I have a thing against delicious candies that aren't meant to be eaten.

Remember the cute gingerbread man from Shrek?

Apart from all that black dye (stains galore), I like it!

@yagisencho: Black frosting never tastes good either; way too bitter.

I'm okay with a kit craft for my little kid, but if I was going to make a creepy gingerbread house, I'd rather do my own design and seriously creep it out. There aren't nearly enough dead things on that one.

But then, I've made cakes of eyeballs gripped by orc-ish fingers in a pool of blood ([kimberlychapman.com]) and goblins with no skin on ([kimberlychapman.com]). I am very odd. Muahahaha. >:D

Cash4Gold guy fuels his meat beard with these.

I so must eat candy corn now. And those sugary pumpkin candy things, and black frosting that tastes like licorice.

This typing and fantasizing has just caused me to gain 4 lbs [guiltpounds (TM)] have to lie down now.

@dohtem: No! Not my gumdrop buttons!

@valleyval: Agreed. It's like a crime against nature.

I like to make rice krispie treats using peeps I have torn in half ... the bottom half of the peep is the marshmellow mix-in for the rice krispie treats, the top half (ghost, pumpkin, etc.) is sat on top of the treat for pretty.

Saw these kits at Target yesterday.

@evilrobot: You made me LOL and draw attention to my desk.

@valleyval: My brothers and I usually managed to eat a good portion of the gingerbread house before it got too stale... we'd let it stand long enough for pictures, then start picking pieces off and eating them as snacks. I suppose it came from my love of Legos as a child. Building things was the fun part - once I'd built something, it was never as much fun to play with as my other toys, so I'd have to take it apart and build something else. Or, in the case of things made of food, eat them.

Nothing new. We've had these at the store where I work for years, probably for a lot less than they would be at Williams-Sonoma, too.

Too cute, not enough scary, but I'd eat it.

@SkokieGuy: I just ate way too much candy corn. Not a good idea to buy a bag and leave it in my desk - even though I promised myself I would ration them all through this week & next. Nope.

Luckily, I was wise enough to stay away from those pumpkin things. They are so bad but soooo irresistable.

Though this product probably IS trying to let a lil' Christmas creep in, I used to host Halloween parties where we'd decorate "haunted" gingerbread houses. The availability of cheap, visually-interesting candy around Halloween was what sparked the idea.

Actually, I wonder if this might be a better idea for November 1. Take all the candy your kids collected and make something out of it, instead of chowing it all at once...

I want one, but I live in Japan...

They have been selling these things for ages.

Also, they suck. We bought a wilton one a few years ago, and it took forever to put together. The frosting they give you is like mud, and it dries out before you can stick the blasted thing together. It tasted pretty heinous too.

@Eyebrows McGee (now with more baby!): Damn you McGee. Now I'm suffering from SkokieGuy's problem of obsessing and gaining weight from just thinking about it. Rice Krispie treats....mmmmmm.Sugary goodness....

At Fred Meyer yesterday, I saw pumpkin egg nog. Same kinda thing.

We love gingerbread houses! However not to eat...

At Christmas we make several of them and on Christmas afternoon, we take them out to our culdesac and SMASH them with remote controlled cars. This was our fourth year.

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sigh... don't know how to embed images here:

[farm4.static.flickr.com]

I don't see what this has to do with consumerist, these have been around for a long time

Oh, come on.

I'm the editor of Organized Christmas, and we've done stories on Haunted Gingerbread Houses for years.

Lots of families enjoy making these variations to decorate for their Halloween events.

Which, by the way, is what my grandsons and I will be doing this weekend. The Peeps ghosts, pumpkins, and black cats make it really, really fun ...

Not a symptom of "Christmas creep" at all.

I'm with everyone else in saying this has nothing to do with Christmas creep and everything to do with just doing something decorative with existing ideas for various holidays.

From 1956, a Halloween house:

[www.lileks.com]

If anything, these ideas come from those who sell baking supplies.

One of my favorite middle school moments was building a gingerbread house in Home Ec.

All the boys were on one group, and built a MASSIVE house.

They won the house contest.

Then got in deep shit with the teacher when they all screamed at the top of their lungs and shattered it with their fists to celebrate their victory, sending frosting and gingerbread fragments into every corner of the classroom.

@kaceetheconsumer: You made a Discworld cake! I'd heart you again if I could. :)

@Eels: I've never had gingerbread but I don't think I trust the 'no bake' part.

Okay, as holiday mashups go, this one actually makes more sense than the Halloween tree.

I dunno, I agree with the person who said the tree would have worked had it been a dead tree.

Speaking of "Halloween Tree", has anyone else ever seen that Hanna Barbera movie by that name? It was my favorite Halloween movie growing up.

@theblackdog_ReviewingCode: You're a monster!!

*Not emplying any connection to Monster Cable, or Monster Energy Drink.**

**Please don't sue me.