Review: LEGO Duplo 10976 Santa’s Gingerbread House

October 22, 2022 | 5

I don’t usually review Duplo sets on the blog, but now that I have a one year old I have been slowly stockpiling and indulging in some of the newer Duplo sets because I have a good excuse!

With Christmas coming up, the new 10976 Santa’s Gingerbread House caught my eye because it’s not every day that we get a Christmas-themed Duplo set (the last being 2017’s 10837 Santa’s Winter Holiday), so this is quite a special occasion.

If you have toddlers and very young Duplo-aged kids, it’s a fun little Christmasy set that’s suitable for those 2 and above, or as a Christmas gift.

In Australia, it’s currently out of stock on LEGO.com, but is now on sale for AU$39.95 on Amazon Australia. Elsewhere, the set is available on LEGO.com, or Amazon.com.

Here’s a quick review showcasing the contents of 10976 Santa’s Gingerbread House!

10976 Santa’s Gingerbread House Set Details

Name: Santa’s Gingerbread House
Set Number: 10976
Pieces: 50
Price: US$34.99 [US] | AU$59.99 [AUS] | £29.99 [UK] [Amazon] [Amazon Australia]
Exclusive to: N/A
Theme: Duplo / Seasonal / Christmas
Release Date: 1 September 2022

10976 Santa’s Gingerbread House is designed to help younger children learn through play, and the set is a handy toy for helping them learn about Christmas traditions like Santa visiting with presents, as well as (for some reason) felling Christmas trees.

There are these lovely comic panels inside the instructions that help illustrate these Christmas traditions.

There are 3 Duplo figures included in the set, and they’re all delightfully festive,

Here’s a close look at the boy and girl Duplo figures – the boy has a cute blue beanie, and an adorable reindeer on his red jumper. The girl has a jumper with snowflakes on them.

There’s also a Santa Duplo figure as well, which is the highlight among the figures. I like the print on his torso, as well as his moulded hat, and he makes for a fun festive Duplo figure.

Oh, and Santa also has his own sack filled with presents. It’s a really unusual, lumpy tan Duplo brick. It’s honestly so bizarre how seemingly random the shape is.

One of the great things about Duplo is that all the bricks are printed, and these presents have one-sided printing with bows and wrapping paper on them.

The Duplo Christmas Tree is also a really nice mould, and the Coniferous design/shape is something that I wish would be adapted by LEGO system.

There’s also this cute printed mug with a train and hearts billowing out of the chimney.

And for more Christmas-themed accessories, here’s a very festive plate with Christmas-themed pastries and cupcakes.

Here’s the completed Gingerbread House, which oddly for a Duplo set isn’t the most stable and rigid. Like any Duplo set, it’s got a really simple design with one main wall/facade.

As you can see, I really appreciate just how festive the facade is, with printed wreaths, candy canes and baubles across all printed across the bricks, giving off a very festive vibes.

As it’s meant to be a Gingerbread house, there are also pops of brown throughout the walls, and on the top arch, there are some gingerbread/waffle designs, covered by white icing.

Both windows open up as well, giving the structure some playability.

The back of the build is pretty plain, but there is a grey chimney which utilises a trans-yellow brick at the base that represents a fireplace.

And here’s my son Isaac playing around with the set. As he’s just turned one, he’s a bit too young to really play with this as the designers intended, but what he really enjoys doing is breaking the set apart every time I build it.

He’s gotten quite good at pulling the Gingerbread House apart, and like any baby, also really enjoys chewing on the Duplo figures.

What I liked:

• Fun seasonal Duplo sets don’t come around all the time
• Plenty of Christmas-y bricks and elements
• Lots of playable accessories and figures

What I didn’t like: 

• Slightly pricey at full price
• The construction of the Gingerbread House feels wobbly and precarious

Final Thoughts:

For a simple seasonal Duplo set, I really enjoyed 10976 Santa’s Gingerbread House for all the seasonal trappings, which isn’t all too common for the Duplo theme.

There are plenty of playable and usable Christmas elements, from the Christmas tree, to the gifts, to the Santa figure that makes for a great play set, especially if you have very young kids.

Being a Christmas-themed set, it’s also a great educational learning tool, to get kids excited for Christmas, and presents and Santa, and the entire experience is also wrapped in a neat playable package.

The construction of the house isn’t the most sturdy, so if your kids are pretty rough with Duplo, you’ll often find the Gingerbread House breaking apart often, mostly because of its height, and there not being a lot of secure points to hold the bricks together, so you might have frustrated toddlers, or find yourself having to rebuild it over and over again.

That said, if you’re after a cool Christmas gift for a two-year old, or want to gift your own toddlers something festive and Duplo, this is quite an easy set to recommend, especially if you can get it on sale.

Rating and score: 3/5 ★★★✰✰

Build [4] – It’ a Duplo build, so perfect for toddlers and young builders. You can get plenty of use from the bricks for your own creations.
Real Value [3] – The set is a little pricey but Duplo also often goes on sale and you can sometimes get it at a really good price
Innovation [2] – Nothing too innovative here, but I do like the story-telling in the instructions, as well as all the new festive Christmas Duplo bricks
Coolness [3] – A fun Christmas-themed Duplo set – which looks great in a play area, especially when Christmas decorations go up
Keepability [3] – It’s Seasonal, so you might not get a lot of utility after the festive season.

Thanks for reading this review of 10976 Santa’s Gingerbread House! You can pick it up from LEGO.com, or Amazon.com, or if you’re in Australia, it’s currently on sale on Amazon Australia

Special thanks again to LEGO Australia for sending this set for a review!

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