You could spend ages making the gingerbread sides/chimney/roof, but to be honest it's easier buying the kits (this one's from IKEA, with a price-tag to match).
You'll need royal icing to stick your choice of (revolting) sweeties on to the house. This makes quite a lot (you could use it to decorate biscuits to hang on the tree, or just spread it about the gingerbread house with rather more wild abandon).
an egg white
about 225g (ish) icing sugar
Separate your egg white into a large mixing bowl. Sieve the icing sugar into the bowl, and gradually incorporate. If you're piping it, it needs to be reasonably stiff (you may need to add a little more icing sugar, depending on the size of your egg) - make sure you beat it well with a wooden spoon to get rid of any lumps and bumps.
Stuff the icing into an icing gun or use a freezer bag (a la Jamie Oliver) with the corner cut off to pipe the icing all over the house. Your friendly 4-year-old should be able to do the rest.
We had some fondant icing left in the cupboard from M's birthday cake, so we also made snowmen and a snow cat, mouse, snake, penguin, sausage dog and pond complete with fish. I suspect that might have been the highlight.
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