.

I was glad to see a small sticker sheet with only 3 stickers on it. The stickers were also decent sized so I’m glad I didn’t have to put stickers on 1x1 or 1x2 tiles. This set gets the detail by using bricks and printing. Yay!

The first 2 bags build everything not connected to the house. There is a small Christmas tree which has some similarities to last year’s set (#10263-1: Winter Village Fire Station). I like the star on top and the piece they used to create it is pretty cool. I’m not sure if it is new or not, but I hope to see it again.

The two minifigures are in this bag too. From what I recall, the gingerbread man first appeared back in the Series 11 Collectible Minifigures set. Is that from 2013? Now we get two different versions. The male version has a mustache and the female has a skirt on. There is also a 1x2 tile for the baby. Along with the baby is a bottle about the size of the baby and you build a small carriage with cookie wheels to push the baby around in.

There is a snow blower which is cleverly designed and it looks like it could be candy made.

The second set of bags starts the actual gingerbread house. The floor has some great tiling work. I’m also a big fan of the translucent, sparkled 1x1 bricks for the windows. I always like the 1x2 or 1x4 bricks with the brick texture on them. No complaints thus far in the build.

The third set of bags finishes up the first floor of the house. The fireplace reaches through the front of the house and into the first floor. I’m not sure I’m a fan of this, but I’m guessing it is so you can show the light brick on the inside and the outside. The inside has some good details to include a little kitchen, some furniture, and some decorations. Given the small space, I think the designers did a good job at making sure it was detailed without going overkill on details.

The fourth set of bags builds up the second floor. The use of white tiles and bricks to make the roofs look frosted is cool along with the 1x1 round tiles to make is seem like there are candies as well. You can see the bathtub and the start of the bathroom on the interior of the second floor in this bag too.

The fifth set of bags finishes off the house. The roof is completed and the upstairs details are completed. I’m a fan of the multiple slopes on the roof versus just one slope. The use of many angles makes it look more like a house.

The interior details include a lamp, a bed, the crib, the rest of the bathroom, and the toilet. Again, great use of parts to maintain the candy feel while adding details.

Here’s the final picture with everything from the set. Overall, I like this set and I think it was worth the price they set on it. It was a good build with some interesting techniques and some great pieces. The minifigures are fun and this set fits well within the Winter Village sub-theme.

Downsides to the set… I would prefer the full building versus just a half. I realize it would drive up the price or cut down on the detailing, but the builds limit how you can display the sets. Everything has to face one direction or you have to build your thoughts for the rest of the set on your own.

If you’re a fan of the Winter Village sub-theme, I recommend picking this set up. Look for opportunities to get it on sale or to get double VIP points or other bonuses if it is not on sale.

Happy building!

Christmas Promo Set Reviews - Gingerbread House (40139) and Christmas Train (40138)

If you are one who celebrates Christmas, then Merry Christmas to you!  I was at Target on 23 December and walked through the toy area.  It was mobbed (as to be expected) and the LEGO aisle looked like a war zone.  There were only a handful of sets left and many people were walking around talking about LEGO.  I hope you have purchased the LEGO you needed to ahead of time and weren't stuck somewhere like the picked through Target that I was at.  

The LEGO Company usually does a lot of promotions around Christmas time and also has some Christmas themed sets.  They traditionally have Advent calendars (City, Star Wars, and Friends), some decorations made out of LEGO, and continuations to the LEGO Winter Village theme.  LEGO Shop at Home has also had a number of promotions to include free shipping on all orders, double VIP points, and what I'm going to talk about today, the free Christmas promotional sets.  I'm not sure when it's started, but LEGO has released 2 sets a year that come free if your purchase more than a certain dollar amount (usually $99).  The first is available around October and the next one becomes available around Thanksgiving time.

This year there were 2 sets.  The first was set 40138, the Christmas Train.  It was available from 13 October to 13 November 2015.  The set has 233 pieces.  Here are some pictures of the box.

The box just has pictures of the set on the front and back.  The front of the box says that it's a 2015 Limited Edition set.

The set contains 4 LEGO parts bags and an instruction booklet.  There are no stickers (thankfully) and the bags aren't numbered.  With 233 parts, not having numbers isn't an issue as it was easy to find the parts needed to build the set.

Here is the final version of the set.  It is simple, yet rather detailed.  There is an engine, a car with various Christmas treats (cookies, packages, a candy cane, a lollipop, and a few other goodies), and then a caboose.  There is also a sign and tree that can go along the train's route.

Overall, this is a great set.  You can't beat the price... free... well you have to buy other stuff, but if you time your purchases knowing that this will be coming, then you're not upset about it.  While being small, the set contains a lot of great parts.  I enjoy building with the dark green color and the gold colored pieces are good too.  Plus as a town and train fan, I've found that I can never have enough landscaping pieces so an extra tree piece is good with me.  It also has a number of small pieces that are extra for the set that you can use elsewhere if you plan to keep this train together.

The next set is the Gingerbread House (40139).  It has 277 pieces and as mentioned it was available around Thanksgiving, Black Friday, and Cyber Monday for purchases of $99 or more.  

The Gingerbread House box looks similar to the Train box.  Just a simple picture of the set with the 2015 Limited Edition marking on it.

The contents are similar to the train set as well.  There are for parts bags, an instruction booklet, and then a 2 x 12 white plate external to the bags.  

And here's the final design with front, side, and back pictures.  Despite being very small, the designers did a great job putting details in to make it look like a real gingerbread house.  Like the train, there are some great pieces in this set.  The brick textured pieces included are great and some of the candy colored pieces can also be useful with other builds.  Like the train set, there are a number of small pieces leftover for other uses if you want to keep this set together.

Overall, it's another great set.  With only 277 pieces, the designers did a good job cramming in detail with a small number of pieces.  Like the train, it's a great piece to add to your Winter Village or to have up around your house as a Christmas decoration.  

If you want to get one of these, you have to look on the secondary market.  I'm not sure what the prices on Amazon.com or EBay are, but Bricklink lists the average selling price for the train as $30.83 and $36.04 for the Gingerbread house.  I have one of each available, but I they are currently not for sale on my site yet as I'm focused on minifigures for now.

Let me know what you think of these sets in the comments section.